Yahoo mail hates my cPanel server.

[larryl]

Apparently that's the not the only mail server that won't take mail from our new cPanel server.

yahoo.com:
2007-03-07 20:42:07 1HP8aJ-00049o-QM SMTP error from remote mail server after initial connection: host d.mx.mail.yahoo.com [216.39.53.2]: 421 Message from (84.40.22.66) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html

Yeah, deferred. They never go anywhere. Even on the rare occasion when it connects to a Yahoo mail server the mail doesn't arrive at the sender, either in the inbox or in the spambox of their yahoo account.

tombean-isd.org:
# telnet 66.90.138.148 25
Trying 66.90.138.148...
telnet: connect to address 66.90.138.148: Connection timed out
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection timed out

advantex.mail.net
# telnet mail.advantexmail.net 25
Trying 66.90.138.148...
telnet: connect to address 66.90.138.148: Connection timed out
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection timed out

I did manage to get AOL and Google to take mail. The server can ping all of the above. apf isn't blocking traffic to them. The server has reverse DNS. It has a proper SPF record, as do all the domains on it.

Any thoughts?

[djtuesz]

Ummmm.. what did the DC/Host say?

[larryl]

Ummmm.. what did the DC/Host say?

Whose? Ours? I haven't asked them. I can traceroute to the ip addresses and ping them, so I don't think it's a connectivity issue from my side. Our others servers (Ensim, which we're migrating away from) don't have this issue with any of the providers listed above. I just want to find out what's different about the setup so I can correct it.

Or do you mean theirs? I'm going through all the channels that each provider has. AOL was actually fine to deal with. Yahoo is like talking to a brick wall. Charter is responsive but not helpful yet. The others I haven't heard back from yet.

[AndyReed]

Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html

Did you contact Yahoo and explained the problem you have? Did you fill out the form at: http://help.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/mail/cgi_defer Are you sure that your IPs/hostname is not blacklisted by any SPAM agencies such as CBL or SpamCop?

[larryl]

Did you contact Yahoo and explained the problem you have?

Yes.

Did you fill out the form at: http://help.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/mail/cgi_defer

Yes. We are well into the automated-email-reply cycle. Hopefully a real person will help soon.

Are you sure that your IPs/hostname is not blacklisted by any SPAM agencies such as CBL or SpamCop?

Yes. The server IP is not listed with any of the RBL's.

Just heard back from charter.net. They were blocking an entire subnet that included this specific IP but have now supposedly added it to the good list. We'll see.

It seems that the new server setup process will now include making sure the IP is whitelisted with all of the big ISP's. How depressing.

[kamraonline]

Hi,

I have same problem.
I install SPF Record on my server and fix PTR but (

If you fix it please contact me
I contacted yahoo many times ! but no answer !

Thanks a lot

-------------
Connecting to a.mx.mail.yahoo.com [209.191.118.103]:25 ... connected
SMTP<< 421 Message from (66.49.213.189) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
SMTP>> QUIT
LOG: MAIN
SMTP error from remote mail server after initial connection: host a.mx.mail.yahoo.com [209.191.118.103]: 421 Message from (66.49.213.189) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
Connecting to d.mx.mail.yahoo.com [216.39.53.2]:25 ... connected
SMTP<< 421 Message from (66.49.213.189) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
SMTP>> QUIT
LOG: MAIN
SMTP error from remote mail server after initial connection: host d.mx.mail.yahoo.com [216.39.53.2]: 421 Message from (66.49.213.189) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
Connecting to e.mx.mail.yahoo.com [216.39.53.1]:25 ... failed: Connection timed out (timeout=5m)
LOG: MAIN
e.mx.mail.yahoo.com [216.39.53.1] Connection timed out
Connecting to c.mx.mail.yahoo.com [68.142.237.182]:25 ... connected
SMTP<< 421 Message from (66.49.213.189) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
SMTP>> QUIT
LOG: MAIN
SMTP error from remote mail server after initial connection: host c.mx.mail.yahoo.com [68.142.237.182]: 421 Message from (66.49.213.189) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
Connecting to c.mx.mail.yahoo.com [216.39.53.3]:25 ... connected
SMTP<< 421 Message from (66.49.213.189) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
SMTP>> QUIT
LOG: MAIN
SMTP error from remote mail server after initial connection: host c.mx.mail.yahoo.com [216.39.53.3]: 421 Message from (66.49.213.189) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
LOG: MAIN
== k4m1_67@yahoo.com R=lookuphost T=remote_smtp defer (0): SMTP error from remote mail server after initial connection: host c.mx.mail.yahoo.com [216.39.53.3]: 421 Message from (66.49.213.189) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html

[larryl]

Hi,

I contacted yahoo many times ! but no answer !

I get answers, but they are just form letters and unhelpful.

The really bad part is that on the very rare occasion that it does connect Yahoo's server appears to accept the queued email, but it is never delivered on the Yahoo side. Very bad form.

[ramprage]

This isn't a cPanel issue, it's probably that somone on the Yahoo! network has flagged some mail that originated from your server as spam. Now their internal mail filter is blocking you.

Yahoo uses their own blacklist system, so you can be blocked with them even if you're not on any RBLs. AOL is pretty much the same way.

From experience getting off these large networks blacklist is a total nightmare, especially with AOL.


Some people don't agree with me on this one, but you need to whitelist yahoo and other large providers if you're using any RBL checks as a secondary measure. In the event Yahoo themselves get listed on spamcop (they do and have) you're users won't freak out and flood you with support tickets.

[larryl]

This isn't a cPanel issue, it's probably that somone on the Yahoo! network has flagged some mail that originated from your server as spam.

That is becoming apparent. The sad thing is that this is a new IP for us, so it's all legacy stuff.

Is there a way to expand the level of detail of the Exim logs so as to show actual smtp transcripts? I want to see everything from the MX lookup all the way through the disconnect.

[5stars]

It's not flaging or graylisting.
It's the ptr and A record.
Make sure you have a PTR record and that the A record shows up correctly when you do a reverse lookup, A=your IP.
I had the same identical problem with the exact same message, now I can send mail in the inbox with out problem at yahoo from any domain on my server and to mention with out domain keys.
Some setup the PTR and it does not resolve back to their IP, I for one got tierd of it and asked my ISP to give control to make my own reverse entry.

[larryl]

It's the ptr and A record.Make sure you have a PTR record and that the A record shows up correctly when you do a reverse lookup, A=your IP.

I really do appreciate that. It all makes perfect sense. We have had it all set up for this server since day one.

What's it's really all about is persistence and patience.

I won't bore you with the 17 automated messages I got from Yahoo support, nor my consistent responses to each one twice a day. No fake, 17 automated messages from customer support over 13 days before I got one with value.

These are the last two emails from Yahoo, the really important ones. They came from a real person. My response is in the middle.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Yahoo! Mail" <mail-abuse-bulk@cc.yahoo-inc.com>
To: "Larry
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 11:50 AM

> Hello Larry,
>
> Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.
>
> After looking into the issue, it appears that your emails may have
> become deprioritized due to a number of potential issues with your
> mailings. To continue to receive prioritized delivery, we recommend
> ensuring that your email lists are well maintained. If you conform to
> industry standard practices, then you will not be deprioritized and you
> should see improvements in delivery times as well as available
> connections.
>
> Please visit the following URL for information on improving list
> maintenance:

Followed by all the usual links about bulk mail. Not us at all.

Deprioritized. I like that. I'm going to use that in a meeting in real life very soon. "I'm sorry, but your issue has been deprioritized." ;-)

My response:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry
To: "Yahoo! Mail" <mail-abuse-bulk@cc.yahoo-inc.com>
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 12:02 PM

> Thank you for your response. This IP address is new to our company and to
> this mail server. Any prior issues with this IP are not related in any way
> to {us}. I appreciate the links below and agree with all of the concepts
> they contain. We already comply with all of the suggestions in those links.
> We are not a bulk mailer, and our customers are not allowed to bulk mail.
> Our other mail servers have a good track record of legitimate, non-spam
> email with Yahoo.
>
> Our customers are unable to send mail to your customers @yahoo.com. Could
> you please take whatever action is necessary to remove the deprioritization
> of email from xx.xx.xx.xx (srvxx.xxx.com)?
>
> Thanks,

I tried un-deprioritize but that just didn't work. ;-)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Yahoo! Mail" <mail-abuse-bulk@cc.yahoo-inc.com>
To: "Larry
Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2007 2:34 PM

> Hello Larry,
>
> Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.
>
> While we cannot fully exempt your mail server from our SpamGuard
> technology, we have however, made appropriate changes to this IP address
> in our database. This should help with delivering mail to the
> appropriate Yahoo! folders. Let us know, if we can be any further
> assistance.
>
> If you significantly change your policies, please feel free to contact
> us again to submit a questionnaire in 6 months, and we will re-evaluate
> your answers and mailing practices at that time.

Finally. Persistence and patience win out. Success.

[ramprage]

Glad you worked it out, yes it takes a long time to get off these big providers lists. Keep at it and you'll win out.