Question

Permanent Error 550 5.7.1???

Asked by: CJRODRIG

Hi all, I hope to have luck with your answers this time.
This is the issue: randomly, (I mean, sometimes happens, sometimes don't) my users get a message like this:

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.
      Subject:  This is a test.
      Sent:     12/10/2004 1:48 PM
The following recipient(s) could not be reached:
      John.Doe@ExternalDomain.net on 12/10/2004 11:45 AM
            Error transferring to Their_SMTP_gateway.ExternalDomain.net; SMTP Protocol Returned a Permanent Error 550 5.7.1 Requested action not taken: message refused

Where "John.Doe@ExternalDomain.net" is a recipient in another mail server over Internet. The curious stuff here is if you send the message later it reaches John's mailbox.

I worked around this problem with the ExternalDomain.net and he says that his server didn't have restrictions over neither John's mailbox level nor server level.

Since the message is originated by his SMTP gateway server, I think the problem is in his server. Can anybody explain me what is going on and how he can solve / troubleshoot better his environment?  

His SMTP gateway is a box running Exchange 2003 server Enterprise Edition SP1 over Windows 2003 Server standard edition + Symantec MS 4.5 for Exchange.

Please Let me know your comments ASAP. My users are killing me!!!

   

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Asked On
2004-12-14 at 10:26:29ID21242175
Tags

550

,

action

,

requested

,

error

Topic

Exchange Email Server

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
11

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Answers

 

by: SembeePosted on 2004-12-14 at 10:40:05ID: 12822431

Go to dnsreport.com and enter the domain name that is causing you problems. This will test all settings that the domain has.
My first instinct is that the remote domain may have mutiple MX records and one of those could be wrong. When your server tries to deliver to the other MX record the message bounces.
The administrator of the other server needs to take this on as the issue is almost certainly at his end... if he claims there are no problems then ask why his server is generating the message.

Simon.

 

by: susanzeiglerPosted on 2004-12-14 at 10:45:24ID: 12822490

Do they just have one MX record in their DNS? The error is typical of one generated by a spam-filtering service--either a separate gateway or a filtering device. If they have it set up this way, it is possible that sometimes the message hits their main SMTP gateway and gets through fine and sometimes it gets caught in the filter.

Reasons? Verify that YOUR mail server isn't in any blacklists and that you have full forward and reverse DNS for your mail server's IP - http://www.dnsstuff.com is a good place to check.

If your server passes all their tests, then contact the server admin for the external domain and have them check their log files for indications that their server is refusing the message and why--if the error is getting generated on that server, chances are it is getting logged there as well:)

 

by: CJRODRIGPosted on 2004-12-14 at 10:57:03ID: 12822629

You're Right!!! (both) They have 2 MX records associated to their domain: one called "mail.theirdomain.net" and the second is "theirdomain.net"

Neither my domain nor their domain are blacklisted.

So, which will be the solution for him?
Delete mail.thierdomain.net MX record or delete theirdomain.net MX record? I mean, how he can know which MX record to delete?

I will rise the points of this question to give both of you the same quantity (250 each).

 

by: SembeePosted on 2004-12-14 at 10:58:37ID: 12822647

The only person who knows that is the remote site.
An MX record is made up of two parts - an A record and the MX record. Therefore there will be two A records... one for mail.domain.net and one for domain.net. One is invalid so needs to be removed.

Simon.

 

by: susanzeiglerPosted on 2004-12-14 at 11:52:35ID: 12823264

Simon is completely correct. To say it more visually, if you look at the MX record itself, it will look something like this:

theirdomain.net.    IN   MX   10   mail.theirdomain.net.
theirdomain.net.    IN   MX   20   theirdomain.net.
                                               ^these are host names^
                                             
So it sounds like mail.theirdomain.net and theirdomain.net don't point to the same host. The one they need to remove is the one that doesn't point to their mail server:)

 

by: CJRODRIGPosted on 2004-12-14 at 11:54:20ID: 12823284

I asked him what he did when configured his DNS. He told me that he defined 2 MX records pointing to his SMTP gateway. So, there is only one A record but 2 MX records pointing to it. Do you think that if he deletes one will be no problems?

 

by: CJRODRIGPosted on 2004-12-14 at 11:57:19ID: 12823321

he have the following:

(same as parent folder)   Mail Exchanger (MX)   [10] SMTPgateway.theirdomain.net
mail                               Mail Exchanger (MX)   [10] SMTPgateway.theirdomain.net

Can he delete the "mail" entry?


 

by: SembeePosted on 2004-12-14 at 11:58:46ID: 12823337

I would actually advise to delete the "same as parent folder" entry. That is bad practise to use that for MX.

Simon.

 

by: CJRODRIGPosted on 2004-12-14 at 12:15:51ID: 12823504

Ok thank u all. Now I have a technical question about Expert Exchange: How can I split points? I clicked over "Split Points" link, I selected Simon's answer and typed 250 points. Then, I selected susan's answer but simon's radio button got cleared.

 

by: cknessPosted on 2005-02-03 at 06:23:56ID: 13214403

I have smae problem with same setup as far as server some times people sending to me get the 5.7.1 550 error or I get smtp;550 5.7.1 Requested action not taken: message refused when people are sending out to some one random.  Some time you can send to some at the domain but not all.  I also get random internal errrors
The e-mail account does not exist at the organization this message was sent to.  Check the e-mail address, or contact the recipient directly to find out the correct address.
            <jwg-exchange-ow.JWG-DOMAIN.local #5.1.1>

Have worked with microsoft tech for over a month with no resolution... Did your problems go away... Never had this problem before moving to 2003...

 

by: SembeePosted on 2005-02-03 at 13:20:11ID: 13219478

This is a closed question.
You should ask a new question with full details of the errors and NDrs being returned.

Simon.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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