lost while reading message data (header)

[testtubebaby]

Hello,

I am unable to recieve emails from a mailserver .. keep getting the error......



2007-08-06 18:30:46 SMTP connection from <remote mail servername> [x.x.x.x]:2149 I=[y.y.y.y]:25 lost while reading message data (header)



x.x.x.x = remote mail server IP
y.y.y.y = my mailserverIP


Spamassasin is turned of for the domain that needs to recieve ....mail scanne runinstalled .... exim reset to defaults,... x.x.x.x added to /etc/rblwhitelist ... sender verify callout disabled.


Please advise.


Thanks.

[furquan]

apologies to bump this old thread, but since my search turned vein, i am updating an old ticket,

I am also seeing this in my logs and the customer complaining about not being able to connect to our server to send mails, I have NO hard firewall or any such restrictions but i see this in the exim_mainlog

list matching forced to fail: failed to find host name for

What could this mean ...any one ?

[jack01]

Yes, we need to know what this means too please in /var/log/exim-mainlog:

list matching forced to fail: failed to find host name for

Also seeing

unexpected disconnection while reading SMTP command from (pc) [xx.xx.xx.xx]

the IP of which is a hosting client who cannot send emails out

[LinuxTechie]

Hello,

You need to check whether the mail server IP is having a Rdns or not.

You can check using the below given steps :

Ip Tools, DNS tools, internet tools, WHOIS, traceroute, ping, domain name tools >> Reverse DNS Lookup

[jack01]

Yes, reverse dns is in place for the server IP, and has been for years.

[LinuxTechie]

Hello,

Is this issue resolved?

[jack01]

OK, there does seem to be a known issue with Orange Internet connections currently where 3rd pary SMTP connections are being blocked. Orange have confirmed this by telephone.

Our current workaround is to simply ask the clients (assuming they are indeed with Orange) to use smtp.orangehome.co.uk as the outgoing mail server and make sure they use port 25 and disable 'server requires authentication'.

Hope this helps anyone.

[LinuxTechie]

Hello,

If this is the issue, can't you try 26,465 ( common alternative ports for smtp which should be opened in the server ) for mail purposes.

[cPanelTristan]

Hello Varada,

Port 26 is not opened by default on cPanel machines unless the following has been set in WHM > Service Manager:

exim on another port

Allow exim to listen on port

Here you would have had to place 26 into the field and then click "Save" to change the setting. Now, port 587 is also another alternate port you could add in that area rather than 26, since many ISPs block port 26 as well (but do not block 587).

465 is the TLS on connect port, so that one is opened by default. It's a secure port for exim actually.

You can see which ports are opened for mail and being used by running the following (I've used port 465 as the example):

[root@itchy:~] # egrep 465 /etc/exim.conf
daemon_smtp_ports = 25 : 465
tls_on_connect_ports = 465

[root@itchy:~] # lsof -i :465
COMMAND   PID     USER   FD   TYPE    DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME
exim    16160 mailnull    5u  IPv6 198945326       TCP *:smtps (LISTEN)
exim    16160 mailnull    6u  IPv4 198945327       TCP *:smtps (LISTEN)

If you run the same commands to check port 26 and/or 587, you will not receive a return unless you've set one of those as the alternate exim port in WHM's Service Manager as previously mentioned.

Thanks!

[LinuxTechie]

Hello Tristan,

Yes, I was exactly mentioning to set the port 26 in Service Manager. Some ISP's blocks port 25 and now a days most of the hosts opens an extra port for smtp to resolve this issue.

Thanks.