Microsoft KB Archive/280794

= Message cannot be sent to domains with MX record pointing to IP or CNAME record in Exchange 2000 Server =

Article ID: 280794

Article Last Modified on 2/20/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q280794





This article is a consolidation of the following previously available article: 288718



SYMPTOMS
If you configure the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) virtual server to use an external Domain Name System (DNS) server in the Advanced Delivery dialog box, messages to some domains may remain in the SMTP queue, and the queue status may be &quot;The remote server did not respond to a connection attempt.&quot;



CAUSE
There are two possible causes of this problem. To determine which of the following is the cause, use the Nslookup utility to query the remote domains.

Possible cause 1
You may find that there is a mail exchange (MX) record that points to a CNAME record in the DNS server. The CNAME record points to a valid host record. This problem occurs because Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server does not correctly process the DNS query result in such a scenario.

Possible cause 2
You may find that the MX record points to an IP address. Although the IP address belongs to a valid host, Exchange 2000 does not correctly process the DNS query result in such a scenario.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

301378 How to obtain the latest Exchange 2000 Server service pack

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

Component: SMTP



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Service Pack 1.

Additional query words: XIMS

Keywords: kbhotfixserver kbqfe kbbug kbexchange2000presp1fix kbfix kbqfe KB280794

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