I am having problems reciving mail from external domains, I have a system that is setup as follows, a DC, exchange server, using cable modem for internet, have a router with port forwarding, and using private ip network, I am using a DNS service for my domain, an mx record. I am having problem reciving email from the internet, internal mail works fine, and sending to external domains is fine. Can anyone help?
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Exchange ( not recieving external mail )!!!! 2
- Thread starter droze22
- Start date
-
2
- #2
mrbusy
Technical User
- Dec 10, 2003
- 118
The first thing I would try to do is attempt to work out where the problem is.
First try to telnet to your email server from a workstation on your network:
P:\>telnet mailserver.domain.com 25
You should see something similar to the following but it could vary depending on the version of Exchange you are running so dont worry if its not exact:
220 mailserver.domain.com Microsoft ESMTP MAIL Service, Version: 5.0.2195.5329
ready at Tue, 23 Dec 2003 09:51:13 +0000
If you see that then the email server is ready to recieve on port 25 (the default SMTP port). If not then I suggest you make sure all the Exchange related services are running on your server.
Second I would try the same thing but from a host outside your network. A laptop dialed up on an ISP would be fine. This time telnet to the external IP address of your DSL router. You should see the same thing. If not then your router may not be forwarding the port correctly. Make sure you are forwarding port 25 on the outside interface to port 25 on the mail server.
Finally make sure your MX records are pointing to the correct IP address. Fire up nslookup from a command prompt. First of all type 'set type=MX', then your domain name.
rk-it.co.uk MX preference = 20, mail exchanger = smtp.lcn.biz
rk-it.co.uk MX preference = 10, mail exchanger =
internet address = 62.115.254.26
smtp.lcn.biz internet address = 195.82.107.155
First make sure the lowest MX preference is the place you want mail to go by default. Second check that the IP address associated with the lowest preference is the external IP on your internet router.
If that is all working then it would appear email is getting as far as your Exchange server and I would look closely at the configuration there.
A couple of other things you might want to look out for. Ensure your Exchange server has a static IP address. Check if your ISP has allocated you a static address on your DSL router. If it changes then your MX record my not be correct. Finally if you have a firewall then make sure it's not blocking port 25.
First try to telnet to your email server from a workstation on your network:
P:\>telnet mailserver.domain.com 25
You should see something similar to the following but it could vary depending on the version of Exchange you are running so dont worry if its not exact:
220 mailserver.domain.com Microsoft ESMTP MAIL Service, Version: 5.0.2195.5329
ready at Tue, 23 Dec 2003 09:51:13 +0000
If you see that then the email server is ready to recieve on port 25 (the default SMTP port). If not then I suggest you make sure all the Exchange related services are running on your server.
Second I would try the same thing but from a host outside your network. A laptop dialed up on an ISP would be fine. This time telnet to the external IP address of your DSL router. You should see the same thing. If not then your router may not be forwarding the port correctly. Make sure you are forwarding port 25 on the outside interface to port 25 on the mail server.
Finally make sure your MX records are pointing to the correct IP address. Fire up nslookup from a command prompt. First of all type 'set type=MX', then your domain name.
rk-it.co.uk MX preference = 20, mail exchanger = smtp.lcn.biz
rk-it.co.uk MX preference = 10, mail exchanger =
internet address = 62.115.254.26
smtp.lcn.biz internet address = 195.82.107.155
First make sure the lowest MX preference is the place you want mail to go by default. Second check that the IP address associated with the lowest preference is the external IP on your internet router.
If that is all working then it would appear email is getting as far as your Exchange server and I would look closely at the configuration there.
A couple of other things you might want to look out for. Ensure your Exchange server has a static IP address. Check if your ISP has allocated you a static address on your DSL router. If it changes then your MX record my not be correct. Finally if you have a firewall then make sure it's not blocking port 25.
- Thread starter
- #3
How long ago did your ISP set up an MX record? it may take up to 48 hours or more to take effect...
Go here:
enter your mail server address (mail.ourcompany.com) in the box on the right and check the results. It can be very helpful in solving mail problems.
~ K.I.S.S - Don't make it any more complex than it has to be ~
Go here:
enter your mail server address (mail.ourcompany.com) in the box on the right and check the results. It can be very helpful in solving mail problems.
~ K.I.S.S - Don't make it any more complex than it has to be ~
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