XCON: Non-Delivery Report When Sending Between Two Exchange Organizations (241904)

SYMPTOMS

If you send mail between two separate Exchange Server organizations connected by means of an X.400 Connector, you may receive an immediate non-delivery report (NDR) that contains text similar to the following:

-----Original Message-----
From: System Administrator
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 1999 11:58 AM
To: 'User, Joe'
Subject: Undeliverable: test

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.

Subject: test
Sent: 9/16/99 11:58 AM

The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

'User, Joe' on 9/16/99 11:58 AM
The recipient name is not recognized
The MTS-ID of the original message is: c=US;a= ;p=Microsoft;l=SERVER01-990916155752Z-32651
MSEXCH:MSExchangeMTA:SITE01:SERVER01

The local server's message transfer agent (MTA) generates the NDR immediately.

CAUSE

If you connect two separate Exchange Server organizations by means of an X.400 Connector, directory information cannot be propagated. Therefore, custom recipients are used to represent the respective organization's users. You can manually create individual custom recipients, or use the bulk import and export feature to create multiple custom recipients.

In certain situations, an Exchange Server mailbox may be created to represent a user in another organization (with the X.400 address properties of that organization) instead of a custom recipient. This may cause address routing problems and is the reason the above NDR occurs.

Essentially, when a mailbox is created with the X.400 address properties of the organization you are connecting to, a second X.400 address proxy is created in the Site Addressing object. However, you cannot view this entry using the Exchange Server Administrator program.

RESOLUTION

To determine if a mailbox was created with the remote site's X.400 site address, perform the following steps:

Export the global address list to a .csv file; on the Tools menu, click Directory Export.
Click Container, and then click Global Address List.
Under Export objects, click to select only the Mailbox check box.
Using Microsoft Excel, open the .csv file.
Search the exported global address list for an X.400 address property that is unique to the remote site, such as the "o=" or "p=" value.
After you find the entry or entries, remove them, and create custom recipients to replace them.
Send a test message to a user on the remote site to verify that you no longer receive the NDR.