problems recieiving mail intermittently from one company

Smallguy

Hi

we've been having issues receiving email from one domain intermittently

I've check my exchange logs and I do see some messages are getting to us but the ones they are getting errors on I'm seeing nothing logged on my server.

I want to make sure that I'm not missing anything and that there is no chance that it is not being logged because I do not have my logging turned up high enough

but I'm not sure what I need to turn up to get the most robust info available

I believe the error that are consistently when the mail fails is smtp error 550 5.7.1


please let me know

blargoe

If it reaches your SMTP server, it will be logged if you have logging enabled on your SMTP virtual server. When you say you are checking your Exchange logs, are you checking the SMTP logs? They would be in system32\logfiles\smtpsvc1 by default, I think.

You need the entire error from the other company, not just the error number. The NDR will tell you not only the error but the envelope info and the name of the server that is actually doing the rejecting.

Smallguy

blargoe wrote:

If it reaches your SMTP server, it will be logged if you have logging enabled on your SMTP virtual server. When you say you are checking your Exchange logs, are you checking the SMTP logs? They would be in system32\logfiles\smtpsvc1 by default, I think.

You need the entire error from the other company, not just the error number. The NDR will tell you not only the error but the envelope info and the name of the server that is actually doing the rejecting.

those are the logs I am looking at

I've requested they send me the complete error message but so far they're not co-operating

it is actually quite frustrating because I am attempting to work with them but not getting anywhere since they refuse to respond to any thing we ask and just keep pushing the blame over on us

I for one will not place blame anywhere unless I'm certain and always co-operate with third parties to resolve issues

famosbrown

It will definitely help to get a copy of the NDR they are receiving to help out the troubleshooting of the issue. I have experienced this same thing many times. Every issue was resolved by getting a copy of their NDR sent to a personal account. Examples of a few issues I've ran into:

Keywords in certain messages triggered the Email Spam Filter to trap the message before even hitting the Exchange Server. If the sender was a key customer, we whitelisted their domain, and/or questioned the contents of the email after inspection.

Customer had load balancing SmartHost using different DNS Providers and one of the servers could not resolve mail going out to us correctly. Customer got with ISP/DNS Provider to resolve issue.

Customer had an external IP that had been blacklisted before on one of their smart host or Exchange Server. Once an IP gets on a blacklist, it takes some time to get the IP delisted or you would just have to request a new one from the ISP.


So many possibilities, but without the NDR they are receiving, it is hard to tell why the messages aren't getting thorugh from their organization to yours.

Smallguy

famosbrown wrote:

It will definitely help to get a copy of the NDR they are receiving to help out the troubleshooting of the issue. I have experienced this same thing many times. Every issue was resolved by getting a copy of their NDR sent to a personal account. Examples of a few issues I've ran into:

Keywords in certain messages triggered the Email Spam Filter to trap the message before even hitting the Exchange Server. If the sender was a key customer, we whitelisted their domain, and/or questioned the contents of the email after inspection.

Customer had load balancing SmartHost using different DNS Providers and one of the servers could not resolve mail going out to us correctly. Customer got with ISP/DNS Provider to resolve issue.

Customer had an external IP that had been blacklisted before on one of their smart host or Exchange Server. Once an IP gets on a blacklist, it takes some time to get the IP delisted or you would just have to request a new one from the ISP.


So many possibilities, but without the NDR they are receiving, it is hard to tell why the messages aren't getting thorugh from their organization to yours.

thanks for the reply I'm trying to get the NDR

the odd thing is that mail does flow sometimes then randomly stops

I have white listed their domain on our server

as soon as I get the NDR I will post it and see what the guru's here have to say.

so far it's been 2 days of calling trying to speak with people who do not return phone calls

I'm hoping that if I receive no response tomorrow the people putting pressure on me can get some pressure put on the other company to at least contact me with the info I've requested.

blargoe

Smallguy wrote:

blargoe wrote:

If it reaches your SMTP server, it will be logged if you have logging enabled on your SMTP virtual server. When you say you are checking your Exchange logs, are you checking the SMTP logs? They would be in system32\logfiles\smtpsvc1 by default, I think.

You need the entire error from the other company, not just the error number. The NDR will tell you not only the error but the envelope info and the name of the server that is actually doing the rejecting.

those are the logs I am looking at

I've requested they send me the complete error message but so far they're not co-operating

it is actually quite frustrating because I am attempting to work with them but not getting anywhere since they refuse to respond to any thing we ask and just keep pushing the blame over on us

I for one will not place blame anywhere unless I'm certain and always co-operate with third parties to resolve issues

If it's an important customer or contact, then you should maybe escalate it to your manager and let him know that you are not getting the information you need from the other side. That will cover your butt. You can't troubleshoot this without have additional information.

If they aren't that important, screw 'em.

blargoe

Smallguy wrote:

famosbrown wrote:

It will definitely help to get a copy of the NDR they are receiving to help out the troubleshooting of the issue. I have experienced this same thing many times. Every issue was resolved by getting a copy of their NDR sent to a personal account. Examples of a few issues I've ran into:

Keywords in certain messages triggered the Email Spam Filter to trap the message before even hitting the Exchange Server. If the sender was a key customer, we whitelisted their domain, and/or questioned the contents of the email after inspection.

Customer had load balancing SmartHost using different DNS Providers and one of the servers could not resolve mail going out to us correctly. Customer got with ISP/DNS Provider to resolve issue.

Customer had an external IP that had been blacklisted before on one of their smart host or Exchange Server. Once an IP gets on a blacklist, it takes some time to get the IP delisted or you would just have to request a new one from the ISP.


So many possibilities, but without the NDR they are receiving, it is hard to tell why the messages aren't getting thorugh from their organization to yours.

thanks for the reply I'm trying to get the NDR

the odd thing is that mail does flow sometimes then randomly stops

I have white listed their domain on our server

as soon as I get the NDR I will post it and see what the guru's here have to say.

so far it's been 2 days of calling trying to speak with people who do not return phone calls

I'm hoping that if I receive no response tomorrow the people putting pressure on me can get some pressure put on the other company to at least contact me with the info I've requested.

Does your company use any kind of spam filtering service or mail security that is outside of your exchange organization?

Smallguy

blargoe wrote:

Smallguy wrote:

blargoe wrote:

If it reaches your SMTP server, it will be logged if you have logging enabled on your SMTP virtual server. When you say you are checking your Exchange logs, are you checking the SMTP logs? They would be in system32\logfiles\smtpsvc1 by default, I think.

You need the entire error from the other company, not just the error number. The NDR will tell you not only the error but the envelope info and the name of the server that is actually doing the rejecting.

those are the logs I am looking at

I've requested they send me the complete error message but so far they're not co-operating

it is actually quite frustrating because I am attempting to work with them but not getting anywhere since they refuse to respond to any thing we ask and just keep pushing the blame over on us

I for one will not place blame anywhere unless I'm certain and always co-operate with third parties to resolve issues

If it's an important customer or contact, then you should maybe escalate it to your manager and let him know that you are not getting the information you need from the other side. That will cover your butt. You can't troubleshoot this without have additional information.

If they aren't that important, screw 'em.

I'm, working on getting some heat put on them because they are a law firm that is acting on behalf of this company we support and very important emails are not getting through to us

I am continually making everyone aware I am meeting them more than half way but and getting nothing in return


if this does not work I'm will be going to my boss next week to talk to our client and stressing I've done all that is humanly possible with out any co-operation and that if our Client can't light a fire under the law firms butt this will continue to happen and they might jeopardized there business relationship

Smallguy

Here is the error message

any ideas ?

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.



Subject: RE: test

Sent: 3/13/2008 7:03 AM



The following recipient(s) could not be reached:



admin@mydomain.com on 3/13/2008 7:01 AM

You do not have permission to send to this recipient. For assistance, contact your system administrator.

<charlie.theirdomain.net #5.7.1 smtp;550 5.7.1 Unable to relay for admin@mydomain.com>

undomiel

If I understand correctly this error message is what they are getting when they attempt to send an e-mail to you, right? If so it looks like they do not their exchange server setup properly and they need to check that they have their exchange server enabled for relaying for their server's IP and loopback address on the SMTP connector. They also should make sure that Outlook is authenticating to their server properly.

royal

Yep, sounds like their own user is not authenticating properly to their Exchange server. Because of that, when the user tries to use the Exchange server for sending mail, the Exchange server interprets it as that user trying to use the Exchange server for relaying and relaying is being blocked. I almost bet it's a POP/IMAP user trying to use Exchange SMTP hence why they aren't authenticating properly.

Smallguy

thanks guys

undomiel your correct in your understanding

I was pretty confident it was on their box but I wanted to make sure I checked with a few sources

have any of you ever seen a misconfig on a receiver's server spit this type of message out ??


I'll try to assist this guy in anyway and hope we can get this fixed