No outgoing mail on Exchange server

[IPONEWBIE1]

Hello, hopefully I have included enough information to help answer my question. My outgoing mail suddenly quit on exchange server 2003. Incoming works fine but outgoing is sitting in limbo somewhere. Some of the things I checked are:

1. Verified port 110 and 25 are open
2. SMTP service is running
3. Default smtp virtual server is running.

 

[MarkArnold]

Look in Exchange System Manager and drill down the left navigation pane to find the server and then the queues. There ought to be a pile of messages stacked up there in one or more queues. That queue(s) should give you a status message.

 

[IPONEWBIE1]

There is a bunch of messages sitting in queue. They say no additional information available.

One thing I did notice is if I go to "monitoring and status" >>>>> Status >>>>> the exchange server says it is in maintenance mode???

 

[MarkArnold]

Don't worry about that.

http://hellomate.typepad.com/exchange/2004/03/exchange_in_mai.html

explains that part.

Have you tried to do some lookups (nslookup, ping etc.) to see if you can resolve anything and even perhaps send a test message to a remote location using telnet

 

[IPONEWBIE1]

Below is where I did nslookup for mail.godaddy.com Even though it looks like it cant find the server it does resolve to an ip address.







Microsoft Windows 2000 [Version 5.00.2195]
(C) Copyright 1985-2000 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.xxxxxxxx>nslookup
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.1.10: Non-existent domain
*** Default servers are not available
Default Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.1.10

> mail.godaddy.com
Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.1.10

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: pop.where.secureserver.net
Address: 64.202.165.92
Aliases: mail.godaddy.com, pop.secureserver.net

>

 

[MarkArnold]

Clearly time to fix your DNS then. Make sure that your DNS servers aren't loggin an error.
Also, rather than just the nslookup you did you can do "set type=mx" and then do "godaddy.com" or whatever.
Your Exchange seems ok, it just can't play without DNS.

 

[IPONEWBIE1]

Wouldnt I have a problem with websites resolving also? Browsing the web is not a issue.

Here is the lookup for the mx records. This is really strange, It has to be something simple but I cant figure it out.

C:\Documents and Settings\xxxxxxxx>nslookup
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.1.10: Non-existent domain
Default Server:

http://www.wp.comcast.net

Address: 192.168.1.1

> set type=mx
> godaddy.com
Server:

http://www.wp.comcast.net

Address: 192.168.1.1

Non-authoritative answer:
godaddy.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mailstore1.secureserver.net

godaddy.com MX preference = 0, mail exchanger = smtp.secureserver.net

mailstore1.secureserver.net internet address = 64.202.166.11
>

 

[MarkArnold]

What are your DNS settings on either the server, the SMTP VSI or both? Your return shouldn't look like it does.

 

[IPONEWBIE1]

In the dhcp area the dns settings are 192.168.1.10 (dns server) 192.168.1.1 (cable router which acts as a proxy dns server) and 192.168.1.2 (another router which acts as a proxy server)

These setting have always been the same and never changed. It worked up until yesterday afternoon and then suddenly quit that is what makes it wierd.

I think I do remember clicking on "start mailbox management process" sometime yesterday would that have any effect?

 

[MarkArnold]

No, it wouldn't.
However, remove .1 and .2 from your DNS servers.
Just have the fixed IP address of the server, default gateway (which is presumably .1 or .2 ?) and the DNS server (.10). Those three are the only numbers you should have listed.

 

[IPONEWBIE1]

In the DHCP settings scope area dns server is only 192.168.1.10 and router is only 192.168.1.1

To make it even more interesting I used a external dns server (open-dns) and that didnt make any difference.

 

[IPONEWBIE1]

Ok, I am narrowing things down. It doesnt look like a port 25 issue because here is a telnet session that seemed to work just fine.
Here is a telnet session. It seems like everything is fine with port 25. What do you guys think???

220 OMTA10.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net comcast ESMTP server ready
HELO mail.(MY DOMAIN NAME HERE.com
250 OMTA10.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net hello [7*.8*.13.2*6], pleased to meet
you
MAIL FROM:joeblow@aol.com
250 2.1.0 <joeblow@aol.com> sender ok
RCPT TO:leroy@(MY DOMAIN NAME HERE).com
250 2.1.5 <leroy@MY DOMAIN NAME HERE.com> recipient ok
DATA test test test
500 5.5.4 DATA invalid params
.
500 5.5.1 command unrecognized
DATA test.
500 5.5.4 DATA invalid params
DATA
354 enter mail, end with "." on a line by itself
DATA.
test test test
.
250 2.0.0 hqQn1Y0094sdzLe3W00000 mail accepted for delivery
I had forgotten to put the data first with the enter that is why the info directly above seems a little out of line.

It seems to me like I do not have a port 25 (smtp) problem would you guys agree with that? If agreed what else can I look for on the exchange server end?

This is making things even more complicated since the smtp server is running and dns seems fine. Is there anyone out there that has any ideas?

Any little bit of help will be appreciated.