Exchange 2000 Routing groups

There is only one recipient policy.  It is already set to domainname.com for SMTP.

I also dont show any exchange errors/warnings in the event logs.

Have you done that recently? If so have you restarted the exchange services?

no.  thats the settings its always been.
Im checking the Branch office now.

Could you please try the following as a test

In the properties of routing connectors make sure the following option is enabled "Any local server can send email over this connector"
2. In the properties of SMTP change from "All Unassigned" to IP address of the exchange server

any local server was already set.
change IP setting in default VS
restart exchange services and SMTP
same bounce.

Ok try this

http://mostlyexchange.blogspot.com/2005/04/sharing-smtp-address-space-with-two.html

In specific down the bottom of this article:

The solution was to create an additional Recipient Policy for all users, set the Default Recipient policies primary SMTP address to something other than @somorita.com. And, of course, clear the This Exchange Organization Is Responsible for All Mail Delivery To This Address checkbox on the new policy's SMTP address space.

let me know how you get on with the above....as I am out of ideas now hopefully that should do the trick!

Also is it all users or 1 user in specific? The reason I ask is this is also common if you have mail forwarding to say gmail.com and the end user then has gmail forwarding to his work email etc

its all users in the main office.  I tested a couple others this afternoon.
Ill check your link above and report back.
thanks for the help.

OK no problem if all the above fail then please use the Exchange best Practise analyzer

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=DBAB201F-4BEE-4943-AC22-E2DDBD258DF3&displaylang=en

that didnt work either.
So I did some googling.  There are SMTP Connectors in Exchange 2000 but they are under routing groups.

I have 2 routing groups.  One called MAIN-BRANCH with a remote bridgehead of BRANCH - default SMTP server and another called BRANCH-MAIN with a remote bridgehead of MAIN - default smtp server.

So my object now I think is to create 2 SMTP connectors.
One with address space of * with a smarthost
one with address space of DOMAINNAME.COM and no smarthost.

Question is which routing group to put it under?  What bridgehead to use?

Bridgeheads act as replicators and normally are automatically chosen, you can select other dc's to act as bridgeheades

Please read to understand bridgeheads:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/271997

The problem your describing should be resolved by this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;288175

You should have a SMTP connector uses a smart host correct?

In Exchange System Manager if you go to your routing groups could you please post screen shots of both server connectors so I can see

do you use a smart host correct*

i want to yes ;)
the problem is when the smarthost is enabled on the smtp default virtual server the mail from MAIN to BRANCH is bounced.
...

Livegirllove you say you have 2 routing group connectors is this done because due to network traffic?

I would strongly advise you to read the following article to understand routing group connectors if you still get stuck then please post screen shots of the setup so I can assist further :)

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5033689.html

see attached.
I have no idea why there are 2 routing groups.  I just walked in on this clients mess...  

Also how to setup a SMTP connector in exchange 2000 / 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/265293

I am going to hit the sack now as its 5am in London if you still need assistance please post some screenshots

heres the bridge heads

OK I am looking at them now

Ok that looks fine to me unless I am missing something its late!! Are you currently using DNS to route traffic then?

yes and that works fine other than other ISPs bouncing and greylisting them due to no RDNS, previous spam problems etc....  So I want to se a smarthost instead.  Usually an easy process with one exchange server ;)

ill give that a shot.  get some sleep.  this can wait a day ;)

ok night :)