Exchange 2003 not sending emails

[alunmjones]

Yesterday morning our exchange server stoped sending emails, we can recive e-mails and everything else on the network works fine, but it just point blank refuses to send emails, it just ques them.

 

I did think that it was our DNS at first as i had modified it to allow us to view a few school websites in our area that are not in our external DNS but need access to, though after checking the fault started befor i had even touched the DNS so it cant be that.

 

I cant see Anything oviouse in the Event Viewer, it happned between 8:46 and 9:14 yesterday as the email i sent at 8:46 went through but the one at 9:14 didn't. didnt do the DNS till after lunch.

 

just to add, sending e-mails internally works fine, its at the point where the e-mails need to leave the school it just failes.

 

any suggestions?

Edited November 23, 2011 by alunmjones

[IanT]

Tracking message is an option, it will show you exact status.

[glennda]

take a look at AV I had it with Macffee that decieded one day to block all outbound connections on port 25 (smtp) which wasn't helpful in the slightest.

 

EDIT: just reread your post - this wouldn't cause them to sit in the queue

 

Do you use Smart hosts to forward mail to? Can you get to them?

[alunmjones]

@Glennda

I shut down F-secure just to check and checked the ISA server settings, e-mails still arnt leaving the site, i use routing for a couple of sites, where i direct the e-mails to a set IP, but most just go directly out via the isa server

 

@IanT

I have message tracking on the exchange server set up, but its not really helping, are there any extra commands for it that you know of?

 

I have just re-started the server and still nothing, everything is still qued

[IanT]

Just curious, you got a smarthost setup on your box?

 

Here is a good artcle on tracking:

Exchange 2003 Message Tracking and Logging

 

How to troubleshoot for Exchange Server 2003 transport issues

 

How to track Message in Exchange 2003/2007/2010 - Messaging with Communications - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

[alunmjones]

I dont think so, i didnt set it up originally, it just gets sent out through two smtp connectors, one that does everywhere and one that just does our local council, its been working for 3 years, not seen anything like this before, ive just checked Tracking and Logging, thats set up as suggested, but they havent been sent yet, ive checked port 25, its available inbound and outbound.

 

im running through the articles now, thanks,

[sukh]

1. Up the SMTP protocol logging to see what's happening on the protocol layer

2. Do you use DNS to resolve MX or a smarthost?

3. Hpw many SMTP connectors do you have?

[alunmjones]

ive set all logging to max, i can see things comming in but there is nothing about messages going out, i dont think they are actually beeing transfered to the smtp protocol at all, there is nothing in the logs for outbound mail. ill keep looking just incase.

 

I use an MX record in DNS, been working for 3 years, we have two SMTP Connectors, one that does everywhere and one that is just for the local council to send e-mail directly to there server on the local council Internet we connect to.

[zag]

maybe the smtp server is refusing the connection. We had this and when we rang the isp they had banned the ip address for spam.

 

Couple of security enhancements later we fixed it and they unbanned it.

[sukh]

1. What do your IIS/SMTP logs say?

[alunmjones]

Ive rung the council as they are the ones who provide our internet connection, ill see what they say after they get back to me

 

the logs only have inbound messages in them, nothing outbound, its like its not even bothering to try and make a connection, its not like its failing its just not even trying, im just a bit stumpped as to what could have changed.

[sukh]

You say your SMTP connector for Internet email uses DNS to resolve MX records right?

Can you send/PM me the IIS logs for SMTP?

[alunmjones]

yes, it was set up befor i started and has been working for over 3 years with no problems, ill try and send todays now, but it only has inbound messages in it as nothing has got to the SMTP Protocol to actually be sent out, i had GFI Mail essentials installed to do the disclaimer/footer but i removed it justincase it was stoping mail, but no change

[pooley]

Try smtpdiag, this will pinpoint what the error is as it attempts to send the email

[alunmjones]

when i run smtpdiag i get an error of

Connecting to the server failed. Error: 10060

 

when it tries to connect to an external mx server, it can find the address of the external mx server, just cant connect

[pooley]

Is the SMTP service running ?

Is dns good? nslookup - does it see the mailserver?

[pooley]

The only other thing I can think of is port 25 isn't open for external traffic ?

[alunmjones]

ive checked the isa server settings, port 25 is open both ways, and open on the council firewall, ive checked with Network Tools: DNS,IP,Email and we are not blacklisted and it can see port 25 as open, the smtp service is running and nslookup can see the mail server.

 

the only thing i can see is we dont have a revers dns for our external ip.

[pooley]

If you click on a message in the queue, what error does it give?

 

Drop to a cmd prompt on the mailserver and put in

telnet maila.microsoft.com 25

 

Does it connect, if not then port 25 is blocked.

[alunmjones]

it just says queued

 

i just get

Connecting To maila.microsoft.com...Could not open connection to the host, on port 25: Connect failed

 

when i try from my main machine or the isa it works fine

[pooley]

That would suggest that your mailserver has no route configured to get out on port 25, but your main machine has.

 

Re-check the rules in ISA, make sure you put the mailserver ip in and not your main machine ip when granting access over port 25.

[alunmjones]

ive tried smtpdiag again, it just fails to resolve the endpoints, but it can find them, when i try it on the isa server it works with no problems at all, something is blocking outbound port 25 from exchange server but not from the rest of the domain i cant think what though, has to be local to this server, i might try a re-install of smtp/exchange to see if it fixes it, ive contacted my support company to get the original disks

 

im in the middle of using exmerge to backup my mailboxes to pst files, its going to take a while

[pooley]

What's local to the server? Antivirus ? 3rd party firewall?

[alunmjones]

whatever is causing the problem, im thinking it could be corrupt smtp, antivirus has the same settings on all servers and the isa firewall is set to send port 25 to it inbound and outbound, only smtp left really

[pooley]

If you reinstall Exchange 2003 over an existing Exchange 2003 installation, the database files and permissions remain intact. Maybe a quicker option ?