e-mail problems with SBS2003

[J741]

I have a client which had a peer-to-peer network. Each computer had e-mail using either Outlook Express or Outlook 2002. The internet connection was done via a LinkSys WRT54G broadband internet router.

This network was recently upgraded to become a Client-Server network with Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 at the heart of it all. Each client computer had the e-mail software upgraded to Microsoft Outlook 2003. The SBS2003 computer has 2 NICs and is positioned between the broadband router and the LAN, acting as the internet gateway for the network (with the previous router acting as an internet gateway to the server for extra security).

Now all works well except for e-mail. Many different e-mail problems have occurred since this upgrade. What follows is the latest e-mail debacle:

First you should know that each Microsoft Outlook 2003 e-mail client program has 2 e-mail accounts installed; one for the Exchange Server, and one for the 3rd party POP3 e-mail server. This is because the paranoid internal company politics do not want _ANY_ access to the SBS server from the internet. This means no remote web workplace, no e-mail, no VPN, etc. Because of this, the Exchange Server is used for shared tasks and calendars only. All e-mail functions are handled by the ISP and a 3rd party e-mail hosting service (using a POP3 mailbox).

Now, on each Outlook 2003 client, the POP3 e-mail account is set as the default, and the Exchange account is secondary. However, at unknown random intervals some workstaions will change the settings so that the Exchange server is primary, and the POP3 account is secondary. I have not been able to indentify what causes this situation to happen, or what to do to prevent it from happening. This ends up causing the client to not recieve any incoming e-mails (which doesn't make any sense because the account order should not affect the ability to recieve e-mail, but it does here).

Also, at random intervals, other people (who are not within the company) will report that they recieve multiple copies of the same e-mail (8 to 12 copies), but not of all e-mail from the same person. This is also a seemingly random occurance.

Does anyone out there have any idea what the heck is going on here? I'm completely confused by this one.

- James.


My memory is not as good as it should be, and neither is my memory.

I have forgotten more than I can remember

 

[markdmac]

Sorry, I am afraid all I can offer is my pitty in this case. You have been placed in a tough position. The configuration you are running in is not supported by Microsoft. If they wish to use POP and Exchange then they should be usign the Exchange POP3 connector on the server.

I would advise this client that their configuration is an unsupportable one and advise them to use the technology as intended. By having each client be able to send email directly to the Internet they have actually broadend their security risk than if they just had port 25 being directed to the server. Furthermore by using Exchange they can take advantage of IMF and reduce the amount of SPAM they get.

They do not need to enable OWA or RWW if they don't want to but they should restrict all mail flow to the Exchange box.

The duplicate emails could be coming from either the client or the ISP. You would need to determine which.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[58sniper]

Not to mention they're chewing up bandwidth using POP3 that would otherwise be available using SMTP.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[J741]

!! I found the solution !!

It seems that the default logon script created by Small Business Server includes a function to update the workstation's Outlook profile for the Exchange Server, including making it the default transport provider used by Outlook on the workstation.

A relatively small entry in the system registry on each and every workstation allows me to keep the default account for outgoing e-mail in Outlook to the 3rd party POP/SMTP servers.

I found this information at

http://www.slipstick.com/problems/defaultacct.htm

(This website's suggested Logon Script change did not work for me).

- James.

My memory is not as good as it should be, and neither is my memory.

I have forgotten more than I can remember