Exchange Server: Changeover from POP retrieval to MX record

I am still receiving mails about the changeover from POP3 retrieval to direct receipt of mails via MX record in connection with various Exchange versions. I actually thought that retrieving mails from a provider via POP3 and delivering them to local Exchange servers was a thing of the past, but this seems to be happening even more frequently. Read more

My favorites for error analysis of mail problems

In this article, I would like to focus less on the error analysis of mail problems and more on tools that provide a quick overview to determine the problem. First of all, there is the Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer: https://testconnectivity.microsoft.com/ This service offered by Microsoft can be used to test ActiveSync, EWS, Autodiscover and Outlook Anywhere as well as SMTP. The website helps ... Read more

Sender Policy Framework (SPF): How it works and when you shouldn't use it

How SPF works SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a simple method for identifying forged senders and blocking them as SPAM. The way it works is simple: The domain owner (e.g. me with the domain frankysweb.de) publishes a TXT record (SPF record) in the DNS which contains the mail servers from which I send mails. For example, if my mail server ... Read more

Script for testing MX records

If you also need to make frequent DNS queries to the MX records or SPF and reverse records, this little script may help: Test-MXSettings.ps1 The script has a few parameters, which can quickly check all Exchange accepted domains, or any domain, also a DNS server for the query can be specified. The following parameters ... Read more

Exchange 2007/2010/2013: Migration with PST file import/export

Having already written here about how to avoid undeliverable messages when migrating from Exchange Server using PST files, here are two scripts that can make your life much easier. When importing PST files, it can happen that the assignment of standard folders such as Inbox, Sent Items etc. no longer matches. Especially with ... Read more

Exchange Migration: Special case PST migration (550 5.1.1)

Sometimes there is a requirement not to migrate an Exchange server in the traditional way. A PST migration, i.e. exporting the mailboxes from the source system and then importing the data into the target mailboxes, is then often chosen. This method is often chosen for cross-forest migrations, especially when the number of mailboxes is manageable. Read more

Mail-enabled public folders are not displayed in the address list after migration

Some time ago I already described a problem with the value "MailNickname", which leads to the address lists not being updated. The same problem can occur with e-mail activated public folders. The background is that in Exchange 2003 times the mail nickname (alias) was still allowed to contain special characters such as spaces etc.. With Exchange 2010 ... Read more

Migration Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010: 421 4.4.2 Connection dropped due to SocketError

Exchange 2010 cannot send mails to Exchange 2003 if it is not authorized to do so. In this case, the queue of the routing group is full with the following error: 451 4.4.0 Primary target IP address responded with: "421 4.4.2 Connection dropped due to SocketError." The problem can be solved by changing the IP address of the Exchange 2010 server on the ... Read more

Exchange 2003: Troubleshooting public folder replication issues

Comes "a little" late, but is still helpful, as I believe that many migrations from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010 are currently being carried out (even if only as an intermediate step to migrate to Exchange 2013). Microsoft has put the "Public Folder Replication Troubleshooter" online for this purpose, currently the website only deals with replication problems with Exchange ... Read more