Unable to send mail from websites

[Giarc86]

Hi all,

I am not sure if this is 100% related but I figured this is the best place to ask.

My company uses Gmail for business for their mail. It was set up by a company who also handles our CRM.

Ever since they set it all up mails from our websites and website forms (non-CRM forms) will not send to our company email addresses: [email protected] - It used to work before we switched over. We have to set up external Gmail accounts and then filter mails back to our address. These are contact forms and general emails that get sent from the site.

We are using Hetzner for all our hosting but mail is handled by the CRM company.

Does anyone have any idea as to why this is?

I am in contact with someone from the CRM company but nothing we try seems to be working.

Thanks!

 

[InvisibleJim]

I take it most other emails are coming through. Are the problem mails being classfied as spam by whatever anti-spam measures you have in place? Also check whether your domain has got on any spam blacklists.

 

[Giarc86]

Yeah all other mail is coming through, email to email but not website to email.

I have no idea where the mails go, they just disappear.

I don't think we are blacklisted as it always used to work until we switched over to Gmail.

 

[froot]

Am I right in saying this:

You developed/own website.co.za

You are sending mail from website.co.za and it's supposed to send to [email protected] , which is hosted at Gmail, but you don't get anything. If you send a normal email to [email protected] it does arrive.

Am I understanding correctly?

If so, I'm stuck with the same problem. I use addresses hosted by Gmail for my development/email testing, but stopped arriving after we set it up with Gmail. Before that [everything's hosted with Hetzner] it was working fine. I can also send a normal email and it arrives just fine.

 

[Giarc86]

Am I understanding correctly?

That is 100% correct.

We actually have a dedicated Hetzner server with many sites and not one email is received from any of them.

 

[InvisibleJim]

. We have to set up external Gmail accounts and then filter mails back to our address.

So if you direct the web site mail to a normal gmail address (rather than one of your company gmail addresses) then it is received OK. Is that correct?

If so, that implies that your settings for sending mail out from the website are fine and that the problem is something to do with the receiving at your company Google addresses. My prime suspect would still be some anti-spam or antivirus mechanism or maybe your work Google mail requires a reverse DNS check and this is failing. Something along those lines.

I would still also recommend doing a blacklist check on your domain(s) and server IP(s) if you haven't done so (your post sounded like you were just assuming they're OK). I'm not saying this is necessarily the problem but you can rule it out quickly with some quick checks

 

[T-Man]

Your dedi server still thinks it handles the mail for the domain. This can happen even though the MX records point somewhere else. Ask Hetzner to fix it.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Okay let me get this straight.

Where are the emails sent FROM? Also the same Gmail domain?

Or are they sent from fake/unverified email addresses? What SMTP server are they being sent through?

When you say these emails don't appear anywhere, do you mean inside GMail or in the Client application? If you mean the Client application only then it's more than likely sitting in Spam on the Gmail interface itself...or sometimes in All Mail when using IMAP without syncing all folders.

 

[web_dude]

What I can understand is that you have some website forms and you are not receiving any of those forms, right?

I think you have to look into the processing codes for those forms. usually there is a php processing file that handles the sending forms. You have to look into the coding of the webpages. If your web forms are using your google apps to send, you have to specify the account (lets say something like [email protected]) and all the settings in the code.

if the code hasn't changed, maybe look into the rights for the processing file (usually CHMOD 755) as that may be stopping your forms being processed.

Did you change hosting services at one moment??? You also mention that the CRM company is handling your email (but you also say that you use Google Apps). Maybe there some issues between google apps and the crm company. Maybe they changed your MX records (are you controlling the MX and DNS setttings in your domain?).

Better double check the domain settings. go to www.robtex.com and enter your domain (without www) and then go to "records" to see your a, ns & mx settings.

 

[guest2013-1]

The email is going through the website/apache and there is no RDNS etc set on it. This gives all the hallmarks of a spammer. What I'd suggest is to authenticate to a proper mail server (you can do this on Gmail AFAIK) and then send the mail. Because the mail is going through a proper mail server instead of the web server, you're less likely to be seen as a spammer.

 

[Giarc86]

Your dedi server still thinks it handles the mail for the domain. This can happen even though the MX records point somewhere else. Ask Hetzner to fix it.

This was the problem. The MX records were pointing elsewhere but dedi still thought it was handling local mail. I got in touch with Hetzner and it was sorted out.

Thanks to all for the help!