Exchange 2003: what is the best Practice for handling nondelivery, bad mail, and unresolved recipeients?
I am new to exchange administration and want to make sure I am following best practice in regards to handling nondelivery, bad mail and unresolved recipients.
I have a copy of the NDRs forwarded to my email address. However, I don't see how I can do much with these as they don't show the sender or the body of the email. What I would like to do is forward the email to the correct recipient if the sender mistypes the email address.
I've read articles on setting up virtual SMTP servers and so on I've seen info on the bad mail directory.
Question part 1: I'm curious as to what, if anything I should be doing on this and how to do it. Should I just let exchange send NDRs and let the senders and recipients figure it out or should I be doing more?
Question part 2: Can people reply to NDRs in order to send a message for help? Currently, I notice the NDRs come from system administrator. I've heard something about setting up a postmaster account that will send the NDRs and will appear in the reply to field. How do I accomplish this?
I have a copy of the NDRs forwarded to my email address. However, I don't see how I can do much with these as they don't show the sender or the body of the email. What I would like to do is forward the email to the correct recipient if the sender mistypes the email address.
I've read articles on setting up virtual SMTP servers and so on I've seen info on the bad mail directory.
Question part 1: I'm curious as to what, if anything I should be doing on this and how to do it. Should I just let exchange send NDRs and let the senders and recipients figure it out or should I be doing more?
Question part 2: Can people reply to NDRs in order to send a message for help? Currently, I notice the NDRs come from system administrator. I've heard something about setting up a postmaster account that will send the NDRs and will appear in the reply to field. How do I accomplish this?
ASKER
When you say you set the postmaster@ address to an account, do you mean you add this as an additional email address for the administrator mailbox in AD? or do you create an separate user "postmaster" in AD and give that a mailbox and open that as an additional mailbox? What's the advantage of setting up a postmaster address? vs just having a copy of the NDRs go the administrator's mailbox?
I've already done step two (so that email is not delivered to my server)
I've already done step two (so that email is not delivered to my server)
ASKER
anyone?
Sorry for the delay in replying... yesterday was a public holiday in the UK and I spent the weekend away from my laptop.
There is no advantage to having a separate postmaster account. I tend to put the postmaster@ account on to the administrator so I know where it is. The other thing that I have done is put postmaster@ on to a distribution list.
I don't tend to create a separate postmaster@ mailbox - this is a waste and most people expect the account to be on administrator@
Simon.
There is no advantage to having a separate postmaster account. I tend to put the postmaster@ account on to the administrator so I know where it is. The other thing that I have done is put postmaster@ on to a distribution list.
I don't tend to create a separate postmaster@ mailbox - this is a waste and most people expect the account to be on administrator@
Simon.
ASKER
NDRs come from "system administrator" and there is no option to reply. how do i change this?
ASKER
anyone?
Open the message that is in the NDR. You can then deal with the message itself.
You cannot do anything with the actual NDR.
Simon.
You cannot do anything with the actual NDR.
Simon.
ASKER
the NDR doesn't say who it is coming from only the recipient?
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ASKER
Ok, i see the send again. It is coming from my server. My question is, why can't I see who the sender is?
The copy of the NDR just says from system administrator to me and has copy of the NDR message in the body. I can't see who the sender was.
The copy of the NDR just says from system administrator to me and has copy of the NDR message in the body. I can't see who the sender was.
When you hit send again you should see the sender listed in the From line.
Remember that is just a COPY of the NDR. The sender will have received one as well.
Simon.
Remember that is just a COPY of the NDR. The sender will have received one as well.
Simon.
ASKER
nope, the sender line is blank
ASKER
ok sometimes its there and sometimes it isn't. but the send again helps as i can correct the email addy if want to get to correct person. thanks for your help
ASKER
but my last question is since it comes addressed from system administrator----there is no email address associated with that. how can i attach one so that if the sender gets an NDR they have a way to get in touch with the system administrator?
ASKER
never mind-i did a test from my yahoo account and it does come from postmaster@
and you can reply.
Thanks for your help
and you can reply.
Thanks for your help
The thing to remember is that this is just a copy of the NDR - so the sender will already have received one.
The other thing you could do is change a setting in Exchange so that the email is not even delivered to your server when misaddressed. Exchange can filter invalid recipients at the SMTP Communication level.
http://www.amset.info/exchange/filterunknown.asp
You might want to try that instead.
Simon.
Exchange MVP.