SMTP problems with Afrihost

fanusj

fanusj

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I have been struggling for the whole day to get emails delivered to my SMTP server via an Afrihost ADSL conenction. It seems that there may be a firewall problem as SMTP traffic times out although you can ping the server.

This is also the case for smtp.isdsl.net

Anyone else with the same problem perhaps ?

Switching to a WebAfrica local account allows me to deliver without any problem.
 
I also had problems when I switched to Afrihost recently. In the end they advised me to use smtp.afrihost.co.za , which is working for me. I note that their web page still says they do not have an SMTP service, so I presume they are trying to keep it fairly quiet to avoid masses of traffic on it, but it was the only thing that worked for me from an Afrihost account.
 
Well Well, and here i thought i was an idiot.

I am having the exact same issue.

with isdsl.net and afrihost.co.za

switch to DigiChilli... boom, works fine.

had ticket numbers and this was their last response.

Hi

Hope you are well.:)

We are using the same outgoing mail server and are having no issues.
Please ensure you are logged on with your afrihost adsl login details.
Here are the mail settings:


On the package you have taken we offer you 1x email address @afrihost.co.za; plus an additional 5x aliases.
Your settings for the email accounts are:

POP3 {incoming mail server}: mail.afrihost.co.za
SMTP {outgoing mail server}: smtp.afrihost.co.za
username: your dsl username
password: your dsl password

*No authentication of any sort should be enabled!
*You may created the aliases {forwarders} through the client zone https://clientzone.afrihost.com
All mail to the aliases will be delivered to the mail account above.

You can also access your mail through webmail; http://webmail.afrihost.co.za

Thanks.:)
Have a great day & please feel free to let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Warm regards.

Brendon


Ticket Details
Ticket ID:
Department: Afrihost.com - One Hour Reply
Click to expand...
 
Problem has gone away - somebody must have fixed something !

The problem has gone away now - not sure if my post alerted them. During the time that I could not send emails via my Afrihost account, all my other accounts (including WebAfrica Local account) did work.

Thanks, I will try smtp.afrihost.co.za in future.

Fanus
 
I don't know what is happening with them.
I changed everyones outgoing to smtp.afrihost.co.za that seemed to sort it today.
Odd thing is it has been working for over a month then BOOM Fail!
 
Afrihost is linked to smtp.isdsl.co.za; don't use smtp.isdsl.net as you will experience intermittent issues with the sending of mail...
 
Well, i sorted my issue out while a back.

use smtp.gmail.com

Tick "My outgoing server requires authentication" Use same setting as incoming server

Worked for me no matter which account i use because i am using the gmail smtp.
 
Ah I see the problem. smtp.afrihost.co.za just points to smtp.isdsl.net

Now smtp.isdsl.net points to multiple IPs, I believe this is to point the record to multiple servers, possible for some kind of load balancing and failover and to split load. However this is a bad approach if you ask me. If you now got the dns result for a server that is down, there is no way for you as client to know this and this is the problems the OP was experiencing.

Generally other ISPs have 1 A-record for their SMTP address, pointing to an actual load balancing device on a router of whichever make you prefer.

For example, look at smtp.saix.net, it ONLY points to 1 ip, however, if you telnet in multiple times you can see it gets redirected to random servers behind that ip address. Which means, the load balancer handles load balancing and failover, making it completely transparent to the client.

I bet that is why IS randomly have SMTP problems.
 
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