[ExchangeList] How to Clear Up Queues (and solve some of my problems!)
- From: "John L. Gitzen II" <john_gitzen_ii@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <exchangelist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:56:58 -0400
Hello Exchange Experts!
I have over 100 queues with SMTP Connector Entries for outgoing mail that is
not making it to their intended recipients. I have had some problems with
my DNS records and understanding how DNS works with my external webhosting
company and also my Internet Provider. I hope I have those correctly set
now, but with the lag in DNS records being refreshed and then Email servers
recognizing the changes I am frustrated to say the least waiting to see if
my email problems will clear up.
At this point I can not send out email from a user on my Exchange server to
any of the addresses I can query on - yahoo.com, gmail.com, Comcast.net or
charter.net. They all sit waiting on the remote server to respond.
So two questions -
1. How do I clear up these SMTP connector entries? Being an old school
mainframer, I am used to getting error messages, being able to look them up
to find the root cause and having tools I can run to tell what is going on.
If they are available for Exchange they are pretty well hidden. The closest
I can find is the Troubleshooting Assistant, but in my case it is not giving
me back anything I can use. On my last pass it told me that it had a fatal
error accessing active directory.
a. The two corrections listed were to try connecting to exchange server
analyzer without specifying a domain controller. I don't see where the tool
ever asks for a domain controller. Under advanced login options I could
specify a domain, but I don't use the advanced login, the id I am logged on
with is as high up in our Active Directory as you can get. I specify an
Exchange Server name and a Global Catalog Server Name. It won't run without
these.
b. The other possible solution says to specify a domain controller that
is running and is available to you. I only have 1 domain controller, it is
running, and it is available to me. I checked Active Directory on it and it
is working. I have accessed the Exchange portions of the Active Directory
Users on the same server, which is my exchange server that I am running my
test on. I have tried to reboot both servers - AAARGGH - Nothing changed,
the same results.
c. Regardless of this lame solution, I have reason to believe my
outgoing email is not making it to their intended SMTP connectors because
the DNS MX record at the site hosting my domain was pointing to
mail.thompsonig.com instead of exchangesrvr.thompsonig.com. The email going
out was coming from exchangesrvr.thompsonig.com, but when the servers to a
DNS lookup on thompsonig.com, it was finding mail.thompsonig.com.
exchangesrvr.thompsonig.com would match the *.thompsonig.com A record that
pointed to the web hosting IP address and not the ip address for my Exchange
Server. So now that this is fixed - how do I get my outgoing email moving
again and this stuff cleaned up
2. Second, is there a way I can test DNS and Email changes without
having to wait 24 to 48 hours? This is an eternity when you have the whole
company breathing down your back.
My domain is thompsonig.com. my ip address for my email server should be
67.108.89.73. my Exchange server FQDN is exchangesrvr.thompsonig.com.
Any and all advice is appreciated. Sorry for the long winded email, it is
late.
John
Technology Applied
The more I learn the more I realize I don't know!
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