Sendmail won't receive remote messages

Sendmail won't receive remote messages

[Robert]

My mail server has been working without a glitch for a number of months.
All of a sudden it won't receive messages from the Internet.  Local mail
within my network is still received.  Our ISP is under new management - so
maybe its not a problem with my system!

I'm able to access my webpage OK over the net at http://www.mydomain.com.au.

Could somebody let me know whether there's a problem with my config, or is
there a problem with my ISP?

Below is a description of my setup:

OS: Slackware 9.0
Sendmail 8.12.9
Firewall: only port 25 open to receive mail
I access my mail with Squirrelmail and IMAP2

If I telnet to my mail server from a dialup, everything looks OK (I've
substituted my address with a fictitious one):
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# telnet myserver.com.au 25
220 myserver.com.au ESMTP Sendmail 8.12.9/8.12.9; Tue, 26 Aug 2003 07:34:58
+1000
helo 63.60.42.226
250 myserver.com.au Hello 1Cust226.tnt3.cbr2.da.uu.net [63.60.42.226],
pleased to meet you
mail from: me@mycomputer.com
250 2.1.0 me@mycomputer.com... Sender ok
rcpt to: robert@myserver.com.au
250 2.1.5 robert@myserver.com.au ... Recipient ok
data
354 Enter mail, end with "." on a line by itself
this is a test
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Re: Sendmail won't receive remote messages

[Ray Olszewski]

At 07:23 PM 8/26/2003 +1000, Robert wrote:
>My mail server has been working without a glitch for a number of months.
>All of a sudden it won't receive messages from the Internet.  Local mail
>within my network is still received.  Our ISP is under new management - so
>maybe its not a problem with my system!
>
>I'm able to access my webpage OK over the net at http://www.mydomain.com.au.
>
>Could somebody let me know whether there's a problem with my config, or is
>there a problem with my ISP?

How? You don't give us any meaningful information about either your ISP or 
your "config". You don't even say what the failures look like from the 
remote end.

Does ALL external mail not arrive, or just some sites (could be an auth 
issue if only some sites fail)?

If you bypass your usual remote-access methods anh just use vi to look at 
the mail spool file, are the messages still missing?

Are there any differences between the addressing of the local and remote 
mails? I mean something that might cause sendmail to think it is being 
asked to act as a relay when off-site mail comes in? Since you obfuscated 
at least some of the info in your test below, I can't infer anything from 
it about address issues.

The obvious thing to try as a test is telnet'ing to port 25 on your server 
from a comparably (to the e-mail failures) remote site (one outside your 
ISP's address block). Since you "substituted my address with a fictitious 
one", I cannot do that test for you,nor can anyone else here. But if that 
is the test you describe below as "telnet to my mail server from a dialup" 
(that is, if the "dialup" is from a different ISP), then you might complete 
the report of its results. After you complete the e-mail with the specified 
"." only line, what happens? Does the message go through?

Since you mention an ISP management change, the possibility that your ISP 
now blocks port-25 connections that bypass their e-mail relays is a real 
one in principle, but hard to reconcile with the test you report below (but 
since I don't know where the "dialup" is relative to your server, I can't 
be sure of anything).


>Below is a description of my setup:
>
>OS: Slackware 9.0
>Sendmail 8.12.9
>Firewall: only port 25 open to receive mail
>I access my mail with Squirrelmail and IMAP2
>
>If I telnet to my mail server from a dialup, everything looks OK (I've
>substituted my address with a fictitious one):
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
># telnet myserver.com.au 25
>220 myserver.com.au ESMTP Sendmail 8.12.9/8.12.9; Tue, 26 Aug 2003 07:34:58
>+1000
>helo 63.60.42.226
>250 myserver.com.au Hello 1Cust226.tnt3.cbr2.da.uu.net [63.60.42.226],
>pleased to meet you
>mail from: me@mycomputer.com
>250 2.1.0 me@mycomputer.com... Sender ok
>rcpt to: robert@myserver.com.au
>250 2.1.5 robert@myserver.com.au ... Recipient ok
>data
>354 Enter mail, end with "." on a line by itself
>this is a test
>-





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Re: Sendmail won't receive remote messages

[Robert]

"Ray Olszewski" <ray@comarre.com> wrote in message
news:5.1.0.14.1.20030826070427.01f0a9f0@celine...
> At 07:23 PM 8/26/2003 +1000, Robert wrote:
> >My mail server has been working without a glitch for a number of months.
> >All of a sudden it won't receive messages from the Internet.  Local mail
> >within my network is still received.  Our ISP is under new management -
so
> >maybe its not a problem with my system!
> >
> >I'm able to access my webpage OK over the net at
http://www.mydomain.com.au.
> >
> >Could somebody let me know whether there's a problem with my config, or
is
> >there a problem with my ISP?
>
> How? You don't give us any meaningful information about either your ISP or
> your "config". You don't even say what the failures look like from the
> remote end.
>

I get no acknowlegdement of failures from the remote end.  There is no
evidence that a message has ever been sent.

> Does ALL external mail not arrive, or just some sites (could be an auth
> issue if only some sites fail)?
>
> If you bypass your usual remote-access methods anh just use vi to look at
> the mail spool file, are the messages still missing?

There is no record of the messages arriving in the mail spool or in the
/var/log/maillog

>
> Are there any differences between the addressing of the local and remote
> mails? I mean something that might cause sendmail to think it is being
> asked to act as a relay when off-site mail comes in? Since you obfuscated
> at least some of the info in your test below, I can't infer anything from
> it about address issues.

Presumably if my server thought it was being asked to act as a relay it
would leave messages in /var/log/maillog

>
> The obvious thing to try as a test is telnet'ing to port 25 on your server
> from a comparably (to the e-mail failures) remote site (one outside your
> ISP's address block). Since you "substituted my address with a fictitious
> one", I cannot do that test for you,nor can anyone else here. But if that
> is the test you describe below as "telnet to my mail server from a dialup"
> (that is, if the "dialup" is from a different ISP), then you might
complete
> the report of its results. After you complete the e-mail with the
specified
> "." only line, what happens? Does the message go through?

The message does go through fine when I telnet port 25.  I hope you don't
mind - I've emailed you my server address.  I'd be very grateful if you
could run some tests.  I'm too paranoid about spam to put my server address
on this newsgroup.

>
> Since you mention an ISP management change, the possibility that your ISP
> now blocks port-25 connections that bypass their e-mail relays is a real
> one in principle, but hard to reconcile with the test you report below
(but
> since I don't know where the "dialup" is relative to your server, I can't
> be sure of anything).

The dialup is from a completely different ISP.

>
>
> >Below is a description of my setup:
> >
> >OS: Slackware 9.0
> >Sendmail 8.12.9
> >Firewall: only port 25 open to receive mail
> >I access my mail with Squirrelmail and IMAP2
> >
> >If I telnet to my mail server from a dialup, everything looks OK (I've
> >substituted my address with a fictitious one):
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
> ># telnet myserver.com.au 25
> >220 myserver.com.au ESMTP Sendmail 8.12.9/8.12.9; Tue, 26 Aug 2003
07:34:58
> >+1000
> >helo 63.60.42.226
> >250 myserver.com.au Hello 1Cust226.tnt3.cbr2.da.uu.net [63.60.42.226],
> >pleased to meet you
> >mail from: me@mycomputer.com
> >250 2.1.0 me@mycomputer.com... Sender ok
> >rcpt to: robert@myserver.com.au
> >250 2.1.5 robert@myserver.com.au ... Recipient ok
> >data
> >354 Enter mail, end with "." on a line by itself
> >this is a test



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Re: Sendmail won't receive remote messages

[Ray Olszewski]

OK, Robert, here's the deal.

1. A message sent directly to robert@[yourdomain].com.au ... I'm keeping 
the real name of [yourdomain] confidential at your request ... appears from 
this end to go out. It's not in the mailq on my MTA server.

2. If I telnet to the MTA actually running at [yourdomain].com.au, I appear 
to be able to send a message from here to robert@[yourdomain].com.au .

You might let me know which, if either, of those messages actually arrives.

But ...

3. If I run the command "host -t MX  [yourdomain].com.au", I get 3 results, 
none of which is the server [yourdomain].com.au ... all 3 are 
[something].iinet.net.au ... your ISP, I assume. This means that ordinary 
off-site e-mail will be sent to one of those servers, not yours. Only God 
and your ISP know what happens to it after that. This is probably your problem.

At 07:38 AM 8/27/2003 +1000, Robert wrote:

>"Ray Olszewski" <ray@comarre.com> wrote in message
>news:5.1.0.14.1.20030826070427.01f0a9f0@celine...
> > At 07:23 PM 8/26/2003 +1000, Robert wrote:
> > >My mail server has been working without a glitch for a number of months.
> > >All of a sudden it won't receive messages from the Internet.  Local mail
> > >within my network is still received.  Our ISP is under new management -
>so
> > >maybe its not a problem with my system!

[details deleted]




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Re: Sendmail won't receive remote messages

[Robert]

> OK, Robert, here's the deal.
>
> 1. A message sent directly to robert@[yourdomain].com.au ... I'm keeping
> the real name of [yourdomain] confidential at your request ... appears
from
> this end to go out. It's not in the mailq on my MTA server.
>
> 2. If I telnet to the MTA actually running at [yourdomain].com.au, I
appear
> to be able to send a message from here to robert@[yourdomain].com.au .
>
> You might let me know which, if either, of those messages actually
arrives.
>
> But ...
>
> 3. If I run the command "host -t MX  [yourdomain].com.au", I get 3
results,
> none of which is the server [yourdomain].com.au ... all 3 are
> [something].iinet.net.au ... your ISP, I assume. This means that ordinary
> off-site e-mail will be sent to one of those servers, not yours. Only God
> and your ISP know what happens to it after that. This is probably your
problem.
>
> At 07:38 AM 8/27/2003 +1000, Robert wrote:
>
> >"Ray Olszewski" <ray@comarre.com> wrote in message
> >news:5.1.0.14.1.20030826070427.01f0a9f0@celine...
> > > At 07:23 PM 8/26/2003 +1000, Robert wrote:
> > > >My mail server has been working without a glitch for a number of
months.
> > > >All of a sudden it won't receive messages from the Internet.  Local
mail
> > > >within my network is still received.  Our ISP is under new
management -
> >so
> > > >maybe its not a problem with my system!

The telnet message arrived but the "ordinary" one didn't.  I've finally
managed to contact my ISP about this.  It looks as if my static IP address
has been corrupted, as you have correctly pointed out. With any luck it will
be fixed in the next few hours.

I'm just posting this so that readers can see the end of the story!

Robert.



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