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Mail Acceptance Failure

[This topic is intended to address a specific issue called out by the Exchange Server Analyzer Tool. You should apply it only to systems that have had the Exchange Server Analyzer Tool run against them and are experiencing that specific issue. The Exchange Server Analyzer Tool, available as a free download, remotely collects configuration data from each server in the topology and automatically analyzes the data. The resulting report details important configuration issues, potential problems, and nondefault product settings. By following these recommendations, you can achieve better performance, scalability, reliability, and uptime. For more information about the tool or to download the latest versions, see "Microsoft Exchange Analyzers" at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=34707.]  

Topic Last Modified: 2009-09-14

The Microsoft® Exchange Server Analyzer Tool tries to send a message to the Postmaster account or a user-defined account for the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) domain as follows:

  • The Exchange Server Analyzer opens a socket connection to the SMTP server. If the Exchange Server Analyzer receives a response code of 220, this step is considered to have completed successfully.

  • The Exchange Server Analyzer transmits the EHLO SMTP command verb. If the following conditions are true, this step is considered to have completed successfully:

    • The Exchange Server Analyzer receives a series of response codes of 250.

    • One of these responses includes 250-X-LINK2STATE and 250-XEXCH50.

  • The Exchange Server Analyzer transmits the MAIL FROM: ExMFA-MailAcceptTest@Fabrikam.com SMTP command verb. If the Exchange Server Analyzer receives a response code of 250, this step is considered to have completed successfully.

  • The Exchange Server Analyzer transmits the RCPT TO: Postmaster (or a user-defined account)@<domainname>.com SMTP command verb. If the Exchange Server Analyzer receives a response code of 250, this step is considered to have completed successfully.

  • The Exchange Server Analyzer transmits the DATA SMTP command verb with a sample message body ending with a period. If the Exchange Server Analyzer receives a response code of 250, this step is considered to have completed successfully.

If the Exchange Server Analyzer is not able to complete all steps, the Exchange Server Analyzer displays an error. The error indicates that there may be a general mail flow issue. The following links are listed in the order in which you should troubleshoot, starting at the server level and working out to the network level.

To correct this error

  1. See "Troubleshooting Routing" in the Exchange Server 2003 Transport and Routing Guide (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=47579).

  2. See Microsoft Knowledge Base article 324867, "Support WebCast: Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server: Troubleshooting Mail Flow Problems (Revisited)" (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=3052&kbid=324867).

  3. See Microsoft Knowledge Base article 823489, "How to use Queue Viewer to troubleshoot mail flow issues in Exchange Server 2003" (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=3052&kbid=823489).

  4. See Microsoft Knowledge Base article 324759, "Support WebCast: Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server: DNS Troubleshooting in Transports" (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=3052&kbid=324759).

For more information about the Postmaster account in Exchange Server, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles: