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SOLVED - E-mails lost/not getting through

Offline dave simmons

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SOLVED - E-mails lost/not getting through
« on: November 04, 2013, 12:38:45 PM »
Over the last couple of weeks I've been receiving complaints that mails sent to us are not getting through.  When I look in the server log (qpsmtpd/current) I can't see any sign of these mails ever reaching our server.

I have a couple of questions -

1.  Am I looking in the correct log file (I guess I am as the mails which we do receive are all in there).

2.  What can I do to help these customers analyse their problem?  (Some have error messages which I have now asked them to forward to me via hotmail, some claim that the mails have just "disappeared").

While I understand (and suspect) that the question may fall outside of the SME Server itself, it would be a great help to me if someone could suggest a way to troubleshoot this.

(These people are customers wanting to spend money with us, so if it becomes too difficult they will just go somewhere else!)
« Last Edit: November 07, 2013, 12:57:30 PM by dave simmons »

Offline mmccarn

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Re: E-mails lost/not getting through
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2013, 01:26:42 PM »
If an inbound message has been denied based on the dnsbl plugin you may have only the connecting IP in the log file (no sender email, no recipient email).

When I find myself in this situation, I ask the email 'sender' to send an email to an account on the SME server and CC an account on another mail service (preferably not using a SME server).  A temporary email at mailinator.com can be used if you don't have a backup email address already.

When the copy arrives in the non-SME mailbox, look at the message source and identify the IP addresses that the message traversed.  If for some reason I can't work with the email sender I use "nslookup -type=MX..." to try to figure out the IP addresses that might have been used by the sending organization.  Or, if the IT guys at the sending org are knowledgeable and accessible, I ask them what IP address I should be looking for.

Now search /var/log/qpsmtpd/current or /var/log/qpsmtpd/* by IP address.


On a busy SME server, the default log settings for qpsmtpd may result in logs that cover as little as 12 hours of activity -- check the times and dates on the files in /var/log/qpsmtpd to see what time span your logs cover -- there's no point in searching for missing emails from a week ago if the logs only cover a day or two (and, if the logs only cover a day or two then "current" only covers 10% of that - 2 - 5 hours).

You can browse all of the 'denied' messages in your logs using:
Code: [Select]
grep -h logters.*\(deny /var/log/qpsmtpd/* |tai64nlocal |less -S

Offline dave simmons

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Re: E-mails lost/not getting through
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2013, 02:20:28 PM »
Thank you very much for your reply.

I looked in the manual and found the command to show my e-mail configuration (shown under).  Sorry if it's a stupid question but does this mean that RBL's are active or not?

qpsmtpd=service
    Bcc=disabled
    BccMode=cc
    BccUser=maillog
    DNSBL=disabled
    LogLevel=6
    MaxScannerSize=25000000
    RBLList=bl.spamcop.net:combined.njabl.org:dnsbl.ahbl.org:dnsbl-1.uceprotect.net:dnsbl-2.uceprotect.net:list.dsbl.org:multihop.dsbl.org:psbl.surriel.com:zen.spamhaus.org
    RHSBL=disabled
    RelayRequiresAuth=enabled
    SBLList=bogusmx.rfc-ignorant.org:multi.surbl.org:black.uribl.com:rhsbl.sorbs.net:bulk.rhs.mailpolice.com:fraud.rhs.mailpolice.com:porn.rhs.mailpolice.com:adult.rhs.mailpolice.com:ex.dnsbl.org
    TlsBeforeAuth=1
    access=public
    qplogsumm=disabled
    status=enabled

P.S.  Server is standard SME 8 with all updates applied.
« Last Edit: November 04, 2013, 02:27:39 PM by dave simmons »

Offline MSmith

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Re: E-mails lost/not getting through
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2013, 02:33:31 PM »
DNSBL and RHSBL showing as disabled means those checks are not being done, so blacklisting is not the cause. Perhaps your domain's MX records should be reviewed?
...

Offline mmccarn

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Re: E-mails lost/not getting through
« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2013, 03:58:32 PM »
It's still a good idea to get a cc'd copy of an email that is failing to arrive at your SME - the headers in the cc might tell you where to look in your SME (perhaps the sender is mis-typing the recipient name, or has a typo'd version of the recipient email in his/her Outlook "auto complete" email list, for example).

qplogtail might be useful.

Here are some notes to read if your qpsmtpd logs indication 'connection timed out' errors:
http://wiki.contribs.org/Email#qpsmtpd_.22Connection_Timed_Out.22_errors
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=38297.0

Offline dave simmons

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Re: E-mails lost/not getting through
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2013, 04:53:33 PM »
MSmith - have checked DNS using a couple of on-line checkers and all seems OK.  Have also tried from a couple of friends' offices (different ISP's to us) and eveyrthing seems ok.

Mmccarn - the people who have contacted us are people who regularly mail us (or reply to mails we send), so normally mis-typing shouldn't be a problem.  I've asked them to mail me again with my hotmail address in cc but haven't received anything yet.  I'll try and chase them tomorrow if I haven't received anything.  I can't push them too much - they're customers and I don't want to annoy them.

Thanks very much to both of you for your help so far  :)

Offline mmccarn

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Re: E-mails lost/not getting through
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2013, 01:38:26 PM »
You could locate an old/successful email from the customer, look at the headers, then check your qpsmtpd logs for the IP that actually delivered the message to you.

Offline dave simmons

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Re: SOLVED - E-mails lost/not getting through
« Reply #7 on: November 07, 2013, 01:00:11 PM »
Update - coincidentally the customers were all using the same (small) ISP and that ISP had some problems with their mail servers which they had not communicated to customers.

All is now working fine.

Thank you very much mmccarn and msmith for taking the time to help with this.  :)

Have added SOLVED to thread title.