Poking around Exchange.

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Blitzrommel

2[H]4U
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Sep 26, 2001
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I've implemented Exchange 2003 (Yes, a legal license! :p) in my house as a learning experience -- and have it set up so my fiancee and I can send each other messages, share each other's calendars, contact, etc. in Outlook 2003. Works great, and finally got some use out of a dual P3-800 server I've had laying around.

I'd like to eventually make the addresses externally useable. In other words, use my Exchange mailbox to send to other people's e-mail address that's not in the AD domain. I can make the necessary MX records and set my reverse DNS entry; and I (using everydns.net) host my domain name that I'd like to use for my e-mail address.

So, what do I need to do in Exchange to make my mailbox external? I'm sure it's possible, although my domain is set with a .local extension. I'm fairly familiar with AD, and I feel I'm pretty proficient with DNS. Or better yet, can someone point me to a guide?
 
Blitzrommel said:
I've implemented Exchange 2003 (Yes, a legal license! :p) in my house as a learning experience -- and have it set up so my fiancee and I can send each other messages, share each other's calendars, contact, etc. in Outlook 2003. Works great, and finally got some use out of a dual P3-800 server I've had laying around.

I'd like to eventually make the addresses externally useable. In other words, use my Exchange mailbox to send to other people's e-mail address that's not in the AD domain. I can make the necessary MX records and set my reverse DNS entry; and I (using everydns.net) host my domain name that I'd like to use for my e-mail address.

So, what do I need to do in Exchange to make my mailbox external? I'm sure it's possible, although my domain is set with a .local extension. I'm fairly familiar with AD, and I feel I'm pretty proficient with DNS. Or better yet, can someone point me to a guide?
Click to expand...


you need to make an SMTP connector. A receipent policy with the external domain name. forward port 25 from your router to your exchange server.
 
Blitzrommel said:
And once I open port 25, that'll be sufficient to accept incoming e-mail as well?
Click to expand...


yes. exchange uses SMTP (port 25) to send and receive e-mail with other mail servers.
 
versello said:
An SMTP connector isn't necessary.
Click to expand...

Would you mind elaborating? I just wanna be able to send/receive stuff. I've already added an MX record to mail.x.net, and mail.x.net has an A record to my IP address. And it's already propagated throughout the world of DNS servers, apparently. Here's what I did:

I configured my recipient policy (the default one) with a rule that says smtp: %[email protected] (%m is for the Exchange Alias). Then, I configured my default virtual SMTP server to have the FQDN of mail.x.net. (with period at end). And of course, I forwarded SMTP to my exchange server.

I just sent an e-mail from my workstation using exchange to an external address, and I sent an e-mail from my external address to my exchange address. So far, nothing.
 
Actually, lemee see here -- the SMTP connector be necessary if my rDNS for my internet connection didn't match my e-mail domain name, right?
 
Blitzrommel said:
Actually, lemee see here -- the SMTP connector be necessary if my rDNS for my internet connection didn't match my e-mail domain name, right?
Click to expand...

No. The SMTP connector is really just for customized message routing. I've never used it at work and I've never used it at home.

A couple things you may want to do, since it sounds like you've done everything needed so far, is enable message tracking and see what happened to your outbound message. You can also check the mail queue and make sure it's not sitting there.

Also, try telnetting into port 25 of your external hostname... if you see the "Microsoft Exchange blah blah blah" prompt, then you know you've got port forwarding working.

On another note, once you get everything working, you may want to have outbound e-mail forwarded to your ISP's email server for relaying.
 
So, here's what I got when I telnetted into port 25 of my domain name (x.net is a substitute for what I really used).

Connected to x.net.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 mail.x.net Microsoft ESMTP MAIL Service, Version: 5.0.2195.6713 ready at Sat, 3 Dec 2005 23:23:36 -0600
Click to expand...

Is that Exchange? It says "ESMTP"
 
I solved the problem of not being able to receive e-mail -- my 2wire is now decommissioned because it was confused which computer was what. Replaced it with my HotBrick, it's all good now.

I also solved the problem of not being able to send -- apparently, my rDNS wasn't truly changed so I was blacklisted :) Grr. I had to set up a SmartHost to my SBC's SMTP server.

I now can send/receive e-mail with my very own Exchange server. Thanks oakfan/versello.

Next step: remote sync with my Treo :)
 
Blitzrommel said:
I solved the problem of not being able to receive e-mail -- my 2wire is now decommissioned because it was confused which computer was what.
Click to expand...

That's one (of several things) I don't like about those 2Wires...the port forwarding is quite a bit wonky. It's like those routers evolved on an entirely different planet. Port forwarding using netbios names...when the connected computers can show several "ghosted" computers under the same name but using different IP addresses. Just weird.
 
Blitzrommel said:
I solved the problem of not being able to receive e-mail -- my 2wire is now decommissioned because it was confused which computer was what. Replaced it with my HotBrick, it's all good now.

I also solved the problem of not being able to send -- apparently, my rDNS wasn't truly changed so I was blacklisted :) Grr. I had to set up a SmartHost to my SBC's SMTP server.

I now can send/receive e-mail with my very own Exchange server. Thanks oakfan/versello.

Next step: remote sync with my Treo :)
Click to expand...

Heh, cool. Yea, my entire subnet is blacklisted, so I have to use my ISP's SMTP server as a relay.

Btw, I reccomend you get Exchange Service Pack 2 on there.
 
versello said:
Heh, cool. Yea, my entire subnet is blacklisted, so I have to use my ISP's SMTP server as a relay.

Btw, I reccomend you get Exchange Service Pack 2 on there.
Click to expand...

DId that before I even set up the mailboxes. :)
 
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