Exchange server 2003

[Ryno]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have just started in a school that is having some problems with exchange.

 

Exchange would not allow new users to recieve emails so i sorted that by creating a new Recipient Update Service and everything was running fine.

 

Now when recieving emails they are taking about 3 or 4 hours to come through and also sending emails they keep getting stuck in the queue saying An SMTP Protocol Error Occured.

 

I am just wondering if anyone can help me on this.

 

P.S if i restart the server all the emails come through but still dont send.

 

Thanks

[sukh]

Which queue are they stuck in ,check ESM?

If you have any AV product on your Exch server then disable and test

[Ryno]

I went into system manager, administrative groups, first administrative group, Servers, Server name, Queues And that were they show the error. I have tried to disable it and its just the same.

[sukh]

If you have any AV product on your Exch server then disable and test ?

 

Also is this issue internal only or external or both?

[Ryno]

I have tried to disable the anti virus and it still does the same. Emails internal are working its just nobody is recieving are emails if we email external.

[sukh]

Can you check the SMTP logs and app logs and see what they report?

 

Up all logging here - How to troubleshoot for Exchange Server 2003 transport issues

 

Has this ever worked?

 

What has changed?

 

Do you use a smart host or DNS lookups?

 

Do you still have a SMTP connector and have you checked the settings on this?

[Ryno]

i will have a look at that today and let you no. Also i keep recieving this email a few hours after sending an email if this makes any different.

 

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

 

THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY.

 

YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE.

 

Delivery to the following recipients has been delayed.

 

******@live.co.uk

[Norphy]

You've not got Standard version and hit the size limit of the store have you?

[Roberto]

If I had to guess myself, I'd be looking very closely at any perimeter firewall/smarthost that you (or your upstream provider) may have.

[Ryno]

By store do you mean the hard drive space? Im new to exchange so dont really have a clue. If this is what you do mean the hard drive was full so i deleted loads of old stuff we no longer need. Also i have uninstalled the anti virus to give that a try.

[Norphy]

Exchange 2003 Standard Edition has a size limit on the mailbox store (essentially the database where all of your mailboxes are stored). Pre SP2, it was 16GB then it was increased to 75GB if you changed a registry key.

 

How to increase the Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 18-gigabyte database size limit

 

Deleting stuff on the server won't make any difference if you've hit that limit. It's been a long, long time since I used Exchange 2003 so I can't remember how to check I'm afraid.

 

It's quite possible that this isn't your problem but it's worth looking at if you do have Exchange 2003 Standard. If you have enterprise, it won't be the problem.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Norphy

[Dos_Box]

If you have hit the data store limit you could try an offline defrag. I've never doen this, but it is an option if you really, really need the space: How to defragment Exchange databases

After that I would suggest you start a clear up by deleting older emails (after staff consultation of course!), however it may well be worth your time looking to upgrade to a newer version of Exchange as 2003 mainstream support ended in 2009 and extended support is finished in 2014.

[Ryno]

just checked store limit and we have not hit that limit. I have changed it to a bigger store limit just incase. We are now recieving emails but will not send emails. Just phoned up to see if our port 25 has been blocked as it has been working and now it just stopped.

[sukh]

What do the logs say?

[Ryno]

This is an SMTP protocol warning log for virtual server ID 2, connection #499808. The remote host "65.55.37.120", responded to the SMTP command "mail" with "421 RP-001 (COL0-MC4-F48) Unfortunately, some messages from 195.188.250.172 weren't sent. Please try again. We have limits for how many messages can be sent per hour and per day. You can also refer to Troubleshooting. ". The full command sent was "MAIL FROM: SIZE=3227 ". This may cause the connection to fail.

[Sandman]

Firewall was the first thing that sprung to mine... or SMTP issue.....

[PiqueABoo]

This is an SMTP protocol warning log for virtual server ID 2, connection #499808. The remote host "65.55.37.120", responded to the SMTP command "mail" with "421 RP-001 (COL0-MC4-F48) Unfortunately, some messages from 195.188.250.172 weren't sent. Please try again. We have limits for how many messages can be sent per hour and per day. You can also refer to Troubleshooting. ". The full command sent was "MAIL FROM: SIZE=3227 ". This may cause the connection to fail.

 

Hmm.. that's apparently a hotmail server saying it can't accept a mail from a @yahoo.in address because your server is sending too many e-mails. Why is your server involved in mail between yahoo and hotmail addresses?

 

First thing to check (soon) is whether you have some kind open-relay (or spam-bot) problem. Google will get you lots of articles about checking/fixing that - offhand I don't know which might be a really good article for Exchange 2003, but someone else might.

Edited March 27, 2012 by PiqueABoo

[sukh]

What fo the SMTP logs say?

[Ryno]

Sorry im not being very helpful i aint a clue on exchange never worked with it before in my life. How can i view smtp logs? i looked threw the queue and there was something like 22,000 emails trying to be sent.

[Ryno]

Im Trying to re run the internet mail wizard but get an error saying To send Internet e-mail, the selected server cannot be a bridgehead server.

[timzim]

This might help: How to block open SMTP relaying and clean up Exchange Server SMTP queues

[sukh]

Log location is in that KB I postred earlier

[Ryno]

When trying to open logs they are just saying file to large to open.

[Ryno]

Is there anyway i can reinstall exchange without losing all the emails and things like that?

[Ryno]

i just ran the internet mail wizard and heres the log this created.

 

29/03/2012 11:39

Server 'EXCHANGE' has been selected as the Internet Gateway Server

 

Inbound Configuration was selected:

Your current settings for the SMTP Virtual Server 'Default SMTP Virtual Server' are:

-Relay Restrictions = closed relay

-Access Control / Authentication = Anonymous Access is enabled

Your settings for the SMTP virtual server 'Default SMTP Virtual Server' will now be:

-Relay Restrictions = closed relay

-Access Control / Authentication = Anonymous Access is enabled

-The domain(s) your server is configured to accept inbound mail for are the following authoritative inbound SMTP domains that are configured in Recipient Policies: ololprimary.co.uk;olol.local;mail.ololprimary.co.uk;

 

Outbound Configuration was selected:

-New SMTP connector named 'Internet Mail SMTP Connector (EXCHANGE)' will be created under routing group 'First Routing Group'

-SMTP Virtual Server 'Default SMTP Virtual Server' is configured as the Outbound Bridgehead with the following settings:

-Uses DNS to send email

-Allows delivery to all Internet e-mail domains

 

Results:

Successfully created the SMTP connector 'Internet Mail SMTP Connector (EXCHANGE)'

Successfully modified the SMTP Virtual Server 'Default SMTP Virtual Server'