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BigZWillis

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Exchange SMTP virtual connector FQDN... domain.com or mail.domain.com... Easy question!

When configuring my Exchange 2003 SMTP virtual server, what do I use for the FQDN under the advanced delivery section. Do I use our domain.com or mail.domain.com... Here is how it is setup:

MX record for domain.com is mail.domain.com
PTR for IP points to mail.domain.com
A record exists for mail.domain.com

I'm assuming that I put mail.domain.com in there and that is what I have been using... However we have been having some outgoing email issues and I want to make sure that part is correct. Thanks...
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Fire_fly321
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You should use the Fully Qualified Domain Name of the Exchange server. This is the computer name of the responsible exchange server followed by the full domain name of your Active Directory domain.

Servername.domainname.com  

Your internal domain name does not necessarily need to match your externally registered name. For example you could have bought the domain name Microsoft.com but be using Microsoft.local on your internal network. In this case you will need to specify an alias for your server to accept mail from.  

I do have a question though. Do you have a specific reason for creating an SMTP server in addition to the default that should already exist from the original install? What is the overall goal here?
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wtstadd
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If you are having an outgoing mail issue, the most common issue is with dns resolution.

Try testing out a few mail domains you are having trouble with

From a command prompt:

Nslookup

Set type=mx

Domainname.com

The dns server should be able to return the ip address of the mail server that is responsible for handling email in the destination domain. If not then you have a DNS issue.
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BigZWillis

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Firefly... You are saying make the FQDN the INTERNAL FQDN of my exchange server? So server.domain.corp in my case? That is only an internally resolvable name though?
wtstadd, so you use mail.domain.com? I have reverse DNS setup on that IP, and it's the MX record for our domain, and it has an A record. That is what I want to use right?
Yes, that is correct, the DNS that you are refering to it is outside reachable correct? Or is it internal?
Correct... I will leave it as mail.domain.com them... Thank you!