Can't send mail on mail4

Customer Support Server/Network Issues
1

Hi,

I recently set up my first mailbox on mail4. Incoming mail works fine. When I try and send mail (using Outlook) I get:

Task ‘[email protected] - Sending’ reported error (0x8004210B): ‘The operation timed out waiting for a response from the sending (SMTP) server. If you continue to receive this message contact your server administrator or Internet Service Provider’

I believe all Outlook settings are OK - client is set to authenticate with outgoing mail server etc.

I can telnet to port 110, but not to port 25 (or port 587).

If I change outgoing mailserver to mail3 or mail5, the client talks to the server fine and up pops the username/password box. This makes me believe it is not an ISP problem.

So what am I missing?

Thanks,

Dan.

PS - I have a support ticket open on this since yesterday, but figured I’d open it up to the community for suggestions.

2

According to Microsoft:
This problem occurs when your mail server requires both Secure Sockets Layer security (SSL) and Secure Password Authentication (SPA).

RESOLUTION
This problem is corrected in Office XP Service Pack 3.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827349

Hope this helps. ~68shelby

3

Thanks for the comment but…

I don’t think this is the case for Jodohost is it? I actually found the article you’re suggesting and tried ticking SSL - didn’t work.

I’m running Office 2003.

Thanks again,

Dan.

4

OK - When I telnet into mail4.domain.com on port 25, it does eventually connect - after several minutes. I wasn’t leaving it for so long before. Connecting on port 110 connects after several seconds.

Why should it take so long on port 25? It seems Outlook is just timing out after 60 seconds.

Dan.

5

actually, I’ve seen this error with a few of our users recently and the fix was actually to to “[COLOR=“Red”]disable the mail virus scanning in McAfee, Norton’s or AGV”. Don’t freak out, your PC will still be protected, but the scanning engine is causing the mail server to timeout. This is a documented fix (not a hack). ~68shelby

6

Thanks again for the suggestion. Just tried it… and no luck.

Dan.

7

Did you try using SMTP SSL? that would change you to a different port. Maybe your ISP is doing some sort of filtering on port 25?

8

When all else fails, just use your ISP’s SMTP Server. They will authenticate your connection by your IP address. This is what 30-40% of my clients do PLUS it helps get around the recent SMTP “blacklisting” issues that JH has been dealing with. ~68shelby

9

SSL doesn’t seem to work at all. I don’t think this is an issue with my ISP…

Kind of crazy to have to use another company’s SMTP server. From reading these forums it seems the email side of things is JodoHost’s weakest point. I’ve had this problem for a week now - and still no resolution.

10

No offense, but your issues doesnt says everyone is in problem or we would have been flooded on these forums by now.
Please PM me your ticket# so i can have a look again.

11

Didn’t say everyone had same problems - just noticed that jodohost email servers attract a lot of problems…

Problems with spam
Problems with slow connections
Problems with blacklisting

Just read a message higher up this thread - 30-40% of someone’s customers use their ISP SMTP server rather than JodoHost.

JodoHost has been GREAT for me so far - apart from this problem. Unfortunately this is a problem which is proving hard to solve. I have about 40 websites waiting to move here - but I won’t move them until this issue is sorted.

Dan.

12

DrDan, I didn’t say that 30-40% of my clients used their ISP’s SMTP server because they couldn’t use JH, it’s just that using a direct connection from your ISP provides one less hop to/from the backbone - so it can be more efficient. Even as a reseller, I’ve been personally doing it for years with my own accounts/domains. It saves my JH bandwidth consumption and aleviates any additional SMTP server load, so what’s the harm? :smiley: ~68shelby

13

Hey Dan
As one of those resellers who occasionally utilizes other email solutions, I thought I would reply and try to throw my two cents in…

First, it is important to note that some ISP’s (such as COX cable) force smtp to go through their servers. Yes, you could not, even if you wanted to, send regular SMTP mail through a Jodo server, the ISP wants to see it and make sure it is not spam… For these ISP’s, you must use their SMTP servers. I am not implying this is your case, but it does explain why some clients are needing to use this method. If you don’t mind my asking, have you verified your ISP lets you use SMTP? I would assume you already have been using SMTP, but I always get in trouble when I assume…

Second, have you tried on a different mail client, such as Outlook Express? I have complained a lot, personally, about blacklisting, and seen a lot of other complaints, but not really any on the inability to reliably connect via SMTP. I have a feeling it is a setting somewhere…

Another option, maybe sounds pedantic, but have you tried deleting the account in Outlook and recreating it. Who knows, maybe MS has a bug or two in it?

Just my 2 cents. As much as I complain myself, it is really because I like hosting my clients here, and want the best for them. I think Jodo is doing a reasonable job is email, and superb in Customer Service.

14

please PM tanmaya the ticket ID as he requested

  1. Your problem has nothing to do with the issues you mentioned above
  2. Our mail servers have maintained excellent reliability in terms of uptime.
  3. The only major blacklisting issue we are having with is Comcast, and we aren’t the only host. We are rarely listed by the major blacklists, and have software to automatically detect and changing outgoing IPs if they get listed by the major blacklists.
  4. Some customers are complaining of receiving more spam since october, because the amount of spam has quadrupled since october and many many ISPs/hosts are getting hit. We are working to improve our spam filtering systems
  5. there are no issues with slow connections (pop3 or smtp). I don’t know where you read that from. Slow webmail, yes. This is a specific issue with only one of the 4 webmail solutions we offer, on only 2 of our 4 mail servers

30 to 40% of our customers use their ISP? that figure is positively incorrect. over 95% of our customers use our mail systems and our SMTP servers. We are processing around 1 million emails a day

15

Hello, Dan. Would you please check your ReverseDNS entry on Free Tools - Software Reviews, Opinions, and Tips - DNSstuff [your_ip_here]. If it’s misconfigured then you ran on the same problem as me - see the neighbor thread ( http://support.jodohost.com/showthread.php?t=8738) .

16

I already did - way before you posted this. Thanks for the reminder. Maybe you can remind him to reply? The last I heard from him was Thursday. He is one of six techs that have already looked at this problem…

  1. Didn’t say it did
  2. I’m sure they do. But being up is no good to me if I can’t connect.
  3. I don’t know anything about this - just reading someone else’s comments in this thread.
  4. I have an issue with a slow connection - 4 minutes to telnet into the SMTP server. I’m NOT saying this is definitely a JodoHost problem - but I have never had this problem with other hosts…
  5. I didn’t say JodoHost’s customers. I said one reseller’s customers - as they themselves posted in this thread.
  6. I like lists too.

I understand you are quick to defend the company name on these forums. That’s great… As I said - I have been happy with all other aspects of JH - but I’m not about to move my clients over until I’m sure they can access the mailserver.

Thanks,

Dan.

17

Thanks for clearing that up - and thanks again for your suggestions for my problem. Let me reiterate - I LOVE jodohost! These guys offer everything I need - and for a great price… But I need help with this one problem before I can move my clients over.

I agree with your logic of using the ISP outgoing server - especially the comment on saving bandwidth. BUT I can’t insist my clients to go down that road. Most of them need their hand holding even more than I do - and I don’t want to have to get into finding out their ISP SMTP server details every time!!

18

Thank you - I appreciate it.

Not the case with mine. Been using my old host SMTP server for years through this ISP.

No - didn’t try this. But the fact that telnet to the SMTP server takes about 4 minutes to connect tells me that wouldn’t help.

No, didn’t try - for the same reasons as above.

I agree. I WANT to love hosting my clients here. Just need to get this sorted before I can!

Thanks again for taking the time to write.

Dan.

19

Hi Cosinus,

Thanks for the advice. Actually - this could be something. I checked my IP address with the site you mentioned a few days ago and it was indeed looping. I logged off from the ISP and reconnected and was given a new IP address. This IP didn’t have any problems - but I still had the same problem with JodoHost. I’ve just checked the IP address again (the same one 2 or 3 days later) and now it is looping. So…

  1. What do I need to tell my ISP to get them to correct this?
  2. Could this really be the problem given that I can still connect reliably to my old host’s mail server?

I had a look at the link to the forum discussion you gave me and it didn’t seem relevant to this…but maybe I missed something?

Thanks again,

Dan.

20

Ever since the day I moved my email addresses to JodoHost (about a week or 10 days ago), my catchall account has been receiving 1,000’s of returned mails from postmasters…

I assume this is someone using my domain to send spam mail?

  1. Is there any reason this started when I moved them to JodoHost?
  2. Is there anything I can do to stop it?
  3. Could this be in any way connected with my problem?

Dan.