Exchange Ignoring E-mails

We are using a non-Microsoft software package on a PC server that
transfers e-mail to Microsoft Exchange for delivery. We have used this
software for a number of years.

Within the past month, we have the occurrance of missing e-mail. So we
checked the logs. On the non-Microsoft server, the logs say it handed
off each and every e-mail to MS Exchange.

On the MS Exchange server, the logs report receiving some, but not all
the e-mails that were handed off to it.

The Net result is the e-mails are not delivered.

One train of thought is that the non-Microsoft package would not report
a successful hand-off of an e-mail if MS Exchange did not acknowlege a
successful transfer. On the other hand, such a hand off should be on
the Exchange logs, but they are not there.

Has anyone seen symptoms such as this?

Tracy Johnson
Measurement Specialties Inc.
BT






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I haven't seen a response, so my $.02 might be better than nothing.

Not knowing more about the setup of the two email servers, the first
thing I wonder about is if there is any product(s) on the Exchange
server for anti-spam or anti-virus, which intercepts the email and
either hands it off to Exchange or filters / quarantines it? If there
is a such a product, these products can operate in stealth mode, and
not immediately expose their operation between the two servers. I know
of one well-known AVF that lives on the Exchange server, and uses the
Exchange APIs to intercept the message before Exchange processes
receipt. That is where I would look first.

After that possibility, I wonder how busy the Exchange server is. I've
heard of a problem where a process could not complete within its own
window, and started over according to its schedule, such that any
tasks it did not complete in any one pass would never be completed.
This was a rare and exceptional condition, so seems unlikely, but not
impossible.

Greg Stigers, MCSE

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