XFOR: Replies to Some Internet Mail Messages Fail

ID: Q198563

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Exchange Server, versions 5.0, 5.5

SYMPTOMS

When an Exchange Server recipient replies to some Internet messages, he or she may receive a non-delivery report (NDR) indicating an invalid domain name. The original in-bound message the recipient received from the Internet contains a sender with an address similar to the following:

<user@correct.domain.com>@incorrect.domain.com

In this example, "@incorrect.domain.com" is a non-existent domain name that has been appended to the correct address, "user@correct.domain.com." The domain "@correct.domain.com" is the valid domain name.

These additional domain name or names cause the message not be delivered. The additional domain names may be added to the sender's address as a result of some foreign mail configurations.

CAUSE

In Internet Mail Service outbound mail, the domain name is found by looking for the last @ sign in the address. In this case this is "@incorrect.domain.com."

The Internet Mail Service tries to resolve "incorrect.domain.com," which does not exist, and fails. Thus, the message gets returned to the Exchange Server sender as an NDR.

Now, on the way into the information store from the Internet Mail Service, the address is checked to make sure it is usable. The check looks for the < and > symbols, and clears out everything else except what is inside these symbols. As a result, the message is cleaned up, and resent.

WORKAROUND

The Exchange Server sender should resend the message from the NDR; it will work.

Additional query words: reply double dual domains smtp mail fail duplicate

Keywords :
Version : winnt:5.0,5.5
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbprb