Email servers

[#1]

Hi guys.

Is anyone here running an email server on PN.

I'm having smtp issues and wondering if anyone else has the same.

I know there are webmail issues at present but was hoping someone could shed light on the fact I can't  e-mail anyone from my server and has only been an issue for the last few weeks.

I have checked for blacklists but there is currently nothing on testing.

[#2]

If your IP is clean then you shouldn't have any issues at all.

What exactly is happening when you try sending email?

[#3]

Hi, I raised a ticket number 138480355

Basically I can't e-mail anyone on any domain as all messages get refused and bounced back to me.

I tried to go throught relay.plus.net on both port 25 and 587 but the relay servers are reporting access denied.

I tried with credentials too.

I am currently working around this issue by using an alternative smtp relay on port 2525 and there are no problems with outgoing e-mails bouncing.

I have changed static ip to confirm it was not the ip and I have checked various sites to check my domain is not an issue. with blacklisting.

I have also updated my DNS spf txt record.

Nothing i do will send e-mails through plusnet directly.

[#4]

Although you are on a static IP it is still taken from a pool that is defined as dynamic to the outside world so many servers will reject you. What you should do is set the server to relay via smtp.plus.net which gets round that issue. You need to make sure your server is configured to connect to the Plusnet server with either no authentication or authenticate in plain text (SSL/TLS won't work unless you get some magic extra information from Bob).

[#5]

I have tried relay.plus.net but it won't relay.

The messages are still being bounced to me with the reason access denied.

The new static ip is from a completely different pool though starting 81.174.xxx.xxx

and the previous static ip was 212.159.118.194.

My current relay which is 3rd party is fine.

And how I would really like to implement SSL but can't see that being for a while yet.

[#6]

I can't think of any reason why our relays would rejected connection attempts.

If this happened whether you were sending directly or smarthosting via our relays, then it suggests an issue with transmission over port 25 rather than an access restriction. Possibly something local.

Any chance you've got something else running on port 25 or a local firewall/security application blocking things?

What happens if you try telnetting to relay.plus.net from a command line? e.g.

telnet relay.plus.net 25
telnet relay.plus.net 587

[#7]

It's just not connecting.

There is nothing else connected that would cause problems.

The only other thing connected permanently is the sky Q box.

I will try disconnecting this tonight and see what i get but I can't see that being an issue.

I have the One hub and tried resetting to factory and forwarding just 25,587 & 143 but this made no difference.

I attached a screenshot of the telnet commands.

[#8]

Strange - I'd only expect that if you were connected via some other ISP that was blocking you from sending via servers other than their own!

[#9]

I suppose its going to be a watch this space issue. So im thinking of AAISP's L2TP service and be able to make use of IPv6. Whats your thoughts?

[#10]

So I have had a reply but still leaves me at a loss.

Thank you for your response,

We don't block standard ports from use with us, the only blocking of ports is done through the router you are using but port 25 wouldn't be blocked through us and if the IP is clean it wouldn't get rejected.

With you using a domain not with us and your own mail server there isn't anything we can test from our side unfortunately as the relay and port isn't having any issues through us.

Please do not hesitate to get back in touch online at Contact Us or by phone on 0800 432 0200 if we can assist with anything else.

There is no way to block outgoing ports on the hub one and I have checked my ip for blacklisting as far as I can.

The router has been reset to factory defaults and only needed ports forwarded.

Still nothing,

[#11]

Are you able to try installing tracetcp from here (the zip installation)?

Note that you may need the Wincap library installed as per the comment towards the top of the page I've linked to.

Drop the tracetcp.exe file into your Windows\System32\ directory and then from a command prompt do this:

tracetcp relay.plus.net:25

Should return something along the lines of:

Tracing route to 212.159.8.119 [relay.plus.net] on port 25
Over a maximum of 30 hops.
1       4 ms    4 ms    4 ms    192.168.1.254   [home.gateway]
2       13 ms   14 ms   13 ms   195.166.130.249 [lo0.central10.pcn-bng02.plus.net]
3       14 ms   13 ms   13 ms   84.93.253.79    [411.be6.pcn-ir02.plus.net]
4       14 ms   14 ms   17 ms   195.166.129.173 [gr-11-1-0.pcl-cr01.plus.net]
5       15 ms   14 ms   14 ms   195.166.129.0   [ae1.ptw-cr01.plus.net]
6       14 ms   17 ms   14 ms   195.166.129.33  [te9-4.ptn-gw01.plus.net]
7       32 ms   23 ms   22 ms   84.93.232.61    [gi5-1.peh-cr02.plus.net]
8       22 ms   24 ms   24 ms   84.93.232.16    [po5.peh-cr01.plus.net]
9       21 ms   22 ms   29 ms   84.93.232.44    [vlan2657.peh-elb01.plus.net]
10      *       *       *       Request timed out.
11      *       *       *       Request timed out.
12      *       *       *       Request timed out.
...

If the traffic's being redirected somewhere local then this should provide some clues.

[#12]

Thats quite a handy tool,

I'll remember that one.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\ashley>tracetcp relay.plus.net:25

Tracing route to 212.159.8.107 [relay.plus.net] on port 25
Over a maximum of 30 hops.
1 8 ms 4 ms 8 ms 192.168.1.2 [dsldevice.lan]
2 22 ms 22 ms 23 ms 195.166.130.252 [lo0.central10.psb-bng01.plus.ne
t]
3 23 ms 33 ms 50 ms 84.93.253.99 [411.be5.psb-ir01.plus.net]
4 53 ms 22 ms 55 ms 195.166.129.189 [gr-11-1-0.ptw-cr02.plus.net]
5 23 ms 23 ms 22 ms 195.166.129.2 [ae1.ptw-cr02.plus.net]
6 24 ms 23 ms 23 ms 195.166.129.33 [te9-4.ptn-gw01.plus.net]
7 41 ms 22 ms 33 ms 84.93.232.61 [gi5-1.peh-cr02.plus.net]
8 60 ms 33 ms 166 ms 84.93.232.16 [po5.peh-cr01.plus.net]
9 37 ms 33 ms 35 ms 84.93.232.16 [po5.peh-cr01.plus.net]
10 30 ms 38 ms 31 ms 212.159.8.107 [relay.plus.net]
11 30 ms Destination Reached in 32 ms. Connection established to 212.159.
8.107
Trace Complete.

C:\Users\ashley>

[#13]

That serves nothing but to confuse me even more. Your trace completes. By that logic the telnet should work too

[#14]

It's not just me then.

I will try tomorrow my old router, just in case it's something to do with that but I can't see it as like you say, something is going out to the relay.

But I will try just to rule it out.

[#15]

It might be worth checking if telnet can reach anywhere else. eg

telnet google.co.uk 80

That should result in clearing the window which shows the connection has been established. You could then try

get / (followed by Enter)

(note: the cursor will move but nothing will be seen as there's no echo).

Google might respond to that with something like a 'malformed command' message.

Ctrl + ] will close the session.

If that works I suggest trying

telnet relay.plus.net 25
(and/or)
telnet relay.plus.net 587

using the same window (and suitable optimism) to see if that now connects.