Re: Snow Leopard Server Mail Settings?

In our previous episode (Tuesday, 05-Mar-2013), Ashley Aitken said:
> Hi,
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> I'm having some problems with Snow Leopard Server email (mail bouncing =
or taking a long time to get in, an hour or more, in some cases).
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> Can someone please help with clear definitions for (and the purpose =
of) these settings in the Mail Service > Settings > General tab in =
Server Admin?
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> 1. Domain name: =20
> Enter the local Internet domain name.
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> What exactly is this meant to be (and how is it used)?

This is your domain name. like mine is kreme.com and the list is hosted =
on omnigroup.com.

> Currently this is set to "local"
> I only have one server that runs mail and web behind our ADSL =
modem/router
> Hopefully, ports are forwarded as appropriate from the modem/router to =
the server
> I do have an internal DNS setup, with the same domain as external for =
when clients are connected locally.
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> 2. Host name:
> Enter the Internet host name of this mail system
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> What exactly is this meant to be (and how is it used)?

This is the FQDN of the machine. That is, a name like fred.domain.tld =
that when looked up by anyone will resolve to the IP address of your =
computer.

> Currently this is set to "mydomain.com"
> I would have thought that the Internet host name would have been =
mail.mydomain.com as in the MX record?

Yes, something like that (although I don't think you are the owner of =
mydomain.com, which is a real domain, so best not used as an example. =
example.com is an example domain.)

> I think I have used that in the past but my email addresses then =
looked like name-i4yH9JU3wRtWVPTZF4YnfwC/[email protected] :-(

Which is technically correct. You have to tell your mail software to =
treat [email protected] as the same as [email protected]

> 3. Mail > Settings > Relay=20
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> With regards to the delay of emails getting accepted (when they don't =
bounce and only from some servers it seems, e.g. Apple mac.com delivered =
immediately)
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> I thought this was caused by my using some  "junk mail rejection =
servers (realtime blacklist)"
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> However, I've check again and I no longer seem to have any of these =
configured (are they recommended? which ones?) so something else must be =
slowing down the mail delivery. =20

You use the relay if, for example, you have to send all your mail out =
via your ISP instead of directly to other mail servers, IIRC.

> I notice in the mail.log lots of entries like this:
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>> Mar  6 12:09:06 server postfix/smtpd[52216]: connect from =
mailserver.easterncontrols.com[70.90.14.220]
>> Mar  6 12:09:07 server postfix/smtpd[52216]: NOQUEUE: reject: RCPT =
from mailserver.easterncontrols.com[70.90.14.220]: 450 4.7.1 =
<info-3Q2Tfjf0mew0n/[email protected]>: Recipient address rejected: Service is =
unavailable; from=3D<[email protected]> =
to=3D<info-vF6D3zRCt/[email protected]> proto=3DESMTP =
helo=3D<mailserver.easterncontrols.com>
>> Mar  6 12:09:08 server postfix/smtpd[52216]: lost connection after =
DATA (0 bytes) from mailserver.easterncontrols.com[70.90.14.220]
>> Mar  6 12:09:08 server postfix/smtpd[52216]: disconnect from =
mailserver.easterncontrols.com[70.90.14.220]
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> I thought this was the realtime blacklisting.

Um. don't think so. There's usually an error message. That is a 450 code =
which means "temporary failure, please try again" which would not be a =
blacklist. It probably means your setup cannot process incoming mail.

> I also see lots of these:
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>> Mar  6 12:10:42 server postfix/anvil[51922]: statistics: max =
connection rate 5/60s for (smtp:68.203.211.226) at Mar  6 12:06:03
>> Mar  6 12:10:42 server postfix/anvil[51922]: statistics: max =
connection count 2 for (smtp:134.7.73.150) at Mar  6 12:04:27
>> Mar  6 12:10:42 server postfix/anvil[51922]: statistics: max cache =
size 4 at Mar  6 12:05:25
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> Are these just spam sites or is something wrong my end?

Hard to say, probably. One is a residential road runner user, the other =
a staff computer at an edu site in Australia.=20

> I have checked my email service from outside, using the Web sites that =
check, and it all seems fine - no open relay, mail server matches =
reverse dns, etc. =20

Are you getting any email?


--=20
If it wasn't for the pirates, I bet Star Wars: Ep III would have mad $50
million its first DAY!