Methods to troubleshoot mail flow issues in Exchange Server

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Summary: Any disturbance in the mail flow of any organization can cause commotion in the ongoing business operations. It impacts communication between the members as well as with the customers of the organization. In this article, you’ll learn manual ways and the use of third-party tools that smoothly troubleshoot mail flow issues. If an admin overlooks these issues, it can hamper day-to-day productivity.

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The Exchange Server, being a critical component of any organization, can’t afford to have downtime because if it does, the whole workflow messes up. This is nothing less than a trauma for any enterprise. For that reason, the admin runs regular monitoring dynamically and scans of the network and the platforms used.

If the mail flow is not functioning accurately, there can be glitches in sending and receiving emails. The admin must have a realistic solution and implement it before the situation has serious outcomes. This article will shed light on how you can troubleshoot the mail flow issues in the Exchange Server.

What causes mail flow issues in Exchange?

Troubleshooting mail flow in Exchange Online can be a challenging task and knowing the potential causes can significantly lower the burden on the administrator. Let us learn about them one by one so that we can resolve them for the best.

Recent updates are causing inefficiency in running the server.
Multiple messages are waiting in a queue due to blockages.
The bandwidth of your mailbox is exceeding the receiving limit.
Improper configuration of the connectors can make the server faulty.
Third-party services like spam filtering can cause a ruckus in sending or receiving emails.
Misconfigured Mail Exchange (MX) and Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records can cause issues.

Consequences of ineffective mail flow

Multiple email messages will encounter delivery delays or will remain undelivered.
It will impact the flow of your business operations.
Potential sales opportunities won’t reach you when there’s no efficient transmission.
There will be serious security risks to your organization’s data and its transmission.
Reputation will bear damages when unable to fulfill promised deadlines.
The IT team will be under extreme pressure due to the high workload.

Methods to troubleshoot Exchange mail flow issues

Check queue

If messages are waiting in the queue, users will face issues in sending or receiving emails in their mailbox. It is, therefore, a crucial step to check the mail queue for any standing messages causing mail delivery blockage. Enter the command “Get-Queue” in the Exchange Management Shell to get a hold of your queue length.

This step will give a clear idea about the messages in processing, delivered, or stopped. Also, ensure that the services in Exchange Server are running and set to Start.

Check for network connectivity

Verify with the IT team for any network infrastructure changes to ensure there is an efficient network. Review the firewall settings and ensure all the required communication ports are open. Monitoring your network speed and bandwidth usage will also help you coordinate with your administrator to work on the exchange mail flow troubleshooter.

Checking mail flow with EAC

Open the Exchange admin center in your web browser and log in using your Exchange Admin account.
Click on the Mail flow from the left pane of the window. It will show major factors influencing the mail flow in the Exchange Server.
From the dropdown, tap on Rules to see if there are any new rules affecting the delivery of messages.
Now go to Accepted domains to see if all the domains used are mentioned and if any errors are showing.
Go to Connectors and see that all the send and receive connectors are configured properly and no new connectors are available. Disable any unnecessary connectors that might cause inefficiency to the exchange mail flow troubleshooter.

Check for security certificates

Run a security check and see if your Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates are up-to-date and neither expired nor near their expiry dates. The absence of SSL and TLS certificates can induce security threats to smooth and secure communication in your organization.

Troubleshooting with third-party tools

It is important to note that the manual exchange mail flow troubleshooter may not always resolve issues. In such cases, use third-party tools such as Kernel for Exchange Server Recovery.

If you can’t restore the email distribution to normal, our tool is a suitable alternative. It allows you to export your mailboxes without losing any data. Admin can create a new Exchange Server and use this EDB to PST converter to set up mailboxes and restore the communication line. The tool allows exporting user mailboxes, shared mailboxes, public folders, archives, disabled, and deleted mails, mailboxes, and folders. It allows storing databases in different formats including PST, EML, MBOX, PDF, and MSG.

Conclusion

Regular monitoring and assessment of the Exchange Server is crucial to avoid issues and deal with them proactively. When the admin detects and manages issues before time, the operations of an organization function seamlessly without causing any adverse effects.

The third-party tool mentioned in the article is helpful for situations when it is difficult to troubleshoot using other methods. If mail flow is not managed within time, it can hamper future business opportunities, lead to security risks, and ultimately put an organization’s reputation at risk of damage. It is henceforth important to deal with it before the situation becomes completely unmanageable.

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