Delay in sending and receiving mail

[PhilV]

G'day,

I'm a partner in a small financial services company based in Rosebank. We're running a small network (10 users) running Small Business Server 2000 on our server (no more than a jacked up PC). We run various packages on this server but the server is currently really there for print and file sharing, backups, faxs, email and browsing. We have an Ethernet ADSL connection with Telkom as our ISP. Telkom also host our domain.

We had an ISDN dial up changed to ADSL about 8 weeks ago and haven't had any major problems considering our network support guys know squat about ADSL. But now all our outgoing mail is being bounced back with delay messages. Also we've always had a 10-30 minute delay in receiving external mail.

Network support guys throw their hands in the air and blame Telkom who in turn say there is nothing wrong on their side. [!]Browsing there is no problem.

As a beanie my IT knowledge is limited but would appreciate any suggestions in this regard.[:I]

Thanks

PhilV

 

[thibos]

first make sure its not network related...connect just one machine bypassing the whole network and test...but its unlike

________________
Hola Seven

 

[vincent]

I had a similar problem when I switched to ADSL- except that my mail bounced back as undeliverable. My mail server reported it as a 'relay denied' problem. Turned out that the problem was that my mail server was connecting to my ISP via a public IP pool (required for ADSL) and, therefore, was not authorised to upload mail via my ISP SMTP server.

Fixed the problem by delivering directly to the recipients SMTP server.

Difficult to say anything more specific without knowing your full setup, but would be glad to help if I can.

Vincent
Cape Town

 

[syntaX1]

Hi PhilV,

I've got my MX records for my mail pointing to my Server (hosted here on ADSL), and those mails I receive immediately. I also use M-Web's SMTP and POP3 servers for my old mail, and never had any problems there either, it's always been immediate.

What's your mail setup?

 

[PhilV]

OK here is where my IT knowledge becomes dangerous.

Looking in Exchange System Manager under 'Connectors' we have 2.

1. 'Small Business smtp connector' which is pointing to smtp.dsl.telkomsa.net.

2. Under 'Connector for POP3 mail' it lists all of us as exchange users, our Telkom account names and the mail server for each one as pop3.telkomsa.net.

Any ideas or do you need more info?

Thanks

PhilV

 

[vincent]

Hi PhilV,

I don't know anything about the small business server package you referred to in your original email. However, from your latest description, it seems like all your mail is sent and received directly via the telkom smtp and pop3 servers i.e. you don't run an internal mail server. If my assumption is correct, outgoing mail from individual users should be delivered as soon as they click send (assuming your clients are configured to send immediately) and at the same time mail for those specific users should be collected.

The delay may well be caused by the connection intervals set on your client software. Otherwise, if you are running a mail server, that is where you need to look.

Again, it's not easy to troubleshoot unless one has a fuller pciture of your system.

Vincent

 

[microfast]

Hi PhilV,

try smtp.saix.net

 

[kaspaas]

After being told by the Telkom ADSL helpdesk taht I'm not allowed to send e-mail by SMTP, I escaleted the problem.

A few days later I learnt that the correct server to use for SMTP is

smtp.dsl.telkomsa.net

The reason for this:

ADSL is in nature a "dial-up" kind of system often abused by spammers.
There are quite a number of "Blackhole" services available that mail servers can query to find out if a specific IP number (= server) is a source of spam, or a high risk of being a source for spam (eg a dial-up IP)

Telkom's ADSL IP's did give me trouble sending mail to M-Web if I tried to do it directly. Since using the above relay server, I don't know what e-mail problems are.




<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by microfast</i>
<br />Hi PhilV,

try smtp.saix.net



<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

 

[johnjames]

I had the same problem, and found it to be an exchange issue, but I will need more info on your exchange set-up, is it possible to post an error delay -- 'relay' report on the site.

Our Problem was that one of the internal exchange services had stopped and just needed to be restarted manually.
To see if any services have been stopped.
Right Click "my computer"
Manage
Expand "Services and Applications"
Services

Scroll Down to the Exchange Services which are all grouped together.
Under Status will give you an indication of what has stopped.

Is it all your out going Mail or just some of it?

 

[microfast]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by kaspaas</i>

smtp.dsl.telkomsa.net

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Hiya kaspaas,

In solution of PhilV's outgoing mail prblm,
using smtp.dsl.telkomsa.net are you saying
that smtp.saix.net should not be used ?

I have the same situation as PhilV and using
smtp.saix.net as the OG Srvr works instantly

 

[kaspaas]

When I had the problem, smtp.telkomsa.net was a no-no for ADSL.

But then those guys keep changing things faster than anybody can keep up at the whim of the moment.

Take ADSL bandwidth priorotising as an example - one moment nothing, next moment there without telling anybody...


<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by microfast</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by kaspaas</i>

smtp.dsl.telkomsa.net

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Hiya kaspaas,

In solution of PhilV's outgoing mail prblm,
using smtp.dsl.telkomsa.net are you saying
that smtp.saix.net should not be used ?

I have the same situation as PhilV and using
smtp.saix.net as the OG Srvr works instantly


<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

 

[DarkHelmet]

Exchange can actually be configured to send e-mail direct to the recipient mail server (this is the way it should actually work).

My ADSL setup sometimes gives me the relay denied error as well. You need a SMTP server to "bounce" your mail off. In your case you have a SMTP server in Exchange that can send mail out direct to the recipient server.

Your Exchange must be configured to send mail direct via DNS, but the problem is that some recipient SMTP servers try to do reverse DNS lookup (to see if your server is who it claims to be). Your Exchange server cannot be listed in any DNS server because of the IP address on your ADSL connection changing daily.

I know of quite a few large corporates here in RSA who have actually turned the reverse lookup off on their side because of hassles like this. But should your server try to send to another server where this is enabled you will get the return message stating this.

Regards
Ian