SMTP Send Queue stuck?

[DavidSnell]

Hello,

Hope you guys can point me in the right direction. I am a little nervous that my server may be open to outsiders. I am using Windows SBS 2003 Premium with Exchange.

I received this message today:

"Alert on AMERICANSBS at 12/2/2004 1:01:35 PM

A large number of messages are pending in the e-mail server send queue.

Verify that you have Internet connectivity. If you can view Web sites normally, contact your Internet service provider (ISP) to determine if there is a problem with their e-mail server.

You can disable this alert or change its threshold by using the Change Alert Notifications task in the Server Management Monitoring and Reporting taskpad."

My problem is that these messages look to be coming from an external source NOT from my internal users. The messages won't send and I have elected to "freeze them".

I've utilized the internet sites that check to see of my server is an open relay and all report no. Where else should I check to eliminate this access?

I believe I have Exchange set to not allow send mail except from authenticated users so this may be why these messages are stuck in a Queue.

How can I delete these Queue's without forcing a connection and sending them.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Pointing me towards information on ways to harden my exchange server would be most helpful.

David

 

[Marcs41]

2 options:
1: Check the FAQs here on open relay to make sure.

2: They may be NDRs, from spammers using spoofed emailaddresses.
In that case, DISABLE NDR and all other automatic replies to the internet, like out-of-office etc., it will stop immediately.

Marc
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