Exchange gurus

Discussion in 'Software' started by zebulebu, Jan 5, 2009.

  1. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    Got an interesting issue at work at the moment that I'm assisting our parent company with. We have a simple enough AD design:

    company.local (forest root)
    us.company.local
    uk.company.local

    There is an Exchange server in the US domain and one in the UK. Everything works fine except for a niggling issue we have with users with the same Exchange alias (e.g. [email protected]l and [email protected]l). There are a couple of users like this (I know, I know, I need to put sanity checks in place to ensure that new hires are not created with the same name - I'm thinking of scripting a check against all domains that needs to be run before a new account is created but haven't got round to it yet).

    When one of these users on the UK domain requests a read receipt on a mail they send to a user on the US domain, with a mailbox on the US Exchange server, the receipt is going not to the sender of the mail, but to the user in the US domain who has the same alias. It seems Exchange is looking at the alias when sending read receipts, rather than the full username. To illustrate what I mean, the mail flow goes like this:

    [​IMG]

    Step 1 - A UK user ([email protected]) sends mail to any user in US domain, requesting a read receipt.
    Step 2 - Mail is routed internally via Exchange and processed correctly, delivered to US user's inbox.
    Step 3 - Mail is read by US user and read receipt is dispatched accordingly, sent to US Exchange server
    Step 4 - US Exchange server sees read receipt and, using Exchange alias, forwards to [email protected]l instead of [email protected]l

    Has anyone got a decent link anywhere that explains how the read receipt process is handled by Exchange in a multi-domain environment? I've had at look at You Had Me AT EHLO - my usual source for all things Exchange-related but drawn a blank this time. What I'm looking for specifically is something like a way to make Exchange look at the 'full' properties of the user (perhaps their primary SMTP address) instead of just the alias. At present I've just disabled the 'request read receipt' function on the user in question's mail client, but this is something akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut and certainly not 'elegant' enough for me :)

    Maddeningly, in my test lab at home I lost my other domain in what I've taken to calling The Big ESX Crash Of December 2008 - it had a second Exchange server in it as well, and would have been perfect for me to p*** about on trying to replicate the issue. Hey ho.

    Any linkage would be greatly appreciated!
     
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  2. craigie

    craigie Terabyte Poster

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    Hi Zeb,

    Well, I'm definatley not a guru, and you have probably tried this already, but here is a few pennies worth :)

    What is the state of play for the Primary SMTP addresses for [email protected]l and [email protected]l ?

    I'm assuming that when a normal email is sent that it is recieved from US to UK and vice versa?

    If you look at the Internet Headers on a normal email from US to UK and vice versa and then compare the same with a Delivery Reciept to see if that brings up any clues.
     
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  3. Sparky
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Might sound daft but can the UK jbloggs and the US jbloggs email each other ok when the recipient is selected from the GAL?

    Just wondering if the issue is *only* occurring on the read receipts.
     
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  4. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    Cheers chaps.

    Yes, mail is routing fine otherwise - its just read receipts that are the problem. Looking at the headers everything seems fine - it certainly just looks like its a question of the alias being used rather than the full smtp address.

    This must have come up somewhere before, but I can't find any metion of it on that t'internet, and am NOT wasting one of our PSS calls this early in the year for such a piddling little issue. What I'm going to do is liase with the US guys and create test users on each domain, with mailboxes on the relevant exchange servers, replicate the problem, then amend the alias and see if that resolves it.

    Will let you know how I get on
     
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  5. nugget
    Honorary Member

    nugget Junior toady

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    Hi Zeb. I was just wondering which version of exchange? 2003 or 2007?

    How are the accepted domains set up?

    *.company.local
    or
    uk.company.local and us.company.local
     
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  6. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Is there anything else in the users listed email addresses or is it just uk.company.local or us.company.local?

    Edit: Just wondering is this might be a recipient policy issue.

    Note that the Filter rules entry defines a single entry of (mailnickname=*) and that in the Filter rules section, the Modify button, and the Remove buttons are shaded. This behavior occurs because the default recipient policy must apply to all recipient objects (that is, all of those objects that have a mail nickname or alias).
    Click the E-mail Addresses (Policy) tab.


    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319201 (for Exchange 2000)
     
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  7. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    Figured this out in the end tonight. There was a domain masquerade set up on the US side - removed it and the read receipts are now going to the correct return-path. God knows why it was set up - maybe as a temporary measure three years ago when we merged!
     
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  8. Sparky
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Good fix Zeb.

    The joys of migrations\mergers eh? Always something left behind! :biggrin
     
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  9. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    Yeah - three years down the line almost to the day as well! If we hadn't had a user created with the same name in both domains we'd be none the wiser to this day :biggrin
     
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