Can't receive any external e-mail , can't send some.

[boed]

I have an Exchange Server on a standalone PDC in a test environment. The system can only effectively send and receive e-mail internally. I can send to some external e-mail addresses but if hotmail has junk mail filtering turned on I can only send if I put my address from the exchange server in the hotmail (web interface) safe list. I'm just sending out messages with the word test in the subject and body. I can send that same e-mail from my other address and it goes through fine.

I can't receive any external mail hotmail or a regular domain account. I don't get any error messages even when I try to track the message, it is like it is going somewhere but never making it through my exchange box.

I'm not sure where the issue is as I'm new to this part of exchange functions. I'll be glad to give more details. There are no warnings or errors in the event viewer log to say what the issue is.

I've never really used this e-mail address before because it is a test domain address so I shouldn't be on any spam address lists. I've checked, it isn't an open relay server.

 

[jbud]

What are your internal and external DNS configurations like? Do you have external MX records in place that will resolve to this server?

It sounds like Hotmail is filtering your e-mail due to bad DNS records.

 

[boed]

Thanks for working with me on this! My internal DNS has an MX record pointing to the external IP address of the server. It also has a hot A record pointing to the external IP address of the server. My ISP has an MXE record pointing to the IP address of the server. I think you are right about the DNS issue but I'm not sure of the solution.

If you e-mail me at boe_d@hotmail.com, I'll be happy to give you a domain name and IP address and anything else that might help you.

Thanks again!