Problem with email forwarding.

[webmastadj84]

I have a user (johndoe@mydomain.com) and I am trying to forward all his email to (johndoe@yahoo.com) but it doesn't seem to be working. I created the active directory user and added the user in the exchange. Then created a contact with the alternate email address (johndoe@yahoo.com). Then edited the delivery option for the johndoe user on the server to forward all mail to johndoe@yahoo.com contact. The mail never gets to johndoe@yahoo.com. To test to make sure the email is getting to the correct user (and to check the exchange server) I clicked the checkbox in the delivery options to deliver messages to botht the johndoe@mydomain.com and johndoe@yahoo.com. When doing that, I check the johndoe@mydomain.com account by directly logging into the mailbox from outlook express, and the emails get there, but again are never forwarded to the outside address.

Any help in this matter would be great....thanks.

 

[FloDiggs]

I would try two things. First, from your account, try to email the contact directly. See if the mail gets through, or if there is a problem with the contact. Second, I would check in your junk mail filter at Yahoo. It may be ending up in Junk because the Yahoo account is receiving a message that isn't addressed to it.

 

[xmsre]

By default, the Allow Out of Office responses, Allow automatic forward, and Allow automatic replies options are disabled in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Service Pack 3 (SP3) or a later version, and in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. You need to enable this in global settings.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/266166/en-us

 

[FloDiggs]

That is true if the mail is being forwarded by an Outlook rule, but not if it is being forwarded by the Delivery Options on the users AD account.

 

[webmastadj84]

FloDiggs: I have tried that already. I have tried changing the forward address to a different email addresses and I still get the same thing. The account itself gets the email but never seems to forward it out. The server doesn't have to be a relay of any time does it? I had some security problems with have an open relay before and the forwarding was working?

xmerse: I have set the global settings. Sent an email and waiting to see if it goes through. It has been about 5 mins and still no email on the external account. I will give it an hour, if nothing, then I will restore the setting.

 

[FloDiggs]

Check the security settings on the contact. Make sure that it isn't restricting who has permission to send to the contact.

 

[webmastadj84]

In the Exchange General Tab; The message restrictions are set to From Everyone if that is what you are refering to.

I have also now reset the Global settings back to default from what xmerse said.

 

[rliebsch]

are the messages showing up in the outbound queue? or are they not even getting that far?

Robert Liebsch
Systems Psychologist,
Network Sociologist,
Security Pathologist,
User Therapist.

 

[webmastadj84]

Here is the error I get back (well the administator email account gets). I have all errors going to that address.

======================================================
Your message

To: JohnDoe@mydomain.com
Subject: test
Sent: Tue, 1 May 2007 11:39:46 -0400

did not reach the following recipient(s):

John Doe (yahoo) on Tue, 1 May 2007 12:46:41 -0400
Could not deliver the message in the time limit specified. Please
retry or contact your administrator.
< mydomain.com#4.4.7>
======================================================

And it does it whether or not I forward the email to johndoe@mac.com, johndoe@hotmail.com, or johndoe@aol.com..still doesn't work and bouces back with that message.


rliebsch: Me seeing that message means that they are going threw the queue? I am able to send messages from JohnDoe@mydomain.com to JohnDoe@yahoo.com. That goes threw without a problem.

 

[58sniper]

Can you directly mail the yahoo.com account? Not through the Contact. Using YOUR account, can you send a test to remote mailbox?

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[rliebsch]

So direct mail works and the forwards don't.
When you send directly, are you using the Contact you created, or are you typing the address in? Are you certain you created an SMTP address? Did you change anything in the Advanced Tab "Override Internet Mail Service settings..."

I don't mean to ask "silly" questions, I've just never seen this method fail. I just created a JohnDoe contact and tested it. Seems to be working, which doens't help you, but makes me wonder about the Contact creation...

I was asking about the queue because it usually takes more than a day for a message to fail retry. From the queue you may be able to find if the SMTP address was malformed, or if the connection is being closed by remote host, or a few other neat tidbits.

Do you Application/System logs say anything interesting?


Robert Liebsch
Systems Psychologist,
Network Sociologist,
Security Pathologist,
User Therapist.

 

[webmastadj84]

58sniper: Yes, it works fine doing that.

rliebsch: Yes, the mail system works without a problem. The only problem is with the forwards. I have double and tripled checked the contact. As far as the created an SMTP address, I believe I have. When you view the contact, Under the e-mail addresses it has:

Type: SMTP Address: johndoe@yahoo.com

In the exchange general tab of the contact is has:

Alias: JohnDoe(Yahoo)
E-mail: SMTP:johndoe@yahoo.com

There is not nothing in the "Member Of" tab, don't know if this could be a problem.

 

[FloDiggs]

Try right clicking on the contact and running through the exchange tasks. Does the contact already have a mailbox, etc.? Is there an X400 address for the contact? Also, I don't know for sure, but I didn't think that you could use parentheses in an email alias.

 

[webmastadj84]

There is an X400 type but the address says: c=US;a= ;p=MYDOMAIN;o=Exchange

and that is it.

Should I take the "()" out of the alias?

 

[FloDiggs]

Our X400 address for John L. Smith is the following:
c=US;a= ;p=domain;o=domain;s=Smith;g=John;i=L;
Where it says domain, it doesn't include the .com that would usually follow it. If you look at the properties of the X400, "o" is the organization, and "p" is the PRMD, whatever that is.

You could try taking out the parentheses, but I have no idea whether that is causing the problem or not.

 

[webmastadj84]

That is great, but doesn't help any. I know what the letters mean. The paraentheses didn't help any.

 

[webmastadj84]

Looks like I might have found the problem. The problem is not with the server itself (as far as I can see). It looks like yahoo and hotmail are blocking my emails. I tried just sending an email from johndoe@mydomain.com to johndoe@hotmail.com and I got a bounce back right away. Here is what it reads:

========================================
To: johndoe@hotmail.com
Subject: Hello
Sent: Fri, 4 May 2007 11:11:19 -0400

did not reach the following recipient(s):

John Doe (msn) on Fri, 4 May 2007 11:11:50 -0400
There was a SMTP communication problem with the recipient's email
server. Please contact your system administrator.
<mydomain.com #5.5.0 smtp;550 Your e-mail was rejected for policy
reasons on this gateway. Reasons for rejection may be related to content
such as obscene language, graphics, or spam-like characteristics (or)
other reputation problems. For sender troubleshooting information,
please go to

http://postmaster.msn.com.

Please note: if you are an
end-user please contact your E-mail/Internet Service Provider for
assistance.>
========================================

Could this be the reason, are all those servers (yahoo, msn, etc.) blocking the emails because they believe that it is spam? And if so, any one know how to fix this issue?

 

[FloDiggs]

Here are the steps I would take:

1. I would make sure that you are not on any RBLs. You can check this at DNSStuff.com.
2. Make sure that you have a static IP from your ISP
3. Make sure you have a valid PTR record for your domain registered with the ISPs DNS services that points back to the static IP mentioned in step 2.
4. Create an SPF record. They can be a little confusing, but openspf.org is a good place to get help.
5. Create a rule on your firewall that only allows port 25 traffic to and from your Exchange server. This will prevent any virus infected PCs from sending spam from your network, and causing you problems with RBLs, etc.
6. Ensure that there are no virus infected PCs in your network sending spam.

If you do all of those things and still are having trouble, you may have to work with MSN, Yahoo, etc. to get your domain name/IP off of there black lists. Sometimes, the easiest cleanup for this problem is to change the IP address your mail is coming from.