XCON: Exchange to MCI and Sprint Interoperability

ID: Q168137

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Exchange Server, versions 4.0 and 5.0

SYMPTOMS

Messages sent from Microsoft Exchange Server X.400 Connector to MCI and then relayed to Sprint (telemail) may have problems and subsequently get rejected by Sprint's message transfer agent (MTA). However, no non-delivery report (NDR) is generated by the Sprint MTA. The message is then placed in Sprint's MTA bad mail directory.

CAUSE

Sprint MTAs do not accept messages containing Per-Domain-Bilateral information.

When MCI relays the message, a service downgrade from the 1988 standard to the 1984 standard takes place so Sprint can accept the message. MCI MTAs should then discard the bilateral domain information in the P1 but do not, causing Sprint MTAs to reject the message. No NDR by Sprint MTA is possible because Sprint is no longer able to read the originator/recipient (O/R) address from the P1, which would be malformed in this instance.

RESOLUTION

Microsoft Exchange MTA can be configured to suppress generation of Per- Domain-Bilateral information at the originating Exchange Server MTA.

To disable the Per-Domain-Bilateral information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q157358
   TITLE     : XCON: Per-Domain-Bilateral-Info and 3rdParty Systems

Version           : Platform:4.0,5.0
Platform          : winnt
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: July 2, 1999