Smtp "Delay"

Hey guys I know you can help me. I am running the built-in 2003 pop and smtp servers on my home server and sometimes when i send emails i get this error.

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE.

Delivery to the following recipients has been delayed.

user@domain.com

However it is only to some domains. I can send to my other email address that is outside my LAN, but some domains don't work. Here is a returned report.

Reporting-MTA: dns;server.domain.com
Received-From-MTA: dns;server
Arrival-Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 13:34:32 -0700

Final-Recipient: rfc822;user@domain.com
Action: delayed
Status: 4.4.7
Will-Retry-Until: Thu, 5 Aug 2004 13:34:32 -0700



Please Help me. You guys haven't failed me yet. TIA

is it all users in the domain ? if not it could be just a temporary error (4xx code) like 'users mailbox full'

It is all users in the domain it isn't just a temporary error and i believe it is related to our dns settings but i don't know where or how.

It could be because the IP of your mailserver may not have a PTR record.

Perhaps it could also be that the receiving mailserver could not be contacted? They might be having issues.

do you have issues browsing certain web pages? DNS errors etc (if you are using a domain server 2003 uses an enhanced DNS query that is larger then 512bytes which some firewalls like cisco PIX thinks is a hijack)? try just enabling a DNS forwarder instead of using root servers. what if any firewall are you using?

Try this also

telnet to the recipients mail server on port 25

telnet mail.domain.com 25
mail from:you@yourdomain.com
rcpt to:recipient@theirdomain.com
data
test
.

dont forget the period!!!!
what error if any do you get?

to find the mail server for the recipients domain: (in XP)
nslookup
set type=MX
theirdomain.com

[it lists servers: "mail exchanger=mail.theirdomain.com"]
exit

or just do

nslookup -q=mx domain.com


but thats beside the point I would like to see the error you get when sending mail directly from their server.

using the telnet stated above

I fixed it by adding user authentication and SPA.

Although i ran into another little snag. Since SPA (or windows authentication i don't know which) is enabled when i put in my password to authenticate with SPA i only get the mail for the primary mailbox and the secondary mailbox's mail stays on the server and isn't downloaded.

For example if i have two accounts set up in outlook or outlook express. When i click on send and receive i get the password authentication box for SPA (or windows authentication i don't know which) Then i enter the password for the primary account. then the primary account's email is downloaded and the secondary account remains unchecked. Why do i have so many problems... Yes i know i should just use exchange but do you have a couple thousand to throw down for a stupid mail program? cuz i don't.

Andy just to give you the cool diagram feel i'll spell it out here.

Joe (primary account)
Bob (secondary account)

Send/Receive ->

Logon - server

Information
Username:Joe
Password:blahblah
Domain:

then i press okay and get the mail for joe but the same authentication box never comes up for bob and i never get the email for him unless i make him the primary account. HELP