ping working but mail is problem

[rpalacio]

hello...having some email problem here..

my customer has just replaced its 5000 layer 2 switch with a 6500 operating in layer 2 still...they have an ABR and some remote sites connceted thru frame relay...

the office where the ABR is, doesnt have any problem sending mails to anywhere, even to the remote sites..But the remote sites couldnt use the outlook at all..

some test was done..we could ping the mail server from the remote sites using the IP address and the netbios names...

Another thing, we have put an IP address on the SC0 of the 6500 which is not on the range where the whole network is. Thats the only thing done on the 6500 other than the hostname..

thanks a lot..

[nihal.akbulut]

Hi,

first of all, IP address of SC0 on switch is used for management of the switch. It does't effect anything about switching, because of layer 2 only cares about MAC addresses, not IP addresses.

After this, can you give more info about your topology and problem? I think, you have a central office which the mail server lays on, and some remote offices those are connected to central site via frame relay. right? And is your problem a connection problem or performance problem?

[rpalacio]

pinging the mail server which resides on the central office from the remote offices are ok. you can even use the netbios name of the mail server in pinging.

But the thing is if you open microsoft outlook, it gives an error..for isolation purposes, we tried using outlook express and it works.

Note that microsft outlook in the central office lan is working fine.

[mark-obrien]

Check any ACLs in the path that blocks TCP ports 138 and/or 139. Outlook uses one or the other of these ports. Outlook express only uses SMTP - TCP 25.

HTH

Mark

[rpalacio]

users on the central office where the mail server resides doesnt have any problem using the microsoft outlook..so am i right in saying that the core switch is out of the problem and do allow port 138 and/or 139?

therefore i have to concentrate in the ABR router which am not in control at all.