MX Record Issue

If the domain1 Web site is available publically (on the Web), you should not have any entries in your internal network.  The DNS resolution would be done by a public DNS server.
If the Web site is only internal such as an Intranet, youll have to create a new zone for the second domain (domain1.com).
I hope it helps!

I am hosting www.stjohns-excelsior.org website on the www.h51software.net domain.

The first domain seems ok. It has an MX record which points to a seemingly valid MS SMTP server. The 2nd domain doesn't have an MX record.

Phil

alvesva is right, They should not have to provide you with the MX records these should be on a public DNS server. (I am assuming that thier domain is not on your network)

so I now have valid mx record for h51software.net (my network/domain) and stjohns-excelsior.org (not my network but their site is hosted on my network).  I have both mx records in my forward lookup zones.  Is that correct?  if not please advise.  If it is correct, please let me know where I might look next for the solution.

I REALLY appreciate the help!

On your mail server try to lookup the mx record for the domain you cannot send emails to:
start - run - type cmd and hit ok
type: nslookup   hit enter
type: set q=mx   hit enter
type in the domain you cannot send emails to and hit enter (ie: microsoft.com)

Verify the results are correct

it did not come up correct.  It came up as my server, not the mail server on their domain.  How do I resolve that?

I assume you have a primary zone (forward) for thier domain on your DNS server. This is the zone where you need to creatre the MX record .

Should I do this on my domain controller or on my web server?

This should be done on the DNS server that you mail server is pointing to.

ipconfig /all from the command line will tell you.

Once you add the record on the dns server rerun the nslookup command if idoesn't match what you have entered  run ipconfig /flushdns on the mail server

Nothing is working.  Could this be a host files issue?  Anyway here is everything I can tell you:

1) My exchange server is definitely confused.  It doesn't know where to send the emails to stjohns-excelsior.org.  I have the mx record pointing to the correct place in the dns on my domain controller (which doubles as my exchenger server).  The forward lookup has an entry for mx.stjohns-excelsior.org.  Still, the messages sit in the queue waiting to resend.  When I open the properties for these Items I get "Unable to bind to the destination server in dns."

2) Should I do anything in the reverse lookup zones?  When I right click on the properties for the pointer for this domain in there what should be checked under "Security"?  There is an entry there for Exchange Enterprise Servers (but there is no IUSR entry?)

3) Should I be doing something from within Exchange itself?

4) What about the web server?  All pages come up just fine-there is no issue at all on this end of things but should I do anything there in terms of this problem?

5) When I do the nslookup process for this mx record it points to my domain controller, not the domain that is hosting their exchange.

I appreciate anything anyone can do!!!!!!!

I can only think of one other thing:  the stjohns-excelsior.org website is a single page that redirects to another site on my server. How should I handle that from an mx record issue?

Do you have a forward DNS zone for stjohns-excelsior.org on your internal DNS server?

You do not need reverse zone to make this work. Your exchange server is querying DNS for the mx record for stjohns-excelsior.org if this forward zone is not on your local DNS server it should forward the request out to a public DNS server.
Here is the return I get:
stjohns-excelsior.org   MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mx.stjohns-excelsior.org

I do have a forward to mx.stjohns.excelsior.org on my internal dns server in the forward lookup zone for this site.  I assume the public dns server is mx.stjohns-exceclsior.org?

This is getting nuts.  I do apologize for all the time you are spending.  Can anyone please tell me just exactly what my dns/domain controller, exchange server, and iis on my web server should look like in order to send mail to stjohns-excelsior.org?  I realize this is almost certainly my error and my inexperience and I truly appreciate all the help I am getting but I really need to resolve this.

Here is how my system is set up:
1) I have a hardware firewall.
2) I have a domain controller (windows 2000 server) that also housesmy dns and my exchange server.
3) On a seperate box I have my web server (windows 2003 server).

Here is what is happening:
Everything is working fine except that I can not send emaisl, either from my outlook or usng cdosys from www.stjohns-excelsior.org, to anyone at some_user@stjohns-exceclsior.org.  They can send to me just fine.

Here is the set-up:
1) St Johns is hosting their own domain
2) I am hosting a website for stjohns-excelsior.org on my web server at h51software.net.
3) The requests for www.stjohns-excelsior.org come in and are redirected to www.h51school.com/schools/home_page.asp?school_id=1 (on the same server).

Can someone please tell me the following:
1) Is there anything that i need to do on my web server?
2) What records should I have (a, mx, etc) in my dnsmgmt utility on my domain controller, and in which zone (stjohns-excelsior.org and/or h51school.com).
3) Is there anything I can do with my exchange server to resolve this issue

As always, your help is MUCH APPRECIATED!!!