Exchange Tool – SMTPDIAG.EXE

SMTPDIAG is a tool supplied by Microsoft to test SMTP and DNS related issues in Exchange server.
Download SMTPDIAG

Syntax:

Usage:
C:\SmtpDiag>SmtpDiag.exe tariq@microsoft.com tariq@cisco.com /v
You can also specify an external DNS with –d switch

Report:

What to look:
White text indicates action being taken.
Gray indicates informational results.
Green indicates a successful test result.
Red indicates a failed test result.

Successful mail flow:

Complete Output SMTPDIAG:
Searching for Exchange external DNS settings.
Computer name is FPDMBX01.
VSI 1 has the following external DNS servers:
213.42.20.20,195.229.241.222
VSI 3 has the following external DNS servers:
213.42.20.20,195.229.241.222

Checking SOA for cisco.com.
Checking external DNS servers.

Checking TCP/UDP SOA serial number using DNS server [213.42.20.20].
TCP test succeeded.
UDP test succeeded.
Serial number: 9154727

Checking TCP/UDP SOA serial number using DNS server [195.229.241.222].
TCP test succeeded.
UDP test succeeded.
Serial number: 9154727

Checking TCP/UDP SOA serial number using DNS server [213.42.20.20].
TCP test succeeded.
UDP test succeeded.
Serial number: 9154727

Checking TCP/UDP SOA serial number using DNS server [195.229.241.222].
TCP test succeeded.
UDP test succeeded.
Serial number: 9154727
Checking internal DNS servers.

Checking TCP/UDP SOA serial number using DNS server [192.168.100.150].
TCP test succeeded.
UDP test failed.
Serial number: 9154727

Checking TCP/UDP SOA serial number using DNS server [192.168.100.110].
TCP test succeeded.
UDP test succeeded.
Serial number: 9154727
SOA serial number match: Passed.

Checking local domain records.
Starting TCP and UDP DNS queries for the local domain. This test will try to
validate that DNS is set up correctly for inbound mail. This test can fail for
3 reasons.
1) Local domain is not set up in DNS. Inbound mail cannot be routed to
local mailboxes.
2) Firewall blocks TCP/UDP DNS queries. This will not affect inbound mail,
but will affect outbound mail.
3) Internal DNS is unaware of external DNS settings. This is a valid
configuration for certain topologies.
Checking MX records using TCP: microsoft.com.
MX: mail.global.frontbridge.com (10)
Checking MX records using UDP: microsoft.com.
MX: mail.global.frontbridge.com (10)
A: mail.global.frontbridge.com [216.32.181.22]
Both TCP and UDP queries succeeded. Local DNS test passed.

Checking remote domain records.
Starting TCP and UDP DNS queries for the remote domain. This test will try to
validate that DNS is set up correctly for outbound mail. This test can fail for
3 reasons.
1) Firewall blocks TCP/UDP queries which will block outbound mail. Windows
2000/NT Server requires TCP DNS queries. Windows Server 2003 will use UDP
queries first, then fall back to TCP queries.
2) Internal DNS does not know how to query external domains. You must
either use an external DNS server or configure DNS server to query external
domains.
3) Remote domain does not exist. Failure is expected.
Checking MX records using TCP: cisco.com.
MX: rtp-mx-01.cisco.com (15)
MX: ams-inbound-a.cisco.com (20)
MX: syd-inbound-a.cisco.com (25)
MX: sj-inbound-a.cisco.com (10)
MX: sj-inbound-b.cisco.com (10)
MX: sj-inbound-c.cisco.com (10)
MX: sj-inbound-d.cisco.com (10)
MX: sj-inbound-e.cisco.com (10)
MX: sj-inbound-f.cisco.com (10)
A: sj-inbound-a.cisco.com [128.107.234.204]
A: sj-inbound-b.cisco.com [128.107.234.205]
A: sj-inbound-c.cisco.com [128.107.234.206]
A: sj-inbound-d.cisco.com [128.107.243.13]
A: sj-inbound-e.cisco.com [128.107.243.14]
A: sj-inbound-f.cisco.com [128.107.234.207]
A: rtp-mx-01.cisco.com [64.102.255.47]
A: ams-inbound-a.cisco.com [64.103.36.153]
A: syd-inbound-a.cisco.com [64.104.252.248]
Checking MX records using UDP: cisco.com.
MX: rtp-mx-01.cisco.com (15)
MX: ams-inbound-a.cisco.com (20)
MX: syd-inbound-a.cisco.com (25)
MX: sj-inbound-a.cisco.com (10)
MX: sj-inbound-b.cisco.com (10)
MX: sj-inbound-c.cisco.com (10)
MX: sj-inbound-d.cisco.com (10)
MX: sj-inbound-e.cisco.com (10)
MX: sj-inbound-f.cisco.com (10)
Both TCP and UDP queries succeeded. Remote DNS test passed.

Checking MX servers listed for tariq@cisco.com.
Connecting to sj-inbound-f.cisco.com [128.107.234.207] on port 25.
Received:
220 sj-inbound-f.cisco.com ESMTP

Sent:
ehlo microsoft.com

Received:
250-sj-inbound-f.cisco.com
250-8BITMIME
250-SIZE 33554432
250 STARTTLS

Sent:
mail from:

Received:
250 sender ok

Sent:
rcpt to:

Received:
250 recipient ok

Sent:
quit

Received:
221 sj-inbound-f.cisco.com

Successfully connected to sj-inbound-f.cisco.com.
Connecting to sj-inbound-e.cisco.com [128.107.243.14] on port 25.
Received:
220 sj-inbound-e.cisco.com ESMTP

Sent:
ehlo microsoft.com

Received:
250-sj-inbound-e.cisco.com
250-8BITMIME
250-SIZE 33554432
250 STARTTLS

Sent:
mail from:

Received:
250 sender ok

Clear selected history items in Internet Explorer

You can clear selected history items in Internet Explorer from the path
C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\History
The history folder is hidden by default.





You can also remove selected autocomplete entry editing individual URLs



Useful Link: http://www.clearallhistory.com/
Tool to remove History Items: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/iehv.html

Reading Message / Email Header

Overview:
Message header is a set of information attached to every email. It contains the sender, recipient and the hop details. Message Header can be used to check the original sender, time is takes to arrive to the recipient, the route it takes to travel before reaching the final destination etc.

Viewing Message Header:
Viewing Header information depends on the application used for email. A comprehensive list is available at the below link.
http://www.spamcop.net/fom-serve/cache/19.html

Parsing Messaging Header:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft Mail Internet Headers Version 2.0
Received: from FPDMCR01 ([192.168.100.201]) by fpdmbx01.MCNMENA.LOCAL with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959);
Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:36:15 +0400
Received: from mail68.messagelabs.com [193.109.255.67] by xxxx.com
(SMTPD-9.23) id ADD704C8; Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:35:51 +0400
X-VirusChecked: Checked
X-Env-Sender: network@etp2101.etp.eu.blackberry.net
X-Msg-Ref: server-6.tower-68.messagelabs.com!1232379332!111038693!1
X-StarScan-Version: 6.0.0; banners=-,-,-
X-Originating-IP: [93.186.17.11]
X-SpamReason: No, hits=0.0 required=7.0 tests=UPPERCASE_25_50
Received: (qmail 16168 invoked from network); 19 Jan 2009 15:35:32 -0000
Received: from c17-011.eu.blackberry.net (HELO smtp.eu.blackberry.net) (93.186.17.11)
by server-6.tower-68.messagelabs.com with SMTP; 19 Jan 2009 15:35:32 -0000
Received: from etp2101.rly2.ad0.blackberry (etp2101.etp2.blackberry [172.25.129.17])
by mailrouter2108.mail2.blackberry (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0FA342A2A32
for ; Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:35:32 +0000 (UTC)
From: network@etp2101.etp.eu.blackberry.net
Subject: RIM_bca28a80-e9c0-11d1-87fe-00600811c6a2
To: xxxxx@xxxx.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: MULTIPART/mixed; BOUNDARY="826332926-30626-1232379331=:4032"
Message-Id: <20090119153532.0fa342a2a32@mailrouter2108.mail2.blackberry>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:35:32 +0000 (UTC)
X-RCPT-TO:
Status:
X-UIDL: 524799496
X-IMail-ThreadID: 9dd701560000a7aa
Return-Path: network@etp2101.etp.eu.blackberry.net
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 19 Jan 2009 15:36:15.0274 (UTC) FILETIME=[AA2950A0:01C97A4B]

--826332926-30626-1232379331=:4032
Content-Type: TEXT/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII

--826332926-30626-1232379331=:4032
Content-Type: APPLICATION/octet-stream; name=ETP.DAT
Content-Transfer-Encoding: BASE64
Content-Description: ETP.DAT
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=ETP.DAT


--826332926-30626-1232379331=:4032--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Received Tags (Bold and Italicized) in the above message header was added by the mail servers as the email travels from the sender to recipient.
Origin Details:
· The original sender of this mail (highlighted) was xxxxx@xxxx.com
· The message was sent via etp2101.etp2.blackberry
· From the IP address [172.25.129.17]
· The email was sent using SMTP from the mail server mailrouter2108.mail2.blackberry (Postfix)

Originating IP address:
X-Originating-IP: [93.186.17.11]

Ofcourse there are other information like whether the message is scanned for virus / spam, the mailer information etc.

Unable to bind to the destination server in DNS - Exchange 2003 Server Routing Group

I had a problem with my Exchange Routing Group Connector. We have 12 Routing Groups. Our setup is hub and spoke model.

For some reason mails between three of the spoke and hub stopped flowing. To pin point the issue mail flow from hub is fine, only the mail flow from three of the remote office via their respective Routing Group was having the problem.

Routing Group Connector status was always in “Retry” state. When I force the connection, few mails are flushed. The error message is “unable to bind to the destination server in DNS”.

The following Microsoft KB article didn’t fix the issue.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/822939

So I have to log a case with Microsoft.

The resolution gave by them is to run a tool called remonitor.exe which fixes and routing table issue. I believe that it recreates the routing table.

This tool was run from command prompt under system privilege. To do so we started the command prompt by running a job.

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin>at 5:55 /interactive cmd.exe

From command prompt we run the remonitor to repair the link state table.

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin>remonitor.exe -i servername
Note: This tool is extracted to bin folder.

After running this utility, all we did is restarted SMTP and Routing Engine.

Publishing OWA 2003 with ISA 2006

Recently I have published OWA 2003 with ISA 2006 as part of my work. I have followed the articles by Shijaz and Dr. Thomas W Shinder M.D.
http://www.shijaz.com/isaserver/isa2006_publish_owa.htm

I would like to share couple of issues that I have faced during OWA ISA configuration.

1. My ISA 2006 is not in domain
Export Root Certificate along with web certificate

2. Entering incorrect URL
http://blogs.isaserver.org/pouseele/2006/11/01/redirecting-owa-users-to-the-correct-directories-and-protocols-with-isa-server-2006/

3. Should I have to enabled form based authentication is System Manager?
No

4. To configure SSL OWA in defferent port
http://4itpeople.blogspot.com/2008/12/changing-ssl-port-number-used-by-owa.html