Mail to Hotmail only sends with php, not with any webmail

K

keyDet

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Jan 18, 2008
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Hey guys, it's been a while since I've posted on this forum (been using cPanel for the past 3 years), but I have a very weird problem with my new VPS w/ CentOS 4 and DA (hostname = main.netcatmedia.nl and we only have 1 user account).

It looks like we can't send email to hotmail accounts through any webmail. Mail sent to all other servers (gmail for example) arrives ok from webmail. We have even installed Horde and tried that.

I've tried sending mail with php using mail(), this works ok and email arrives in the Hotmail spam folders.

I've checked the IP with spamhouse, it seems to be clean, we also have RDNS set up for main.netcatmedia.nl.

What could it be?
 
By the way I took a look at the logs, all emails to hotmail it says "Queued mail for delivery".

While others it says "Message accepted for delivery" or "Ok: queued as ..." etc. What does that mean?

Also, I see this:

2008-01-16 13:40:29 H=bay0-omc1-s37.bay0.hotmail.com [65.54.246.109] F=<ME@HOTMAIL> rejected RCPT <ME@SERVER>:

(I changed my hotmail accounts and email on the server)
So I understand it's rejected from the server to hotmail, but why?
 
I've noticed the same thing with my VPS and using webmail to send to hotmail.com, but haven't found a fix for it.
 
keyDet said:
2008-01-16 13:40:29 H=bay0-omc1-s37.bay0.hotmail.com [65.54.246.109] F=<ME@HOTMAIL> rejected RCPT <ME@SERVER>:

(I changed my hotmail accounts and email on the server)
So I understand it's rejected from the server to hotmail, but why?
Click to expand...
You need to re-configure your SPF records. MSN/hotmail is very strict with SPF and you must use the character dash - and not the ? before the terminator. This article explains HowTo in details: http://servertune.com/kbase/entry/142/
 
Can you paste a few lines above and below that line you posted?
 
andyreed said:
You need to re-configure your SPF records. MSN/hotmail is very strict with SPF and you must use the character dash - and not the ? before the terminator. This article explains HowTo in details: http://servertune.com/kbase/entry/142/
Click to expand...

I just realized, the VPS I was talking about did not have it's reverse DNS setup which explains why it never showed up in Hotmail.

My other VPS does have reverse DNS and the appropriate SPF. Through squirrelmail, the mail goes through, but it is thrown in the Junk folder regardless of the usage of -all or ?all. I have SPF records using the primary IP of the server. Is there any way to get around that?

"v=spf1 a mx ip4:xx.xx.xxx.xx -all"
 
kwyjibo said:
I just realized, the VPS I was talking about did not have it's reverse DNS setup which explains why it never showed up in Hotmail.

My other VPS does have reverse DNS and the appropriate SPF. Through squirrelmail, the mail goes through, but it is thrown in the Junk folder regardless of the usage of -all or ?all. I have SPF records using the primary IP of the server. Is there any way to get around that?
Click to expand...
In this case, the best option is to contact MSN/hotmail and ask them to whitelist your server.
 
GXX said:
Can you paste a few lines above and below that line you posted?
Click to expand...

That's pretty much all the info about that. I've now contacted MSN support, hopefully they will reply to the email. SPF, RDNS, IP-range, it all seems to be ok, but still I can only send with php but no webmail client from netcatmedia.nl.
 
andyreed said:
You need to re-configure your SPF records. MSN/hotmail is very strict with SPF and you must use the character dash - and not the ? before the terminator.
Click to expand...
Even the inventor of SPF doesn't recommend using the -all terminator. The problem with it is that once it's done your clients MUST use your server for all email sent from their domain; they can't use their ISPs server, for example, or a server defined by a hotspot.

As your own link says:
Also, if you wish to give a hard fail, and only allow those servers to send mail, the record would look like:

mydomain.com IN TXT "v=spf1 a mx a:mail2.mydomain.com -all"
Click to expand...
I guess we're all in a lousy position; to get hotmail to accept mail from our servers we can't allow our users any freedom; they must send all their mail from our servers.

Leave it to the idiots at Microsoft to break SPF. Probably because they like their own systems better.

Jeff
 
I have the exact same problem. I have a few servers that can send mail to hotmail and my new servers can't. I have checked all the settings and they are all the same. The ip is not on the black list. But Hotmail still doesn't receive my mail.
Can anybody explain to me why one server can send mail and the other can't.
 
Because mail from one server has generated more complaints than mail from the other. See the post I just made a moment ago. SPF as a method for blocking spam is completely broken. Even it's inventor said it was never any good for spam detection; only for phishing detection.

But try to tell the big guys that :(.

Jeff
 
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