LocalHostRelay errors is there something wrong with my config or is this normal?

[maestroc]

I keep getting LOCALHOSTRELAY errors sent from my VPS when I send out a group of emails through a Joomla component called AcyMailing. The thing that I don't understand is that I have the system set up to use SMTP sending with SSL authentication and I thought I had the system locked down to not allow open relay at all. If I have the system send a single test message I don't get any errors. But when the cron runs to send out a batch of emails they go out but I get an error email back from the server as well. Here is an example of the top of one of the messages:

----------
Time: Tue Sep 23 18:22:28 2014 -0700
Type: LOCALHOSTRELAY, Remote IP - 198.71.94.xxx (US/United States/zzz.yyy.net)
Count: 101 emails relayed
Blocked: No

Sample of the first 10 emails:
----------

Anyone have an idea of what might be going on here and how I can either fix the error in the mailing system or if there is nothing to be concerned with to stop the system from sending me the warnings?

 

[quizknows]

It's probably fine, the options are in your CSF configuration under the section "Relay Tracking"

###############################################################################
# SECTION:Relay Tracking
###############################################################################
# Relay Tracking. This allows you to track email that is relayed through the
# server. There are also options to send alerts and block external IP addresses
# if the number of emails relayed per hour exceeds configured limits. The
# blocks can be either permanent or temporary.
#
# The following information applies to each of the following types of relay
# check:
# RT_[relay type]_ALERT: 0 = disable, 1 = enable
# RT_[relay type]_LIMIT: the limit/hour afterwhich an email alert will be sent
# RT_[relay type]_BLOCK: 0 = no block;1 = perm block;nn=temp block for nn secs

# This option triggers for external email
RT_RELAY_ALERT = "1"
RT_RELAY_LIMIT = "100"
RT_RELAY_BLOCK = "0"

# This option triggers for email authenticated by SMTP AUTH
RT_AUTHRELAY_ALERT = "1"
RT_AUTHRELAY_LIMIT = "100"
RT_AUTHRELAY_BLOCK = "0"

# This option triggers for email authenticated by POP before SMTP
RT_POPRELAY_ALERT = "1"
RT_POPRELAY_LIMIT = "100"
RT_POPRELAY_BLOCK = "0"

# This option triggers for email sent via /usr/sbin/sendmail or /usr/sbin/exim
RT_LOCALRELAY_ALERT = "1"
RT_LOCALRELAY_LIMIT = "100"

# This option triggers for email sent via a local IP addresses
RT_LOCALHOSTRELAY_ALERT = "1"
RT_LOCALHOSTRELAY_LIMIT = "100"

Customize as needed.

 

[mageshm]

@ maestroc,

When you sending bulk mail from script (if any SPAM orgin from your server due to account infection) CSF send the notification to you. Its very usefull to identify whether any SPAM orgin from our server or not. So don't disable the option.

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello

The message you provided shows:

Blocked: No

Thus, as mentioned earlier in this thread, it's likely just a notification and not an actual error. Or, are messages actually failing to send out?

Thank you.

 

[maestroc]

Thus, as mentioned earlier in this thread, it's likely just a notification and not an actual error. Or, are messages actually failing to send out?

It appears that the messages are indeed going out, but I have also been informed that even though my spam score is almost perfect on each email many of them are still getting marked as spam when it gets to the receiving person. Because of this I was wondering if there was something else in my configuration that might be sending up red flags making email systems (mostly gmail users) flag the messages as spam. I already have SPF and DKIM set up on the server and from what I can tell it is working properly.

Could this localrelay thing be a possible cause of that? I've checked the email blacklists and my server is not on any of them. Sorry, I know this has now moved outside of the cpanel issue but I am just trying to figure this one out...

My sincere thanks to all of you who have responded so far.

 

[cPanelMichael]

Are you able to review the message headers of one of the messages marked as SPAM to get a better idea of how it was scored?

Thank you.

 

[maestroc]

Are you able to review the message headers of one of the messages marked as SPAM to get a better idea of how it was scored?

Thank you.

Here is a copy of the headers for a recent mailing. It doesn't get marked spam for me because I have trained gmail not to, but apparently for other association members it does get marked as spam:

Delivered-To: [email protected]
Received: by 10.170.139.197 with SMTP id g188csp75431ykc;
        Sat, 20 Sep 2014 15:06:42 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 10.66.157.73 with SMTP id wk9mr13083128pab.101.1411250802550;
        Sat, 20 Sep 2014 15:06:42 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from vps.myhosting.net (vps.myhosting.net. [198.71.94.194])
        by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id hb4si9063446pac.178.2014.09.20.15.06.42
        for <[email protected]>
        (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128);
        Sat, 20 Sep 2014 15:06:42 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 198.71.94.194 as permitted sender) client-ip=198.71.94.194;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com;
       spf=pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 198.71.94.194 as permitted sender) [email protected];
       dkim=pass [email protected]
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=xxx.xxx; s=default;
	h=Content-Transfer-Encoding:Content-Type:MIME-Version:Message-ID:Subject:Reply-To:From:To:Date; bh=ki48p1hrXNppgcNRMLc9dWTJ2HEjkuRY+u3mixlzvbA=;
	b=MLvfZzlbK4Wo13Rmj9yZ61zjRa4helxPyoawlwoiu/OLxROtOVLh+042HyMnD4ZOPXj74H3gR5b7UnVjlLS0ZAaIstFEQqhlx4p/4V+GnXVIWpABhCxr6ZSSEhDc8oaryA6e7+pHshG7gZZlWCHpc8viP/IUDj/98ZzpVelQ+ag=;
Received: from vps.straightarrowhosting.net ([198.71.94.194]:42593 helo=www.xxx.xxx)
	by vps.myhosting.net with esmtpsa (UNKNOWN:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:256)
	(Exim 4.82)
	(envelope-from <[email protected]>)
	id 1XVSj7-0000Gb-Fv
	for [email protected]; Sat, 20 Sep 2014 15:01:57 -0700
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; q=dns/txt; l=4011; s=acy;
	t=1411250517; c=relaxed/simple; h=from:to:subject;
	d=xxx.xxx; bh=mgEa+/mL70JfuVdv0bOs6qM6mjM=;
	b=yf1ax5BGKmBUhK2E2fH6HefLA0nDsVdirj3jb9IxefBISzL723xd6LXLJ2FB
	OKe+Eu25IPRPfQqQrOkgd/jXzdSVmXjqbpGYpE2QaALxPCm9+s5B90okJ21m
	9K7yhRr8F3dFRbwAM/Pc5ST0AkB8fMxMZxC3zc5vBJFEr3BlqKg=
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 02:01:57 +0400
To: Joe Smith <[email protected]>
From: xxxxx Association <[email protected]>
Reply-To: xxxx President <[email protected]>
Subject: xxxx Online Conference Registration Now Open
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: PHPMailer 5.2.6 (https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
	boundary="b1_daefbbeb0757d6a548805646cff85321"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report
X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - vps.myhosting.net
X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - gmail.com
X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [47 12] / [47 12]
X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - xxx.xxx
X-Get-Message-Sender-Via: vps.myhosting.net: authenticated_id: [email protected]

--b1_daefbbeb0757d6a548805646cff85321
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

 

[cPanelMichael]

It's difficult to say why exactly Google marked the message as SPAM. It's possibly related to the use of the PHPMailer script, but it's something that Google controls. This document might help:

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126

Thank you.