During the smtp session to the primary xmail will check if the recipient
exists and if it doesn't it will send an error code response to the
sending mail server or mail client. When a message is being sent to a
secondary server all that xmail can do is check to see if it handles the
domain part of the address and not the specific mailbox, so it has to
take the message if it's a handled domain. 

Now when the secondary goes to send the message to the primary mail
server and the mailbox turns out to not exist then the primary will send
the error code to the secondary and not accept the message. Now the
secondary has this rejected message in it's queue and will try to send a
message back to the originator, but if that e-mail doesn't exist then
the message is stuck in the frozen queue. If the server for the
originating e-mail address domain timesout or gives a temporary error
message when the non delivery report is sent back the secondary server
will keep retrying until it has exhausted it's retry limit.

So if the secondary had some method of knowing which mailboxes existed
on the primary server it would only take those messages that it could
pass off when the primary was available and wouldn't ever have to handle
returning messages to sender or have frozen messages.

Bill


>----------
>From:  Dale Qualls[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sent:  Saturday, February 07, 2004 11:01 AM
>To:    [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject:       [xmail] Re: undeliverable coming to secondary server
>
>Hiya Don, thanks for the info, and yeah, it's making it worse, but this =
>was happening prior to mydoom.
>
>Wouldn't the backup simply give it back to the primary in the exact form =
>that it originally received it, hence the smtp relay?  The backup is =
>actually accepting the message as (what seems to me) the primary would =
>then responding that the user doesn't exist even though the backup really =
>doesn't know either way (since it doesn't have the users).  Shouldn't the =
>backup simply "relay" it back to the primary and when the primary sees =
>that the user doesn't exist it (the primary) should reply to the original =
>sender to tell them that the mailbox doesn't exist?
>
>I'm thinking that I may not be getting my point across.
>
>>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 02/06/04 09:53PM >>>
>
>> Do you have the postmaster parameter in the server.tab file
>> for primary
>> server set to [EMAIL PROTECTED] I'm guessing here but I
>> think what
>> is happening is the  primary server is bouncing the mail sent
>> to "sales"
>> using [EMAIL PROTECTED] as the Mail From value. Since the mail is
>> using a forged address the bounce message is bouncing back to
>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] on your secondary server as undeliverable.
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>
>I'm seeing a lot of the same thing.  I am seeing the same emails going to =
>my
>primary and backup server at the same time (from the same source)... and
>it's called the MyDoom virus.
>
>-Don
>
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