Exim Connection Timeout after port 25 blocked.

[krishnapariyar]

Hi,

I'm new to DirectAdmin.

DigitalOcean blocked port 25 and with other ports 587 and 465, exim is returning connection timeout. telnet connects to server on SSL and TLS port but even it gives connection timeout on mail queue.

I checked many posts and configurations for exim but nothing worked. Is there any specific configurations I need to update on Exim for 587 and 465 ports to work?

Thank You

 

[Richard G]

No. Normally if exim is running port 587 and 465 are automatically opened. But if port 25 is blocked you won't be able to receive any mail on the server, because mailservers still work on port 25 for communicating with other mailservers.

 

[krishnapariyar]

No. Normally if exim is running port 587 and 465 are automatically opened. But if port 25 is blocked you won't be able to receive any mail on the server, because mailservers still work on port 25 for communicating with other mailservers.

Hi Richard,

Thank you for your reply. In my case, incoming mails are working and only outgoing are affected after port 25 got blocked. Do you suggest any configuration that I look into?

Thank You

 

[Richard G]

Hello.

Mailservers will also normally use port 25 outgoing to other mailservers.
Port 587 and 465 are only used for clients to send their outgoing mail to the mailserver.
Say customer A wants to send to domain.com, then the email client of customer a connects to your server and sends the mail via port 465 of 587. Your mailserver (Exim) receives this mail, sees that is has to go to domain, com and sends it via port 25 to domain.com.

So unless you use an external mail server service, you will not be able to send mail. Your host should unblock port 25 or I would suggest to find another host. Or you need to get an external mail service (normally costs money).

 

[krishnapariyar]

Hello.

Mailservers will also normally use port 25 outgoing to other mailservers.
Port 587 and 465 are only used for clients to send their outgoing mail to the mailserver.
Say customer A wants to send to domain.com, then the email client of customer a connects to your server and sends the mail via port 465 of 587. Your mailserver (Exim) receives this mail, sees that is has to go to domain, com and sends it via port 25 to domain.com.

So unless you use an external mail server service, you will not be able to send mail. Your host should unblock port 25 or I would suggest to find another host. Or you need to get an external mail service (normally costs money).

Hi Richard,

Thank you for your message. I finally got digitalocean to unblock the port and mails are being sent now.

 

[Richard G]

Hello.
You're welcome.
I understand that some providers block these ports to prevent spam, it's getting really annoying all that spam.
Glad to hear they were willing to unblock the ports for you.

 

[mxroute]

For future reference, DigitalOcean's SMTP block does block a wide variety of ports.