hi i have exchanger server 2003 and i want to use it for sending and receiving external emails, what do i need to accomplish this? we have ISP hosting our emails thanks

You have to work with your ISP to send SMTP mail to your Exchange server. To send mail, create an SMTP Connector with address space *. Either configure your ISP's SMTP server to be your smart host, or don't, depending on whether your ISP requires it. Be sure that you have a recipient policy containing your SMTP domain, and recipients have SMTP addresses for which they will receive mail.Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

Hi, As I understand, you are using the third-party email system before. Recently, you deployed an Exchange server 2003. IF you still want the third party email system coexist with Exchange server, you need to share SMTP address. How to share an SMTP address space in Exchange 2000 Server or in Exchange Server 2003 Setting up SMTP domains for inbound and relay e-mail in Exchange 2000 Server and in Exchange Server 2003 In this way, if you want to send and receive Email through Exchange server 2003, you need to modify MX record points to Exchange server, and set the third-party domain as Exchange server 2003's internal relay domain. If you want to get rid of the third-party email system. You need to modify MX record point the Exchange server 2003. And I suggest you using ISA to publish Exchange server. Publishing Exchange Server 2003 with ISA Server 2006

can we review the steps to accomplish this the right way: -when you said: configure your ISP's SMTP server to be your smart host, you mean to do it through my internal DNS server? i can send external emails but i want to receive external emails through exchange server 2003: 1-do i need real IP address for my exchange server to receive external emails from my ISP host? and does it mean that i need two network cards for the server? 2-do i have to change MX records in my ISP Cpanel and what recored should i add? please explain in details thanks

DNS is for name resolution. A smart host is an SMTP server to which all outbound SMTP mail goes, for example if you have an appliance or service doing message hygiene, or your ISP requires you to use their SMTP server. If you don't use a smart host, the SMTP server will attempt to talk to the SMTP server of the target domain by using DNS. Back to DNS, it's best to use your server's DNS server, and to ensure that your sever's DNS can properly resolve Internet names. As to your numbered questions: 1-That's between you and your ISP. If your ISP owns your domain, then it has to know how to route your SMTP mail to your server. 2-That's between your and your ISP. You should discuss this with your ISP.Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."