Probably. Maybe you saw a post I wrote about a week ago on the topic of "happy charts." It's similar to one I posted this list years ago (in the "Peter" era). In effect, what you need to do is build a very careful map of exactly where all of your packets are going and why, and as you have discovered, this goes a lot deeper than simply how the connectors or gateways are pointed. You have to get inside the DNS and understand exactly how name resolution for all of your mail hosts, relay hosts and various servers is accomplished. Invariably, any routing problem that crops up will be sorted out by tracing the packet paths and understanding why they move the way they do. I know it sounds a little nit picking or even anal, but it is true that the system works or fails to work exactly the way the combination of instructions tell it to behave.
One of the things that you will note in the serious posts by the likes of Ed, Ed, Missy, Lori, Darcy, Daniel, etc., is that they really have a solid grasp of how the underlying technology works. One particularly colorful contributor, a certain "CJ," even likes to point to that mastery in his tag line. But don't be put off by it, the underlying technologies are not that difficult to understand. It's really just a lot of tiny details. There is no magic, only ones and zeros. Messaging is not like normal application services. A lot of sites tend to think of their message system as an application that sits on some servers and behaves as though it were completely a creature of layer 7. But, it just ain't so. Building and running a messaging system is merely a specialty within the general skill of networking. And, if installed and run correctly, messaging systems are best thought of and treated as though they were accessories to your switches and routers. After all, what is the fundamental difference between delivering the mail and delivering packets? I can't think of one that matters, especially given that what you store in the message servers can deliberately control where the routers send the packets. As you move on into installing voice servers and integrating the message services with VoIP or even legacy voice gear, the necessity of this attitude and approach will become manifestly obvious. As an aside, your directory experts are in for a similar set of discoveries. Those that think that they are experts in directories and yet know little if anything about how DHCP really works, are going to have a very hard time being any use to you when it comes time to make directory based dialing work properly on your VoIP screen phones. Especially when you start doing remote line presentations to sites in other countries or States, and you start trying to figure out how to implement directory based call forwarding, or writing call handling scripts. "Directory" is a lot more than person naming schemes. And then there is data . . . -----Original Message----- From: RB [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 11:30 AM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: RE: Routing SMTP Thanks Craig. I suppose what you are saying is that as long as the MX records exist in DNS for those smtp address spaces all I need is to is point to one smart host ? Is this correct? Alec. _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
