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sender email bounced back when they send email to my users

hi
i have a exchange server 2003 i have been experiencing a problem where other company are unable to send emails to us and they get bounce back message i do not have any problems when i am sending emails but it happens with couple of companies when they try to send emails to my company users they do not receive it instead they get bounce back.
this problem doesn't happen in all scenarios i still receive emails from many companies but i am so fed up with this issue evertime i looked into this problem it was a dead end couldn't figure out the reason for the problem and how to resolves this issue

Can you ask them to send you the mail headers?

ASKER

i can do that this is what i found when i checked on http://www.mxtoolbox.com/diagnostic.aspx
Rev DNS Check:       Reverse DNS FAILED! This is a problem.

RESULT: myserver.com
Banner:      220 myserver.com Microsoft ESMTP MAIL Service, Version: 6.0.3790.3959 ready at Wed, 1 Jul 2009 13:15:31 +0100
Connect Time:       0 seconds - Good
Transaction Time:       5.593 seconds - Warning
Relay Check:       OK - This server is not an open relay.
Rev DNS Check:       Reverse DNS FAILED! This is a problem.
GeoCode Info:      Geocoding server is unavailable
Session Transcript:      HELO please-read-policy.mxtoolbox.com
250 myserver.com Hello [64.20.227.13 [141 ms]
MAIL FROM: <test@mxtoolbox.com>
250 2.1.0 test@mxtoolbox.com....Sender [172 ms]
RCPT TO: <test@mxtoolbox.com>
550 5.7.1 Unable to relay for test@mxtoolbox.c [5140 ms]
QUIT
221 2.0.0 myserver.com Service closing transmission chann [141 ms]

Talk to your ISP and ask them to setup a Reverse DNS Pointer on your IP Address.

If you are checking your mail domain then you need to have your ISP setup a reverse DNS entry.
If you are checking the senders domain then your spam filtering is blocking those domains that have not setup a reverse DNS with their ISP for their mail domain

Also ask your external party to send you the rejection message that they are getting - it will be a big clue.
Do you have any Spam Filtering software on your server? - they may be getting filtered.
Are you using Exchange Intelligent Message Filter? - they may be getting blocked.
What is their domain name / IP Addess (you can email me via my profile if you don't want this info posted on EE) - they may be on a blacklist.

Do you have a reverse DNS record on the DC? Also, have you contacted your ISP and asked them to create a reverse lookup record? The typically just need the name of your mail server and they will create the record for you on their end.

ASKER

hi
thing is when i put the domain name in it doesn't find the reverse look up but when i enter the ip address it does provide the reverse lookup i only see the information if i enter the details on dignostic page it doesnt find it in mslooup

ASKER

i am even getting bounce back when microsoft sends me email, i do have exchange filter setup

Visit http://www.dnsstuff.com and perform a domain report - if you need to subscribe, drop me an email - details in my profile - I have a subscription and can tell you what the problem might be if there is one.

ASKER

this is the result from the mx record website
result.JPG

ASKER

its saying ERROR: Unable to run health check

Before doing anything else - what is the message the external user is receiving from your server tellng them that delivery failed?
Not much point doing anything before knowing the reason.

I don't want to steal anyone's thunder, but I do want to interject a couple of points here:

First, the reverse DNS record wouldn't have any effect on INCOMING e-mail. It might cause problems with outgoing mail, but that's not the issue here, so you should probably ignore it until the current problem is resolved.

Second: alanhardisty, you might want to be careful about those offers to communicate with the OP via e-mail; I think you might be skirting a little close to a violation of the TOS. This is just a friendly reminder; I'm not trying to start anything. ;)

That said, I concur with what the others have said about getting the headers from the bounced messages from the other companies; you need to figure out what's causing the bounce before you can fix it.

:)

ASKER

hi guys
i am still getting nowhere every time i try to ressolve this problem i do not get anywhere i appreciate alan offer what i am trying to establish what are the factors cause message to be bounce back in some case but in general i am able to receive emails from most senders

Hi TekServer,
Understand about your concerns - most OP's usually don't want to post their proper details on the EE site, so to get the ball moving I suggest to contact me via my own email. I wil read the TOS and see what is in there and abide by them if I am being a little close to violating them. Thanks for the heads-up.
Agree that the RDNS is not the issue - something to resolve once all is well.
Can't wait for the bounce details.
Alan :-)

ASKER

the frustrating part is i dont have any recent header to show and i guess you guys will understand that one cant ask client for the message specially when it has failed to send the original message

Can you call them and ask for the error code from the email in their bounce message?
Failing that - as I may have already dug a hole for myself ;-(, can you email me your email address and I'll send you a test message to get the ball rolling - sorry TekServer / EE Gods!

@alan: I understand; I'm quite paranoid about my own online presence and I generally play my hand close to my chest whenever possible. I think you'll be okay, as long as you share your observations on whatever you find out outside this question. The EE PTB's only get perturbed (and rightly so) when a conversation leading to a fix moves from an EE question off to another medium that's not tracked on the EE site (and therefore not archived for posterity, and unfair to other experts, etc. etc.).

@matt: Do you have a copy of one of the bounce messages, even without headers? If not, can you maybe get one of the other parties to send you a copy to an alternate e-mail address - maybe a Gmail address or something?

:)

Totally understand TekServer - would not want to hide the solution and will keep the thread updated.

ASKER

ok alan i guess i just have to wait for the bounce back message

Okay - test email sent to Matti but it got through - that's no help.
You emailed me the domain name of a company that cannot get through to you and they use messagelabs for their inbound mail, so determining where they send from is not going to be easy.
Have you any more domains that cannot send to you that you can let me test please?
Thanks
Alan

ASKER

i do have another one do you want me to send you but i am not sure whether they use messagelabs or not

Sadly, the mail server(s) (both the same IP Addresses) for messagelabs for the domain you sent me last, before my above post, is listed on the Lashback Blacklisting site, but a request to be removed has been sent.
Do you check blacklists on your server?

Second domain you sent me uses - guess what? Messagelabs!
The IP listed for this domain is also on the Lashback site.
I am sensing a theme here - is anyone else? ;-)
Alan

ASKER

so you are saying people who are trying to send mail there ip addresses are blacklisted, i do not check blacklist on the server

ASKER

ya thats the main reason i have given up on this issue a while back when people sent me using messagelab i told my users to get it on your personnel mails i have spoken to messagelabs they are the most retarded orgainisation when i called them and said can you please ressolve this why your software is doing this to my mail server they said we cant help you because you are not our client when our client contacted them they said to the client they need my company approaval

Well - I don't know if they send out messages via Messagelabs, but they may do and Messagelabs right now are blacklisted on Lashback.
Too coincidental to be ignored.
Are you using Intelligent Message Filtering on your SMTP Virtual Server and is the UCE turned on and set to block?
http://www.petri.co.il/block_spam_with_exchange2003_imf.htm

Oh - a nice game of IT ping pong - how thoroughly productive!
If all are okay apart from the Messagelabs people, I would leave it for 24-48 hours and then see if the blacklist has been lifter.
Check on http://www.mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx using the IP's gleamed from http://www.dnsstuff.com for the MX records listed after you do a DNS Report on the sending domains with problems.

ASKER

i am using ntelligent Message Filtering

Can you disable it temporarily? I know it's crazy with the amount of spam going on, but it may prove to be your Filtering Software checking undesirable IP's.

ASKER

i just spoken to messagelabs and then the guy sent me emails to test and i did get his emails from messagelab i gave him a nice one though he has offered me some help if i provide the bounce back message but its frustrating again back to square one.

ASKER

if thats the case why only messagelabs customers are not able to send ? i do that if you say it will help but i can only do it for a short period of time due to spam issue

Turn off - ask sender to send a message and then turn back on after they confirm that they have sent the message.

ASKER

i have changed it as follow is it enough?
messagefilter.JPG

That should do.

Any other filtering / blocking going on on the various tabs?
Might be worth writing down anything snd removing the details if there is.

ASKER

i dont have another setting in any other tabs which will effect

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ASKER

unfortunately right now no one is available to do the honour lol i guess i will have to look into it again

ASKER

thanks i guess this is how far we can go with this issue i will take the action next time as soon anyone get the bounce back message

What - people have homes to go to?
No problems - please get them to try and post back here once we know some new info please.
Thanks
Alan

ASKER

i will do thanks alan for your time i really appreciate it

Anytime Matti - always happy to help. Hope it gets resolved in the shortness of time.