hi guys,

i need help in receiving mails from outside domains. i
have an exchange server at home (testing). i am able to
send mails outside but not able to receive mails. i
checked the connectivity from my firewall using telnet. it
tested out successfull. i do not have any domain name
registered. i do need to have one?any help is appreciated.
thanks in advance.

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"mahesh" <uma_9@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2c2f01c4a335$512a7e30$a401280a@phx.gbl...
> hi guys,
>
>    i need help in receiving mails from outside domains. i
> have an exchange server at home (testing). i am able to
> send mails outside but not able to receive mails. i
> checked the connectivity from my firewall using telnet. it
> tested out successfull. i do not have any domain name
> registered. i do need to have one?any help is appreciated.
> thanks in advance.

In order to recieve email over the Internet you need a registered domain and
MX record so that other email servers know how to contact your server. In
addition your SMTP server will only accept mail for a domain. I don't think
it's possible to use an IP address. How are your messages addressed ?

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"m.marien" <mm AT RiverCityCanada DOT com> wrote in message
news:10lbsu927erj3ee@corp.supernews.com...
<snip>
> I don't think it's possible to use an IP address.
</sip>

Well, it is technically possible, but I agree that MX should be used.

Per RFCs, A DNS RRs or IP addresses are OK, but setting up MX records for a
mail-enabled domain is *strongly* recommended. Still surprisingly many
domain admins forget to set up MX (and even more forget about PTRs).

IP-style addressing (e.g. someone@[1.2.3.4]) is allowed by RFCs (see RFC
2821 section 4.1.2 "domain" definition), but it is rarely supported by
Internet software.

Peter Karsai
http://www.vamsoft.com/orf

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"Peter Karsai" <welcome.home@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in message
news:%236FdnuFpEHA.536@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> "m.marien" <mm AT RiverCityCanada DOT com> wrote in message
> news:10lbsu927erj3ee@corp.supernews.com...
> <snip> 
> </sip>
>
> Well, it is technically possible, but I agree that MX should be used.
>
> Per RFCs, A DNS RRs or IP addresses are OK, but setting up MX records for
> a
> mail-enabled domain is *strongly* recommended. Still surprisingly many
> domain admins forget to set up MX (and even more forget about PTRs).
>
> IP-style addressing (e.g. someone@[1.2.3.4]) is allowed by RFCs (see R
FC
> 2821 section 4.1.2 "domain" definition), but it is rarely supported by
> Internet software.
>

In fact, it is NOT supported by the IIS SMTP server -- if you were to go to
http://www.dnsreport.com and generate a report for such a domain, you'd get
a warning to that effect.  FWIW, said warning references RFC 1123 section
5.2.17 instead of RFC 2821 section 4.1.2.

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Hi Jeff,
 
>
> In fact, it is NOT supported by the IIS SMTP server -- if you were to go
to
> http://www.dnsreport.com and generate a report for such a domain, you'd
get
> a warning to that effect.  FWIW, said warning references RFC 1123 section
> 5.2.17 instead of RFC 2821 section 4.1.2.

Indeed, that is why I made the clause "rarely supported by Internet
software" -- it is rather an interesting and rarely known feature is SMTP.
In this scenario, IIS SMTP's inability to validate such recipient certainly
makes sense. BTW it still accepts such sender address. Also accepts the
recipient in IP-style if relaying is allowed, but then cannot deliver for
(based on a quick test).

Peter

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