Can't Send emails to hotmail

XzaB

Active Member
Nov 20, 2005
35
0
156
Egypt, Cairo
Hello,

I Got an error with Exim , that i cannot send any emails to hotmail but i can recieve from hotmail normaly
and also i can Send/Recv from all servers , except hotmail just i can recv from it

i check exim_mainlog while I'm sending email to hotmail i got this

2006-11-09 11:38:41 1Gi6Mr-0002La-D8 => ashrafmagdi <[email protected]> R=boxtraper_autowhitelist T=boxtrapper_autowhitelist

and is not continue with 'Completed'

I hope anyone here could help me with this issue !
 

tweakservers

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2006
379
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166
that does not sounds to me to be a boxtrapper issue. Search around for Cpanel, there's few discussion by some users who has problems on sending emails to hotmail.
 

AndyReed

Well-Known Member
PartnerNOC
May 29, 2004
2,217
4
193
Minneapolis, MN
2006-11-09 11:38:41 1Gi6Mr-0002La-D8 => ashrafmagdi <[email protected]> R=boxtraper_autowhitelist T=boxtrapper_autowhitelist
Login to WHM >> Tweak Settings and disable BoxTrapper Spam Trap. /etc/restartsrv exim and then send a message to your hotmail account. See if that works ;)
 

mealto

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2006
175
0
166
We have the same issue. Tried disabling BoxTrapper Spam Trap but email still ends up in hotmail junk folder. Hotmail complains it's Unknown Sender. Any ideas?
 

yapluka

Well-Known Member
Dec 24, 2003
301
2
168
France
cPanel Access Level
Root Administrator
If your emails go to the hotmail junk folder, try to add a SPF record to your domain, this usually fixes this issue.
Also make sure your server has a PTR record :)
 

kistler

Well-Known Member
Jan 27, 2005
133
1
166
2006-11-09 11:38:41 1Gi6Mr-0002La-D8 => ashrafmagdi <[email protected]> R=boxtraper_autowhitelist T=boxtrapper_autowhitelist
This looks more like an incoming email that was stopped by box trapper, its doing what it should (Not that I would use it). Reasons you may not be able to send to hotmail correctly, if your mail does leave the server:

No rDNS - on server's IP
PHPSuEXEC - is not installed

Most of the time you’ll find that the email sent will be placed in a spam type folder and not in the inbox. I would also place an SPF record for this domain, but this shouldn’t cause these issues. You should also check "Prevent the user "nobody" from sending out mail to remote addresses" within WHM -> Tweak Settings -> Mail --- Once you have both of the above your mail should make it into the inbox with out a problem, unless you're blacklisted.

if this doesn’t fix the issue - tail exim’s mainlog and also show us the header of the email being sent.

Kistler
 
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mealto

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2006
175
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166
Base don dnsreports.com, we have an SPF record. What is a PTR record and how do we create one?

Edit: ok, just foudn out a PTR record is the same as a revers DNS. We have that already but here is the problem.

dnsstuff.com reports that A record for host.ourdomain.com. does not point back to original IP. The host is setup on a separate IP and our domains runs on unique IP's. How can we fix this hotmail issue without changing IP addresses of our domains?
 
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mealto

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2006
175
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166
SPF record has been added by web host admin. Still seeing an error in dnsreport.colm and dnsstuff.com indicating that A record for host.domain.com does not point back to the original IP. I think it's complaining that IP on the domain is not the same as the host IP? Not sure if this is the cause. Both outlook and webmail leads to the hotmail junk folder immediately. Hotmail complains it's an "Unknown Sender". Any one have any ideas?
 

lloyd_tennison

Well-Known Member
Mar 12, 2004
697
1
168
If you have a SPF record any email you forward is subject to discarding because the SPF records are bad. See the faqs on SPF. the specifically state that. SPF and hosting is a BAD idea.
 

mealto

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2006
175
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166
Lloyd, can you elaborate. I still don't follow. Thanks for the patience, still trying to absorb all this stuff.
 

tweakservers

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2006
379
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166
do you have rDNS configured for your MX and mail server IP?
 

tweakservers

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2006
379
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166
lookup your domain in Dnsreport.com and make sure the column reverse DNS is passed. The MX ip will be shown up in the dnsreport as well
 

mealto

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2006
175
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166
lookup your domain in Dnsreport.com and make sure the column reverse DNS is passed. The MX ip will be shown up in the dnsreport as well
Reverse DNS did pass but the IP listed was actually a reverse of our real IP. Is this ok?
eg. if our IP was 123.456.789.10, it is listed as 10.789.456.123. Is this ok?

I am getting yellow warnings from dnsreport and dnsstuff.com that

domain.com claims to be host host.domain.com [but that host is at xx.xx.xx.112 (may be cached), not xx.xx.xx.114].

.112 is our main IP for our VPS and domain is running on .114. Can this cause an issue? More importantly, how do other users who run websites on a unique IP (not on the host IP) get pass this issue?
 

lloyd_tennison

Well-Known Member
Mar 12, 2004
697
1
168
Mealto:

http://new.openspf.org/FAQ/Forwarding


Does SPF break forwarding?

Stuart Gathman's opinion is recorded at http://archives.listbox.com/[email protected]/200410/0488.html and updated here.

Yes, it does. You'll have to switch from forwarding, where the envelope sender is preserved, to remailing, where the envelope sender is changed. But don't worry, we're working on providing SRS patches for the four major opensource MTAs, so that when you upgrade to an SPF-aware version, this problem will be solved also.

Of course, if you do "repackage/remail" you not only break the RFC's - you are now the ONLY sender of that SPAM.
 

mealto

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2006
175
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166
So Lloyd,

What you are syaing is, becasue our domain is not on the same IP as our mailnig IP, it is considered SPAM? If so, how do other companies resolve this. It would bs surprising that web host would offe unique IP's and have mail go out with each of these IP's. Thoughts?
 

lloyd_tennison

Well-Known Member
Mar 12, 2004
697
1
168
I said nothing of the kind. I said, if you remove all original headers of the email, then you are effectively the creator. So, if it is SPAM - you just spammed someone.

Read all the notes on the SPF site regarding that including the two links I sent.
 

sparek-3

Well-Known Member
Aug 10, 2002
2,173
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cPanel Access Level
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I'm really not sure if SPF is a good overall solution (but it may very well help in regards to Hotmail). But I think the point that needs to be made is that there's just not a real good reason for forwarding mail off of your server any more. Especially forwarding mail to the likes of Hotmail or Yahoo or other free services.

Perhaps it used to be the case where you had an e-mail client that only checked one mail account, so you forwarded mail to where you only had to check that one account. But now everyone is blocking mail servers because of spam, and forwarding mail is only going to hurt your server.

If you do not forward any e-mail to any hotmail.com addresses, I would bet that more messages to @hotmail.com addresses from your server would eventually reach their intended recipient. Is it plausible to think that you can convince everyone to stop forwarding their mail to their @hotmail.com address? Probably not, but that doesn't mean that it won't help.

Ultimately, if SPF is ever going to be adopted, then e-mail forwarders will have to become a thing of the past and everyone will really need to implement SPF. If this was done, then its possible that SPF could provide a real solution to spam. I just don't think its feasible to think that every person the Internet will see it the same way.
 

mealto

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2006
175
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166
I think I am still a bit lost. With this talk about forwarding an email, are we talking about an end user clicking forward in Outlook or is this something that the server is doing due to how it's setup?

Bottom line is, web host has setup SPF record and everything looks to be in order except for that one yellow warning on dnsreport.com:

domain.com claims to be host host.domain.com [but that host is at xx.xx.xx.112 (may be cached), not xx.xx.xx.114].

Anyone have a fix for hotmail auto junking emails sent via Outlook & webmail?
 

freedog96150

Well-Known Member
Mar 25, 2005
68
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156
Nevada, USA
Correct me if I am wrong, but I am reading the use of "forwarding" as being synonymous with "relaying" which is what really creates the problems.

To resolve this problem, I have changed my outgoing SMTP servers in Outlook, Thunderbird, and the like to use the SMTP for the ISP that I am connected to, in my case Verizon. I have also verified that the from and reply to settings have been correctly configured and point to my own domain. Since I started using my ISP's SMTP server, my emails have been getting a much higher receipt rate in my recipients inbox (so I am told).

Using your own domain's SMTP server through your ISP is technically a relay and your Exim logs will show you as a relayer. With Hotmail and Yahoo Mail trying to slow the flow of spam, they are spam boxing relayed email. Whether this practice is correct or not is not debatable as they are doing it and the rest of us must adapt.