# UK: Using BT as smarthost for SBS 2008



## EssoOil (Apr 20, 2008)

Hello there, thanks for reading this.

The quick question is, can BT be used as a smarthost for Exchange Server 2007? Is anyone using BT as a smarthost instead of setting up SMTP?

e.g. using mail.btconnect.com in the smarthost field and then authenticating using the BT username and password. 

We have BT Business Broadband and currently use Outlook 2007 for emails. We host our emails with Fasthosts and not BT. For outgoing mail we authenticate using our BT username and password.

We have registered our main domain with BT and Incoming and Outgoing emails work fine 99% of the time using Outlook.

The reason I'm asking about the smarthost is I have a new IBM x3400 server with Small Business Server 2008 on. This is a separate installation for test purposes. I've set up the pop3 connector and configured the smarthost as mail.btconnect.com.

I can receive external emails for my test users on SBS 2008 no problem. I can also send an email to another SBS2008 user no problem. I have even enabled OWA (Outlook Web Access) and can access all my users email account over the internet.

I JUST CANT SEND EMAILS TO EXTERNAL EMAIL ADDRESSES! :4-dontkno

The Inbox for the account I tried to send external emails from now has three emails from Microsoft Exchange as follows:-

--------------------------
Delivery Delayed

This message has not yet been delivered. Microsoft Exchange will continue to try delivering the message on your behalf. 

Delivery of this message will be attempted until 6/4/2010 4:46:04 PM (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London. Microsoft Exchange will notify you if the message can't be delivered by that time.
--------------------------


I've read that BT is great when using Outlook but for some reason BT has problems with Exchange.

Any help would be really appreciated ray:


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## EssoOil (Apr 20, 2008)

Either no one is using BT as a smarthost in Exchange or no one is having any problems using BT as a smarthost in Exchange (which amazes me).

I found the solution so thought I'd post the answer in case it helps someone else.

The answer for me was *DONT use BT as your mail relay if you use Microsoft Exchange Server!!!*

Before I started the time consuming process of checking every setting on my server I though I'd try a different smarthost to see if it was BT's servers that were causing the problem. Remember that we use standard Outlook on all our PC's and can send emails no problem using BT.

So, I found a third party UK company called Prolateral who offered a FREE trial of their mail forwarding service. I signed up for their FREE trial and simply replaced the BT server name and authentication details with the server name and authentication details from Prolateral.

I didnt even need to re-start my server or re-start any services. After entering Prolateral's details ALL MY EMAILS LEFT MY Small Business Server 2008 (running Exchange 2007) and were IMMEDIATELY DELIVERED TO ALL THE PEOPLE I'D SENT THEM TO.


:upset: PROBLEM FIXED! PROBLEM = BT! :upset:​

Emails sent from an Exchange Server must have something in the mail header that the BT mail servers don’t like. Whether that is accidental or deliberate I'm not sure.

What I do know is that I re-entered and double checked my BT details loads of times to make sure they were perfect. No matter what I did all my outbound emails were stuck in my Exchange queue with error code 4.4.7 "Delivery Delay". They then failed once the re-try period was up.

I simply changed providers and all my queued outbound emails were sent. BT technical support had told me that because I was using the correct details the problem must be with my Exchange Server. BT said their servers would work with Exchange but said they couldn't provide technical support for Exchange.

I think this is proof that BT servers dont like emails sent from Exchange.

In the unlikely event that I have some setting that BT's servers dont like, I didnt change any settings before I tried Prolaterals servers which worked fine.

I've asked BT if they will investigate this matter further.

I'll post an update on here when (if?) I get a reply from BT.


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## EssoOil (Apr 20, 2008)

*Problems using BT as smarthost for Exchange Server*

Hello there, thanks for reading this. I've had a problem using BT as a smarthost for Exchange Server 2007 which I now have a solution for so I thought I'd post the details here in case it helps someone else.

*I'd be keen to hear from anyone else who is using BT as a smarthost for any version of Exchange Server.*


*My PROBLEM*

I'm configuring a server with Small Buisness Server 2008 which has Exchange 2007 built in. I want to use a smarthost instead of setting up SMTP.

e.g. using mail.btconnect.com in the smarthost field and then authenticating using my BT username and password. 

I've set up the pop3 connector on my SBS 2008 and can receive emails to my test account from both internal users and external people no problem. I can also send emails to other users internally.

I JUST COULDN'T SEND EMAILS TO EXTERNAL EMAIL ADDRESSES!​

I received Error 4.4.7 Message Delayed.

e.g. --------------------------
Delivery Delayed

This message has not yet been delivered. Microsoft Exchange will continue to try delivering the message on your behalf. 

Delivery of this message will be attempted until 6/4/2010 4:46:04 PM (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London. Microsoft Exchange will notify you if the message can't be delivered by that time.
--------------------------

At this point it's worth mentioning that currently we use Outlook 2007 to send emails using BT and everything works fine.]


When I contacted BT technical support they said...

"We can confirm the domain is on our systems for mail relay and you appear to be using the correct authentication. However if you are having problems sending emails using mail.btconnect.com, but are able to send using Outlook then this looks like a problem with Exchange Server which we are unable to support".


*The solution*


Simple, for me the answer was DONT use BT as your mail relay if you use Microsoft Exchange Server!!!

Before I started the time consuming process of checking every setting on my server I though I'd try a different smarthost to see if it was BT's servers that were causing the problem. Remember that we use standard Outlook on all our PC's and can send emails no problem using BT.

So, I found a third party UK company called Prolateral who offered a FREE trial of their mail forwarding service. I signed up for their FREE trial and simply replaced the BT server name and authentication details with the server name and authentication details from Prolateral.

I didnt even need to re-start my server or re-start any services. After entering Prolateral's details ALL MY EMAILS LEFT MY Small Business Server 2008 (running Exchange 2007) and were IMMEDIATELY DELIVERED TO ALL THE PEOPLE I'D SENT THEM TO.


PROBLEM FIXED! PROBLEM = BT! 

Emails sent from an Exchange Server must have something in the mail header that the BT mail servers don’t like. Whether that is accidental or deliberate I'm not sure.

What I do know is that I re-entered and double checked my BT details loads of times to make sure they were perfect. No matter what I did all my outbound emails were stuck in my Exchange queue with error code 4.4.7 "Delivery Delay". They then failed once the re-try period was up.

I simply changed providers and all my queued outbound emails were sent. BT technical support had told me that because I was using the correct details the problem must be with my Exchange Server. BT said their servers would work with Exchange but said they couldn't provide technical support for Exchange.

I think this is proof that BT servers dont like emails sent from Exchange.

Even in the unlikely event that I have some setting that BT's servers dont like, I didnt change any settings before I tried Prolaterals servers which worked fine first time.

I've asked BT if they will investigate this matter further.

I'll post an update on here when (if?) I get a reply from BT.

Anyone else heard of this? Any feedback would be appreciated


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

*Re: Problems using BT as smarthost for Exchange Server*

Hello,

Please do not Post duplicate Threads, I have merged your other Thread from MS Office Support to this one. Respond below.
----------------------------------------------

If mail.btconnect.com is the correct SMPT server and won't work, have you tried opening the Ports/Port Forward from your Firewall Device? Also, there's nothing wrong using a third party Mail Relay, most of the time, theirs works better because they always have anther SMTP server backup in case their server goes down.


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## clyde123 (Apr 10, 2008)

Hi EssoOil, thanks for this post.
I've never used BT for an Exchange Server application, but have various clients who have signed up with BT for broadband. Then their Pop email needs to be configured so as to accomodate BT's system. I must say I would rather BT stuck to phones and let real ISPs do the broadband stuff.
Sorry I have no answers for you here, but the thread looked a little lonely, so thought I'd kick in. My gut instinct is if you can do the job without BT, just go ahead.


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