mail server not working

[nzimas]

The mail servers, both inbound and outbound, at one of my ISPConfig instances are not working at all, though they are apparently up and running and the MX records remain as either Til or Falko left them.

Here's an error message:
A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of
> its recipients. The following addresses failed:
>
> <webmaster@musmap.com>
>
> domain name system error:
> host e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com:
> mail exchanger not found

However,

[manchine@cm93052 ~]$ telnet 82.103.138.77 25
Trying 82.103.138.77...
Connected to e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com (82.103.138.77).
Escape character is '^]'.
220 e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com ESMTP Postfix (Debian/GNU)
quit
221 2.0.0 Bye
Connection closed by foreign host.


and


[manchine@cm93052 ~]$ telnet 82.103.138.77 110
Trying 82.103.138.77...
Connected to e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com (82.103.138.77).
Escape character is '^]'.
+OK Hello there.
quit
+OK Better luck next time.
Connection closed by foreign host.


Thanks,
Nuno.

[till]

Please make sure that the server name e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com is registered properly in DNS.

[nzimas]

Actually the DNS server records in that machine are set to NS2.MUSMAPDNS.COM
NS1.MUSMAPDNS.COM

Shall any new MX record for any domain on that machine be set to MUSMAPDNS.COM?

Nuno.

[till]

This has nothing to do with DNS server records for the server or the MX records.

The main domain as the server was installed was e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com, if this domain does not resolve anymore to your server, you will have to change it in the email configuration. Replace all occurences of e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com in your /etc/postfix/main.cf and /etc/mailname (if the file exists) with your new main server hostname. Be aware that the main server hostname should be a technical domain, it can not be used for email accounts later.

[nzimas]

Then something is terribly wrong in the way things have been setup.

e82-103-138-77s:~# hostname
e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com

I still have the invoice and the mail you sent me when this box was setup.
Will contact you soon :)

Thanks,
Nuno.

[till]

We never change the hostname when we setup the server. The hostname is set when the basic linux is installed on the server, so the wrong hostname was setup by you and not by us :)

[nzimas]

For the record, i did not touch that setting either.
It is now as it was assigned by the hosting provider.

Nuno.

[till]

For the record, i did not touch that setting either.
It is now as it was assigned by the hosting provider.

Ok, thats explains it. Thats a typical setting if your server is rented and not setup by yourself and the setting is OK because the provider should take care to connect the hostname correctly when they initially setup the server. The settings in your server do not have to be changed, please ask your provider to set the domain e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com to resolve correctly to your server IP address. They seem to have forgot to setup this on their DNS server as they setup your server.

[nzimas]

Ok, thats explains it. Thats a typical setting if your server is rented and not setup by yourself and the setting is OK because the provider should take care to connect the hostname correctly when they initially setup the server. The settings in your server do not have to be changed, please ask your provider to set the domain e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com to resolve correctly to your server IP address. They seem to have forgot to setup this on their DNS server as they setup your server.

The hosting provider staff seems to be far from skillful.

Their answer #1:

11/09 2007
RE: connect e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com to 82.103.138.77

Hello,

You're right, that the reverse dns doesn't lookup. It should however resolve to whatever you insert in the rdns field in the ip handling page in your control center. We have notified the sw-department of the issue and expect a solution soon.

/Support

Answer #2:

12/09 2007
RE: RE: connect e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com to 82.103.138.77


Hi

We have talked to the software department, and there aren't anything wrong with this. We do only provide reverse DNS records for your servers, which you can change from your Control Center.

You have to create all normal DNS records to your server yourself.

That is to say, i am suppose to point an MX record to a non existing reverse DNS entry.
The fabulous world of cheap unmanaged central european dedicated hosting :)

Question:

If i change the hostname to one of the domain names pointed to and running on that box, will it solve anything?

I thought about changing the public hostanme from
e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com to musmap.com, a domain which actually solves at 82.103.138.77.

I feel like tied up in some kafkian net...

Thanks for reading my crying baby duck post :)

Nuno.

[till]

If i change the hostname to one of the domain names pointed to and running on that box, will it solve anything?

Yes, this will help a bit, even if its not fully perfect without the reverse dns. Let's hope that they are able to repair their control center so you can set the domain name for the reverse dns.

I recommend that you create a subdomain for one of your domains in the form of: mail.yourdomain.com or server1.yourdomain.com and use this subdomain as public server hostname.

[nzimas]

After changing the public hostname of the server, i believe it has be added in several files.
So far i have committed changes to /etc/postfix/main.cf

However, the DNS server sttings might need tunning too.

[root@cm93052 manchine]# nslookup
> query type=mx
Server: 212.51.32.254
Address: 212.51.32.254#53

** server can't find query: NXDOMAIN
> musmap.com
Server: 212.51.32.254
Address: 212.51.32.254#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: musmap.com
Address: 82.103.138.77


Where exactly do i have to replace the former hostname with the new one?

Another question, for the MX record to be valid, shall i include a dot at the end of the public hostname?

Thanks,
Nuno.

[falko]

Where exactly do i have to replace the former hostname with the new one?Depends on your distribution. On Debian/Ubuntu, you can put the new hostname into /etc/hostname and run /etc/init.d/hostname.sh start

Another question, for the MX record to be valid, shall i include a dot at the end of the public hostname?

If it's a FQDN, then yes. If it's just the subdomain, then no.
For example,
MX 10 mail.example.com.

or

MX 10 mail

would be ok.

[nzimas]

I am trimmed :/

According to http://loookup.com/musmap.com , the hostname remains the same, though i have added the mmserver.musmap.com to /etc/hostname, rebooted the machine and it caught it.

mmserver:~# hostname
mmserver.musmap.com

This is driving me nuts.

Can i use the IP as MX record?

Nuno.

[nzimas]

Please look here:
http://loookup.com/musmap.com

What is the actual difference between Hostname and Hostname IP?
Why is Hostname IP kept as e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com if i have set the server hostname to mmserver.musmap.com?

Thanks,
Nuno.

[falko]

Can i use the IP as MX record?

No.

Why is Hostname IP kept as e82-103-138-77s.easyspeedy.com if i have set the server hostname to mmserver.musmap.com?I guess that's the reverse record of your IP address. You can test that by running
dig -x your.ip.add.ress