Question

Exchange issue sending to greylisting servers causes delayed or unsent mail

Asked by: steve_howden

This is an old issue that just will not go away and I really need some help to kill it.
We are on SBS2003 std with all latest service packs
For some time now we have been having a problem with mails sent to servers
that use Greylisting.
Sometimes (not always) when our server gets a 4xx error from the recipient server, Exchange retries very fast three times about 1 second apart then gives up.
The problem is that the rejected mail doesn't go into a queue (as far as I can tell). No NDR is generated and the mail seems to disappear.

BUT, and here's the annoying bit, if we have a server restart then we get a flood of NDRs that may be weeks old and some (only some) of the mail gets delivered.

I've done some research and we have done the following:

1/. Added this to the registry:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SMTPSVC\Queuing
dword "GlitchRetrySeconds"
value of: 120 (decimal)

2/. Asked for and applied the following Hotfix: from KB934709

3/. ran a scheduled batch file to restart the SMTPSVC daily

All seemed to be pretty OK for a couple of months so I got rid of the restart batch file.

Well, you guessed it, it's back! Yesterday I got another of exactly the same problem. A customer rang up with the usual, "Why didn't you send that incredibly urgent email you said you would two days ago?!!"
I checked the SMTP logs and sure enough there it was with a 451 error from the recipient server. Exchange had fired off three retries in three seconds then promptly given up (and it wasn't in any queues). A SMTPSVC restart got it moving again.

I can't find any more info on this EXTREMELY annoying bug.
Does anyone have any suggestions please?

Thanks, Steve

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Asked On
2008-01-16 at 23:52:55ID23089505
Tags

MS

,

SBS2003

,

std

Topics

SBS Small Business Server

,

Exchange Email Server

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
8

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Expert Comment

by: VahikPosted on 2008-01-17 at 01:15:32ID: 20679755

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Expert Comment

by: steve_howdenPosted on 2008-01-17 at 11:46:31ID: 20684643

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Expert Comment

by: VahikPosted on 2008-01-17 at 22:10:52ID: 20688358

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Expert Comment

by: steve_howdenPosted on 2008-01-18 at 00:03:17ID: 20688674

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Accepted Solution

by: jwhetstonePosted on 2008-01-22 at 15:44:34ID: 20719607

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Expert Comment

by: VahikPosted on 2008-01-23 at 00:37:57ID: 20721661

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Expert Comment

by: steve_howdenPosted on 2008-01-23 at 01:53:44ID: 31422389

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Expert Comment

by: steve_howdenPosted on 2008-01-23 at 01:56:21ID: 20722061

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