Does anyone have a mail server at home?

[Peaches]

For the past year or so, approximately 30% of my emails aren't getting in or out. This happens with my Conepuppy, Mindspring and ETC (my DSL) emails. My STMP is all ETC but obviously my incoming mail server depends on who I'm getting mail from. :awinky:

Outgoing mail just disappears into nothingness.

Incoming mail is being bounced to the sender.

What is involved with getting my OWN email server and bypassing ETC? I have someone who can set up the hardware side of it, but what's involved with getting the connection? Does it have to be a hardwire? Will whomever I get service from still have go through the ETC lines?

Any and all help will be GREATLY appreciated. :)

[sarettah]

Originally posted by Peaches@Oct 31 2003, 08:04 AM
What is involved with getting my OWN email server and bypassing ETC? I have someone who can set up the hardware side of it, but what's involved with getting the connection? Does it have to be a hardwire? Will whomever I get service from still have go through the ETC lines?

Any and all help will be GREATLY appreciated. :)
Hey Peaches......

I have my own mail server running......

Run it off of the puter I am on right now :) No special hardware issues.... I use viking server http://www.robtex.com/viking.html which is shareware but has a free trial on it.... simple to set up for the basics....

Whatever domains you want to host for the email would have to have their mail record (mx) switched to point at your home connection... Easiest to do with a static ip, but if you are not on static, there are some ways to pretty much force the ip and hold on to the one you want.....

Since ETC is your provider, yes, all mail passes through their lines.... But you can bypass their mail server for the most part...

Hope this helps a bit.....

[Peaches]

Originally posted by sarettah@Oct 31 2003, 09:12 AM
Hope this helps a bit.....
It does! :) I don't understand most of it, but I'm cutting and pasting and sending to my computer guru. :awinky:

Even though I have DSL, I don't have a static IP. I know this because many places I submit to show me my IP and it's usually different. And back on the old board where it showed your IP, Wig and I would post and it would show the same IP for both of us. Oddly, Wig's not having email problems.

Now, do I need to get an IP from ETC or is that something I can get from conepuppy and just use one of my current domains?

Thanks again - I'm SO at my wit's end with this crap. :angry:

[sarettah]

You can use one of your current domains, just have to go change the mx record to point at the mail server... for example, all my adult domains are hosted on M3 but I do the mail for a couple of them here....

At your registrar, you should have access to where the ip for the domain is, etc.... The way I have mine set up is that I create a domain alias, such as mail.domain.com and point the ip to my home server, then I go to the email part and tell it that the email is handled by mail.domain.com....

On the IP, I have found in the past... That if I keep the connection live that I will not get a change of ip unless the line goes out.... But, I also found that if I went into my router and told it to always fetch the same ip, 99% of the time I would get connected on the ip I wanted... Sometimes though, if that ip was already assigned, I could not get it...

anyway.. any help I can give, let me know....

another alternative, at least for testing is to find someone with a mail server and ask them to set up for you for a while to see if that takes cares of the prob :)

[Peaches]

Geeze - I feel like I'm having a severe mental block or something. :unsure:

On the IP, I have found in the past... That if I keep the connection live that I will not get a change of ip unless the line goes out.... But, I also found that if I went into my router and told it to always fetch the same ip, 99% of the time I would get connected on the ip I wanted... Sometimes though, if that ip was already assigned, I could not get it...

So I DO have to get the static/semi static IP from ETC? If so, won't that cause the same problems I'm having now? I'm so confused....

another alternative, at least for testing is to find someone with a mail server and ask them to set up for you for a while to see if that takes cares of the prob

I feel like such an idiot - "how do it work"? Right now, I have my incoming server set to the different mail.blah.com's. Would I merely change the STMP server to whatever static IP I get?

[Peaches]

OK, here's what I just got from my computer guru:

"Or better yet....let those folks in the hosting business run the mail server
and you just log in and get your mail. Oh wow.....that's almost the same thing I said yesterday about letting someone else do it. :)"

But....isn't that what I'm already doing with the incoming email which is STILL bouncing? :unsure:

[sarettah]

Originally posted by Peaches@Oct 31 2003, 08:49 AM
OK, here's what I just got from my computer guru:

"Or better yet....let those folks in the hosting business run the mail server
and you just log in and get your mail. Oh wow.....that's almost the same thing I said yesterday about letting someone else do it. :)"

But....isn't that what I'm already doing with the incoming email which is STILL bouncing? :unsure:
:) Hi again Peaches........

Ok...lessee.. I do not know how you have your mail set up right now....

You probably have several different accounts...

personal account with your isp with an ETC addy......

This account would be hosted on ETC's mail server and they have direct control over it.

your domain accounts...
These are probably on whatever servers you are using for hosting and the host company has direct control of the server...

Because ETC is your provider, ALL mail to and from you comes across their lines at some point.... So, if the problem is at ETC and is NOT a problem with their mail server but is instead a problem at their routers with filters or something, then nothing we have talked about would fix it....

However, this could be tested by using web-based email somewhere (yahoo or if your host has web-based, at your host) If you do njot get the same problems using the web-based email, then the problem is at ETC, and not with their mail servers, but somewhere else in the chain.

I know that roadrunner recently issued a policy where they were forcing everyone on their network to go through their mail servers because of the rash of viruses etc.... So, ETC could be doing something like that...

You said that WIG is not having these problems and he is using the same provider, that would indicate that the problem is probably not on ETC's side...

I know this is getting long winded, but I am trying to think through it all as I type...:)


So, if the problem is not on ETC's end and it is affecting all your email accounts, where could it be.....

If it was just from one domain, then I would say that you had somehow
ended up with that domain on a shit list somewhere..... But since it is all you addys, that is probably not the case...

You said that it is both incoming and outgoing..... If it was just outgoing, since you are using ETC as SMTP for all your outgoing, then I would look there, but it is the incoming and outgoing that is makiing my head spin a bit here....

The more I think about it, the more I come up with the problem being at your PC, but that doesn't make sense either.... If the problem was at your PC, I would expect the problem to be there all the time...

Anyway, I am going to get some coffee and I will ruin this through my pea brain for a bit longer.......... Meanwhile anyone else with any ideas... Chirp up

[gonzo]

Originally posted by sarettah@Oct 31 2003, 09:36 AM
Meanwhile anyone else with any ideas... Chirp up
Check the domain name in samspade.org and see if your domain name is hanging out there with some of Nick's in the spam pool!

[Peaches]

Some more variables:

It's not my PC because the same thing happens with the kid (he doesn't have an ETC account, but uses Mindspring income and ETC STMP)

It's not my router because I had that replaced last weekend and it's still happening.

It's not my address(es) being blocked for spam, or else it would be more consistent. i.e. just this week I returned an email from my conepuppy email address and they didn't get it. Resent it 2 days later, and it went through fine. :zoinks:

Just talked to Wig and he has both his incoming and STMP addresses as his mach10.com server, so when I get back I'm going to contact Chris and see if I can do the same - at least for awhile - with my Conepuppy account.

Off to Marietta to check my mail - I shall return to inform if I have an Acacia letter or not. :P



Last edited by Peaches at Oct 31 2003, 11:56 AM

[confucy]

Help me! Help me! I'm a female webmaster and I don't know shit about anything! :rolleyes:

PEACHES -- B O R I N G! :nyanya:

[Peaches]

Originally posted by confucy@Oct 31 2003, 05:52 PM
PEACHES -- B O R I N G! :nyanya:
Yet you took the time to open the thread, read it AND make a comment. :P It must not have been very B O R I N G to you. B)

[confucy]

It was boring as hell, but probably because I have been having similar problems and these computer/email problems bore me to death.

Plus, Peaches, you bring out the devil in me! Good luck with your problem. If Sarettah is helping you, I'm sure the problem will be solved. :gbounce:

[Hell Puppy]

You likely have multiple problems going on. Incoming mail to an off network host like Conepuppy getting bounced is going to be an entirely different issue from outbound email thru a local SMTP server being lost.

Unfortunately any domain or IP that even remotely smells of porn or spam is going to be susceptible to being on some of these blacklists and thus losing mail. If your mail is hosted at any of the major adult hosts, there's a good chance they're on at least one list regardless of whether they run a tight ship or not. Small ISPs are also prone to getting listed because they often learn the hard way that they have to secure their network against spammers and end up getting listed.

The problems you're seeing are exactly why blacklisting doesn't work. They're impacting your ability to move email months later when the spammers have already long since moved on with no impact to them what so ever.

If you wanna have your own mail server, setting it up is only half the battle, you're in for some admin headaches. First and foremost you will want to secure it against spammers, make sure you're the only one who can send thru it. And before you even try, you need to confirm that your ISP will let you pass traffic outside their network on port 25 (smtp). I know in the case of Earthlink for instance, you cant pass port 25 to any IP other than their own SMTP servers. This is their way of trying to prevent spammers from setting up their own mail servers.

You must also have your reverse DNS and the identification of your SMTP server and headers neatly configured to be in full compliance. If your IP doesn't match the reverse lookup of the hostname you list for the SMTP server, it's not going to smell right to a lot of other mail servers out there and they'll bounce it or filter it as potential spam.

I'd be inclined to try to troubleshoot the problem with your local SMTP via your DSL provider. If Wig is using the same SMTP server and not having issues, the problem may be your domain name that you're putting on outbound email. I know from an email I sent you that Conepuppy is on one of the blacklists (i forget which), so if someone's mailer ignores your headers and does a lookup on your domain name and who holds the MX records for it, that may get that message blackholed even though the SMTP server it is coming from is perfectly clean.

Hate to say it, but it might be time to adopt a new domain as your primary email. And instead of parking it on Conepuppy, maybe do something like use Directnic's POP3 service.

[Peaches]

Originally posted by Hell Puppy@Nov 1 2003, 12:31 AM
Hate to say it, but it might be time to adopt a new domain as your primary email. And instead of parking it on Conepuppy, maybe do something like use Directnic's POP3 service.
That would make sense IF.....it wasn't also happening to my ETC and Mindspring email. :( I have both of those set as mail.ellijay.com for STMP and mail.ellijay.com and mail.mindspring.com respectively.

I got working on it too late yesterday to contact Chris (I hate contacting him on non-emergency stuff off hours because he responds immediately and I feel bad, hehehe) but I'm going to try setting up the STMP as mail.conepuppy.com. If THAT doesn't work, I suppose I'm going to be using the phone a lot as most everyone is telling me NOT to get my own mail server. I'm getting the same responses as I did when I was going to get a chain saw: "Let someone else do it for you - we're not convinced you're safe with your own." <_<

This AM, I got two bounced to my Mindspring addresses from a listserver I'm on, even though I received the original email AND received notification of the bounces.

It's SO screwed up. :angry: