Hi, I am very new to microsoft exchange 2003 but I also very good with this kind of stuff (usually) so stick with meMy problem is that I can send mail to my SMTP server just fine but it gets stuck in the queue and gives me an error saying "The remote server did not respond to a connection attempt"I am guessing that I probably have something configured incorrectlyWhat I have tried doing so far is running the Internet Mail Wizard and choosing to use my ISP's DNS servers as my external DNS servers.Then, I read somewhere that to test the server I should try sending a message through telnet, which I can, but like I said before, it gets stuck in the queueAs far as I can tell all the traffic is directed to go through port 25 which I called to unblock from my ISP earlier in the day (maybe the unblock wasn't instant?).I have no idea what to do at this point and I have scoured the web for answers and have come up with no solutions. If someone could walk me through setting up a SMTP server correctly that would be great, or at least try to help me in any way.Thanks

First Thing to be checked. can you ping those DNS servers from your exchange 2003 ? make sure firewall is not causing any issue. Take a look @ below article and see if you ahevc configured accordingly? http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996370%28EXCHG.65%29.aspx Vinod |CCNA|MCSE 2003 +Messaging|MCTS|ITIL V3|

I can ping both of the DNS servers I want to use just fine from the server. Now that I am looking at that wizard again, I did not meet one of the prerequisites. "DNS must be correctly configured for the Exchange server. Your DNS server must have a mail exchanger (MX) record pointing to the Internet IP address of your Exchange server and must be able to resolve external Internet addresses" how exactly do I go about doing this?

Dont you have MX record created for your domain? You can check the same from below tool http://www.mxtoolbox.com/ Vinod |CCNA|MCSE 2003 +Messaging|MCTS|ITIL V3|

apparently I do not mxtoolbox said that my domain did not respond with MX records I also ran the diagnostic tool on mxtoolbox. The session transcript said the following: 550 5.7.1 Unable to relay for test@mxtoolbox.c [47 ms] I don't know if this means anything.

MX record is necessary in order to recieve emails. Is this one a brand new setup? was it handled by ISP earlier? while creating Internet mail connector what option did you choose? sending email or recieving email? Vinod |CCNA|MCSE 2003 +Messaging|MCTS|ITIL V3|

Hi, Please understand that for sending email, your mail server needs to query recipients domain MX record to locate the recipients mail server. Then, your mail server needs to telnet to remote mail server to deliver message. Therefore, for sending email problem, you need to check: 1. Whether your mail server is able to connect to DNS server to query MX to get correct record? 2. Whether your mail server is able to telnet to remote mail server. Note: If your Exchange Server is configured to deliver all outbound mails to ISP, please ensure your server can telnet to remote ISP server correctly. For receiving mail issue, the remote mail server need to query DNS server to locate your mail server according to MX record. Then, the remote mail server attempts to telnet your server to deliver message. Therefore, for receiving mail issue: 1. Please publish your MX record to external DNS server 2. Ensure the 25 ports is opened For your reference: Verifying DNS Design and Configuration http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996996(EXCHG.65).aspx For testing SMTP Communication, you can telnet remote server manually from Exchange Server: XFOR: Telnet to Port 25 to Test SMTP Communication http://support.microsoft.com/kb/153119/en-us Mike Shen TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com