Server 2008R2 Exchange 2010 - I have managed to break something

Bumhug

Bumhug

Bumhug

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Doing a few upgrades at the moment, quick rundown of what I have done so far

Domain had 2 DC's .7 and .8 both 2003 R2 Enterprise. Exchange server 2003 on .10

Installed 2008R2 on new server, .6 joined domain all good

Removed AD and DNS from .7, removed from domain and did fresh install of 2008R2. Installed exchange 2010 and moved all public folders and mailboxes over, set up smarthost for sending and popcon for recieving. All appeared to be working fine so switched .10 off, email still worked fine internally and externally.

Setup DNS, AD and DHCP on .6 everything looked fine and everything worked. Turned off .8 just to check and had no problems, was able to add a few PC's to domain ok.

Was having problems with Group Policy though, few new things I had set up werent working. Traced this to the domain function level, it was set to 2000. Switched .8 back on and removed DNS, DHCP and AD, had few problems removing a really old server that was incorrectly removed fromt the network long before I got the job.

So far so good, raised domain function level to 2008R2 and the problems start!

Exchange dies, server .7 was just playing up in general. Reboot took 45 minutes and it didnt look happy. Removed from domain, and then rejoined after reboot was fine. .8 also seemed to be having issues, did same removed from domain and rejoined everything ok.

Just one tiny problem with exchange, it no longer sends external email. Internal is fine, and external coming in is fine. Anything sent just gets stuck in queue and refuses to go anywhere.

.7 is using .6 as DNS server as it should, exchange correctly sees .6 as the GC as isnt trying to use any other DC. Nslookup on .7 to the mail server gives correct IP address, can telnet ok to smart host on .7. Have turned .10 back on but not made any difference (didnt really expect it would). Event logs arent showing any major errors.

Its probably something insanely simple, but after spending 12 hours looking and thinking about it got to the stage where I am likely to overlook the small little things :(

Amy suggestions how to troubleshoot it?
 
So to clarify you currently have:

DC on .6
Exchange 2010 on .7
Member server on and .8
Old Exchange 2003 on .10

To get us started could you provide a dcdiag /v from the DC, ipconfig /all on all 4 servers. Blank out any company information if required. You can use this site:

http://pastie.org/pastes/new

Do you receive any NDRs back from Exchange? You can right click a message in the queue and select "Remove (with NDR)" which may be helpful.

Are you using forwarders on the new DC, or root hints?

Edit: Just re-read, did you install Exchange 2010, then remove this server from the domain and re-add it?
 
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Are you sending with DNS or Smarthost?
Can you do an SMTP send from the new Exchange server just using command line?
Maybe you have a rule set up on the firewall to only allow SMTP out from a certain IP (often done to stop mass mail viruses).
 
Did you move all of your FSMO roles before shutting down the other DC? Some logs are going to be helpful.

What did you have setup for resolving external dns addresses? Is it all still working i.e. from the new exchange box can you lookup external dns names etc. Sounds to me that you have some dns issue, anything in the event log for dns? It may well be you need to check root hints are setup and enable recursive lookups, or a forwarder to an external DNS server for resolution.
 
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Its gotta be DNS forwarding/whatever not setup correctly, or a firewall rule.

It has to be.

Why not change the IP back to the old exchange box?
 
To get us started could you provide a dcdiag /v from the DC, ipconfig /all on all 4 servers. Blank out any company information if required. You can use this site:

http://pastie.org/pastes/new
Click to expand...

http://pastie.org/2367504

Well was something simple

DNS on 8 and 10 were pointing to 7 and 8. Now hadnt really thought of this, after all it did work when both these servers were off. Have changed the DNS on 10 and suddenly mail is flowing again, which has confused me somewhat as the new exchange server was working fine with the old one turned off.

Have rebooted 10, its going to take a while always does and mail has stopped again, so thats the problem.

I suppose next step is remove the send connector on 7 and add it again, if that fails then problem with hub transport and install that again?
 
Have you created a Send Connector to route external mail?

I assume you installed MBX/CAS/HT server roles on the same exchange server.

Anything in the event logs application/system?
 
Ok think im there :)

The source server on the send connector was blank, when I tried to add the server it showed but got "Source Server "THRALL" isnt in the connectors source routing group" and it wouldnt let me add it. Have created a new send connector and settings look fine, old exchange server has been shut down and external email is still working :)
 
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