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BGilhooley

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Exchange 2003, moving inbound SMTP

Hi experts,

I am in the process of doing my first Exchange migration. My query is in relation to moving the inbound SMTP and also the default SMTP virtual server name. I am following Simons very useful guide: http://www.amset.info/exchange/migration.asp

The setup here is we have a PPOE DSL broadband connection for our mail. Our router WAN address is 83.XX.XX.47 and then the current old mail server has 2 NIC's, one with LAN IP and then one with 83.XX.XX.48 connected to the DSL router.

So, when it comes time for me to have the mail delivered straight to my new server is it as straight forward as giving the second NIC in my new server the same IP address (83.XX.XX.48) and just plugging that into the router? Will that work?

Also, the internet name, just looking for clarification on this also. At the moment this is 'oldservername.domainname.com', So, on the new server the FQDN is currently 'newservername.domainname.com'. Does this need to be changed?

Thanks in advance..
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tigermatt
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Hey Simon, were your ears burning? :-)

Good point which I should have mentioned. Dual homed Exchange Servers can be a mess, so if you can, keep it on a single NIC and simplify matters as Simon has said.

-Matt
I suspect my ears are burnt to a crisp by now.

-M
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BGilhooley

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Matt and Simon, thanks for the feedback. Sorry i dont want to burn anyones ears Simon!

Can I ask for a bit more advice please. You say that our current setup of a public and local IP isnt ideal. What are my options?

Should I change from this PPOE/dsl setup? With it in place I dont see how I can do to a single NIC setup? On the DSL netgear router there is a static route setup to the IP of the 83.XX.XX.48 NIC on the current mail server.
When i am doing this project would I be aswell to change the lot and get my ISP to change the dated DSL setup we have?


It ultimately depends on how your Internet Connection, ISP and Routers interconnect with each other. However, there is no reason why you cannot add the public IP as an additional IP on the local NIC. This is very easy to accomplish, and would result in that single NIC listening on both the internal private IP and the external public IP.

-Matt
Ok Matt, thanks again. I will go with adding the public IP address on the local NIC so. What is the main difference between having 2 NICs versus adding the 2 IP's on 1 NIC? Just curious given that whoever here did the initially exchange setup used 2 NICs.

With the FQDN then, I  dont understand what is best here yet sorry. Our PTR record for mail.ourdomain.com points to the public IP of the router. So, am I right in thinking I dont need to touch the FQDN on the new server?
Another point...

On the old server (which is one of our 2 domain DNS servers) the the NIC with the public IP also uses DNS servers of our ISP. Its as follows:

IP -     83.XX.XX.48
SM - 255.255.255.252
No Gateway

DNS 159.x.x.x
        159.x.x.x

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Oh... and you never want to put ISP DNS servers on any NIC config in any machine on a network / domain. Always have the internal Active Directory DNS server(s) in there - which then forward the request to the ISP when they cannot resolve it internally themselves.

-Matt

Alright, thanks Matt again.

This looks like where I was confused. When I conect to the current old mail server in ESM, browse to the default SMTP virtual server - properties - delivery - advanced the FQDN is OldServerName.ourdomain.com, this I understand now is the SMTP banner.

At present the corresponding setting on the new server is NewServerName.ourdomain.com.

So, I need to change this setting to match the current one.  It is ok to have the 2 exist online for a period of time (until the old one is decommissioned) both having the same SMTP banner?
It looks like you have mulitple IPs, therefore the PTR/rDNS record should be the IP of the mail server (83.XX.XX.48) not the router..
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Thanks Matt, clarifies that for me. You have been very helpful with your replies and its much appreciated by an apprentice exchange admin like me!

Press2Esc, the PTR is and has for a long time been the IP of the router.

Since you aren't changing the external IP address or DNS configuration, there should be no need for you to modify the PTR record or what is set as the SMTP banner. All you need to do is set the new server to use the same SMTP banner as the old server, and ensure it uses the same external IP, and you should be ready to roll.

-Matt

Yea ok, so I will change the SMTP banner of the new server to match what the current one is so I will have both set to 'oldservername.ourdomain.com'.  I read somewhere I think that generally the MX record and SMTP banner are the same but in our case they're not but I assume this doesnt matter?

In general I'd keep the MX record and the SMTP banner the same to keep matters simple. Technically, it shouldn't matter, but it's a good idea to.

What is your MX record?
I see. Its mail.ourdomain.com, working fine in that we are having no problems receiving or sending mail

If it's worked fine, then you'd probably be best just copying how it's currently configured.

In a single server setup I would usually have the PTR record mapping to the same FQDN as the MX record, and the MX record pointing to the same IP as the PTR record references, and thirdly also ensuring the SMTP banner matches the MX record. That way you cannot go wrong.

However if it has worked, keep the current config as that is a known, working configuration. Don't change too many things at a time as it helps when troubleshooting later on!

-Matt

Yep Matt, given my rookie exchange experience I am definitely going to go with the 'if its not broken dont fix it' mantra for the time being!  :)

I was thinking of spliting the points something like 400 to you and 100 to Simon if you think that is fair? You did most of the work on this one in fairness but Simon did come in with the nugget yesterday about the multi-homed setup. That fair?

None of the Experts really have any say in how you want award the points. It is ultimately your decision, so please go ahead and award however many points to each user as you see fit.

-Matt
Thanks again for the excellent input and Matt and Simon, I am currently at the stage of replicating system folders so hopefully in a week or so I will have all 90 users moved over :)
Tigermatt/Methsa, I have all my mail moved over onto new server, all is well from that end however I have run into a puzzle with the port setup on my router that should in theory be an easy change.

the port setup (I have attached a screenshot) has the old servers IP address 192.168.1.2, so I change that to the LAN IP of the new server. However, once I make this change external mail no longer is delivered. If I change it back again to the IP of the old server, mail flows again. If I need to post a fresh question please let me know, just it is connected to the above question, thanks guys.
Sorry, here is the screenshot...
ss.bmp
I'd suggest you post a new question for this - only because it's not directly connected with the above... just a symptom of your migration :-)