"Unable to bind to the destination server in DNS."

[theomen]

Ok, I'm having all sorts of problems with my Exchange server today, it's onow 9.20pm and I'm still working on this thing.

I have a huge queue of emails waiting to send (118 domains listed, each with several emails).

There are 2 things happening, depending on settings:

1) The emails sit on "Active" for ages, but don't do anything.

2) The emails go from ready to active, then to retry. There are 2 different errors which come up depending on settings:
i) "Unable to bind to the destination server in DNS. "
ii) "The remote server failed to respond to a connection attempt".

I've not changed anything with the exchange server recently and so can't understand why its suddenly gone mad like this.

Any ideas? I've currently got our ISP's smtp server setup as the smart host, and the IP address of that host in the "external dns".

 

[Zelandakh]

can you telnet to the ISPs SMTP server on port 25?

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[theomen]

thanks for the response.

Just tried telnet, said it could not open the connection to the host.

I did call the ISP earlier today and they said they weren't having any problems.

I can't ping the address either.

 

[Zelandakh]

ping is usually disabled.
Try removing the entry in DNS for the SMTP of the ISP.
Otherwise, contact the ISP and see if their NOC can work it out.

<signature sold subject to contract>

 

[theomen]

I've just removed the IP's from the external dns servers and just left the smart host in, now its saying "The remote server did not respond to a connection attempt.".

Strange thing is, all day I've been unable to ping the smart host, including 15 minutes ago, now suddenly I can ping it.

Will have to try phoning them again.

Thanks for the help.

 

[theomen]

I've just realised that I am able to ping the host from our ISA server, but not the mail server or others.

 

[Zelandakh]

ok, it is an internal config issue. Check default gateway. Then check it again. Can you ping ISA from email? And vice versa?

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[theomen]

The gateway is set correctly, pointing to the ISA server, and I can ping both ways.

I'm fairly new to all this, having recently been given the role and offered (but not given) any training. Its already quite scary

 

[theomen]

I've just got the following in the event log on the exchange server:

"
Microsoft Exchange System Attendant failed to add the local computer as a member of the DS group object 'cn=Exchange Domain Servers,cn=Users,dc=LRI,dc=local'.

Please stop all the Microsoft Exchange services, add the local computer into the group manually and restart all the services.

 

[Zelandakh]

what event ID is that?

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[theomen]

I've finally managed to get everything working properly again now, after killing the internet connection for a hour or so

I've no idea how I got it working in the end, just a bit of "change settings and hope" really.

Phew, I can go to bed now, at 12.45am

 

[theomen]

Thanks for all the help btw, much appreciated.

 

[Zelandakh]

I've been there. Help from TT normally pulls me through.

Thanks are always welcome to someone in IT - mainly for novelty value
Little purple stars go down well too when you can't email me money or whisky!

Just a pity you don't know exactly what the solution was as someone will undoubtedly go through the same trouble as you one day.

<signature sold subject to contract>

 

[theomen]

Hmmm, got the outgoing mail working, but now the incoming seems to be broken

Just got a call from the boss this morning to say he and some other management are going into the office, but cannot receive emails.

No errors are coming up, and the event logs are now free from errors.

But no matter how many emails I send, none come through.

I shouldn't be working on a sunday , especially as I have family over.

 

[Zelandakh]

try telnetting to the mail server from both inside and outside on port 25 and see what happens.

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[theomen]

It gets worse :-(

Now I'm having problems with the mail stores. They have dismounted and won't remount.

I've deleted the log files, then tried again, and it came up with a different error about the databases being inconsistent.

I'm beginning to think I'm going to have to call the experts in.

 

[Zelandakh]

Don't delete log files!
What event id's are you getting? I'd guess 7031.
Let us know.

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[theomen]

Oops, I deleted the log files before reading this. I did back them up first though.

I've also run eseutil on the databases, and have managed to mount the prvate store, but am still getting the following error:

"The database files in the store are inconsistent. ID no: c1041739. Exchange system manager.

 

[theomen]

Sorry, forgot to mention, error now is on the public store.

I've had this problem before, and everytime we mounted the stores, they would dismount again. We had to call some guys in to sort it out at the time, about 3 months ago.

 

[theomen]

Right, I've got the db's mounted again.

I've now run eseutil on both db's, and defragged them.

Now to continue trying to find out why I'm not receiving email.