Question

an smtp protocol error occurred

Asked by: cisgoro

Hello,

I am totally stompped with an issue i am having. Here is a quick setup of the situation:
I have exchange 2003 running on server 2003. I am able to send and receive to most domain except for comcast.net, bellsouth.net and a couple others. I see the messages stuck in the queu on my server. I am able to receive from these domains but not send. I have checked reverse dns and it looks good, i can telnet to comcast from the mail server. dont know what else to try or check.

Thank you

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Asked On
2009-08-04 at 18:35:03ID24626763
Tags

Exchange 2003

Topics

Exchange Email Server

,

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: badgermikePosted on 2009-08-04 at 18:43:59ID: 25019670

 

by: EndureKonaPosted on 2009-08-04 at 19:06:55ID: 25019747

When sending email are the headers showing the proper IP as the RDNS?    Since it sounds like your Exchange server is sending directly out if you go to www.ipchicken.com is it the same IP as RDNS?   If not your NAT is off fire the firewall.

Are you using a CNAME for the MX?  of so remove it and setup a A record.

Are you on any real time black lists...check http://www.mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx  

Do you have a SPF record?   If so is it setup properly.

If you have a Pix firewall disable the mailguard (no fixup protocol smtp 25) feature and try again...

my 2 cents...

 

by: cisgoroPosted on 2009-08-04 at 19:24:51ID: 25019794

Where can I check to see the header of the emails i send?

i went to ipchicken.com from the exchange server and the ip that shows up is my firewall ip. This is what my exchange server ip is along with the info from my DNS provider:
IP address:                     64.40.134.80
Reverse DNS:                    mailx.mspcesq.com.
Reverse DNS authenticity:       [Verified]
ASN:                            14205
ASN Name:                       WANC
IP range connectivity:          8

I have checked all of the blacklists by going to the link you provided and placed the ip of my exchange server and all looks good.

I do not have a Pix firewall, i have a watchguard firewall.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

by: NivleshPosted on 2009-08-05 at 02:49:14ID: 25021561

whats your email domain?

the funny thing is that when doing a reverse dns check, sometimes i am getting mailx.mspcesq.com and other times sunrise.mspcesq.com for the ip you have given above

 

by: NivleshPosted on 2009-08-05 at 03:00:59ID: 25021641

why do you have two reverse dns entries for that ip?

; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> @4.2.2.2 -x 64.40.134.80
; (1 server found)
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 1601
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;80.134.40.64.in-addr.arpa.     IN      PTR

;; ANSWER SECTION:
80.134.40.64.in-addr.arpa. 43200 IN     PTR     mailx.mspcesq.com.
80.134.40.64.in-addr.arpa. 43200 IN     PTR     sunrise.mspcesq.com.

;; Query time: 578 msec
;; SERVER: 4.2.2.2#53(4.2.2.2)
;; WHEN: Wed Aug 05 21:59:50 2009
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 96

 

by: cisgoroPosted on 2009-08-05 at 05:08:32ID: 25022419

my email domain is mspcesq.com

sunrise is the actual name of my exchange server internally in my network. Do you think that may be a problem having two reverse dns entries?

 

by: EndureKonaPosted on 2009-08-05 at 08:37:34ID: 25024664

Are routing your outbound email from Exchange to AppRiver (your spam solution) then out?   It appears they have a issue there with no RDNS records.

Your MX records are reported as
20   mspcesq.com.2.0001.arsmtp.com                                                                                                        72.32.252.146                                 (no glue)                                                                        
10   mspcesq.com.1.0001.arsmtp.com                                                                                                        72.32.252.145                                 (no glue)                                                                                 

And there are no RDNS...which is not good.

You can check it out http://www.intodns.com    and run a report on your domain

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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