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iis smtp nntp : Urgent help needed! smtp;501 local user must be authenticated at f


Lage
6/15/2007 4:46:02 AM
Hi,

I am working with a web site that uses CDONTS from a function in a Com+
component to send mail to clients after sign up etc, as well as sending
clients mail to support from a web form.

A virtual default SMTP server is running in !!S (6.0)

We have moved the system to a new server (Windows 2003 Server as the
previous installation) and the mail worked fine a few days. Now we cannot
send any mail from the system.

SMTP is not my speciality, I am working with the databases and system
design, so I desperately need help to get this working.

The settings are as follow:
The server (name "global") is set up as a member of Workgroup, not part of
any domain or active directory.

In SMTP Virtual server:
Access > Authentication: Anonymous access
Access > Connection: All computers
Access > Relay: The IP address for global and also checked "Allow all
computers which successfully authenticate..."

Delivery > Advanced > Fully qualified domain name: global
Delivery > Advanced > Smart Host:[IP address to our mail server]

At first all e-mail were found in the queue folder. After setting up the ip
for our mail server (from EmailArchitect) as Smart Host all mail disappeared
from the queue, but we get a reply on each mail;
From: postmaster@global,
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
Body: "Delivery to the following recipients failed..."

The error in the attachment is like:
Reporting-MTA: dns;global
Received-From-MTA: dns;global
Arrival-Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:37:26 +0200

Final-Recipient: rfc822;lage@hotmail.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.5.0
Diagnostic-Code: smtp;501 local user must be authenticated at first.

I am grateful for any help. This is an online running web site... I have
searched on Google and Microsoft, but cannot find relevant information about
this error message.

Sanford Whiteman
6/15/2007 11:29:36 AM
[quoted text, click to view]
he =

[quoted text, click to view]

That points to a DNS issue. To troubleshoot SMTP, you have to understan=
d =

DNS, as the two are tightly linked on the public net.

What is the IP address(es) of the DNS servers used by your mail server =

(Control Panel-Network-TCP/IP). Are they both accessible from the =

server? Can they both resolve MX records for remote domains? Run =

'nslookup -q=3Dmx google.com <DNS server IP>' for both servers from a =

command prompt and post results.

Also, 'global' is not an acceptable FQDN: you want to use the true, =

publicly resolvable hostname + domain of the machine. However, while so=
me =

servers will block or suspect your mail because of this error, it is not=
=

responsible for your widespread delivery problems.

Sanford Whiteman
6/15/2007 11:31:36 AM
[quoted text, click to view]

Eh... you don't put the server's own IP as the Smart Host. That's
creating a mail loop. SH is used when you want to defer to another server
for remote delivery. Deferring to yourself means the mail will never
leave.

Lage
6/18/2007 7:06:01 AM
Hi Sandy,

Thank you very much for your help!

I forwarded your answer to our tecnician who works with the servers. Your
suggestions were of great value.

I changed the FQDN at smart host setting from the local computer name to the
FQDN of the mail server. Even though the mail server is on another machine,
this seem to work fine. I thought you had to set the FQDN of the machine with
the Virtual SMTP Server you send mail from, but at least in this case it
works.

Regarding the authentication error, do you know if it's possible to send
user name and password to the mail server by using the Outbound Security
setting in Virtual SMTP Server? I made a try, but the e-mails did then stayed
in the queue folder. So I changed back to anonymous.

With kind regards

Lage


[quoted text, click to view]
Sanford Whiteman
6/18/2007 11:17:28 PM
[quoted text, click to view]

I think you're confusing two different settings.

The smart host should point to the IP address (in square brackets,
e.g. [1.2.3.4]) or the hostname of an upstream server that will be
performing remote delivery for you. You would _only_ fill in this box
if a smart host is in use. Typically, you would use a smart host if
(a) the local server is not shown properly on the public Net, i.e. it
doesn't have a PTR entry and can't pass a PTR-A-IP roundtrip test; (b)
the local server is not allowed to communicate to the outside world on
TCP port 25 due to local or ISP firewall rules; (c) the local server
is too busy with other tasks, such as web serving, to double as a
direct-delivery SMTP box; (d) the smart host is more powerful and
capable of servicing a larger queue and daily traffic load; (e) to
offload a lengthy retry cycle to a secondary server, with "attempt
direct delivery first" checked; or (f) to consolidate logs on a
restricted set of outbound servers.

The FQDN is the full hostname of the local server's "most public" IP
address as seen by the next SMTP hop. If the local server is
performing direct delivery, the FQDN must be publicly resolvable back
to the machine's public IP, and should also match the PTR for that IP.
Even if the local server is not performing direct delivery -- using a
smart host instead -- the FQDN must be the hostname of the local
server as seen from the smart host's perspective.

Obviously, if you are performing direct delivery, you must have a
public FQDN that's under a registered and published DNS domain. If you
are using a smart host, it is possible to have an FQDN that is only
privately resolvable, perhaps using a TLD like .lan or .local, as long
as the smart host can still resolve names within that domain.

[quoted text, click to view]

Of course, if your web application supports authentication. It is
possible that CDONTS doesn't (I haven't used it in so long, since it
was superseded by CDOSYS). However, as long as your machine doesn't
allow _relaying_ to any server that connects to it, it's okay to allow
relay by a short list of specific source IPs in addition to allowing
relay by once a user authenticates.

The issues with relay-by-IP are in security auditing (you can have
multiple applications running on the same source IP, as in hosting
environments, and you won't know which one submitted a piece of mail
unless you dole out usernames/passwords to each), in management
(manually inputting and maintaining a huge list of IPs is painful, and
in supporting roaming users (where you cannot know the source IP).

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