Question

Exchange Issues

Exchange 2003, Mail servers, Exchange

We are running Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003 server with Watchguard firewall.

Today, I restarted the server for the first time in several months. Upon restart many users received non-delivery reports from mail, some of which were several months old. They never were aware of the non-delivery until this point.

Second, I have a user that does bulk mailing to 50 to 100 users and many of these mailings get hung up in queque until I force them out. She then will get several non-deliveries--we know they are good addresses.

The problems are querky and inconsistent. Does anyone have an idea what I should do or look for?

Thanks.

These problems seem to point to the Virtual Server(s) and potentially DNS. While you can certainly take a look at the settings, I would not change anything to boot -- particularly, if the default settings are still in place.

The first thing you should do is ensure that the Windows OS and Exchange Server are both patched to the latest service pack, hotfix and patch levels. You will want to install all security and critical updates and recommended updates, such as drivers and performance enhancements at your discretion.

Then I would run the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer (ExBPA) and Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant. You can download both from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb288481.aspx.