DirectAdmin Mailing List Issue - Messages Not Delivering (Local Delivery Failed)

[AeroBytes]

Posting this question from a client of me, i looked into it and also could not figure it out.

Currently I am struggling with an issue on DirectAdmin.
I made a mailing list and did add myself and a friend to see if everything was functioning like supposed. Unfortunately, the situation is the other way around.

I've tried sending a message to the mailing list address using both Microsoft Outlook and the Roundcube webmail client, but the messages are not going through.
Normally you’d expect the message to be delivered to all subscribers, but that’s not happening. Instead, I get this bounce message:

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.
A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients.
This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:pgsqlCopyEditpipe to |/etc/virtual/majordomo/wrapper resend -C /etc/virtual/redacted>.nl/majordomo/majordomo.cf -l deelnemers -h <redacted>.nl -f owner-deelnemers deelnemers-out@redacted>.nlgenerated by redacted>@redacted>.nl local delivery failed

It seems like the problem lies in how Majordomo or DirectAdmin handles the piping or permissions.
I haven’t touched any advanced configs—just used the DirectAdmin interface to set up the list.
Does anyone have an idea what could be wrong or what to check next?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Richard G]

Could be a couple of things. What does the exim log say when using smtp like with Microsoft Outlook?

 

[AeroBytes]

Could be a couple of things. What does the exim log say when using smtp like with Microsoft Outlook?

"
2025-04-22 16:11:21 1u7GDR-00000003idE-2Gup malware acl condition: clamd [127.0.0.1]:3310 : failed to connect to any address for 127.0.0.1: Connection refused
2025-04-22 16:11:21 1u7GDR-00000003idE-2Gup malware acl condition: clamd : all servers failed
2025-04-22 16:11:21 1u7GDR-00000003idE-2Gup <= [email protected] H=2a02-a45e-749a-1-99ab-6ac9-e6d2-432b.fixed6.kpn.net [2a02:a45e:749a:1:99ab:6ac9:e6d2:432b] P=esmtpsa X=TLS1.3:TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256 CV=no A=plain:[email protected] S=848 id=[email protected] T="Testmail" from <[email protected]> for [email protected]
2025-04-22 16:11:21 cwd=/var/spool/exim 3 args: /usr/sbin/exim -Mc 1u7GDR-00000003idE-2Gup
2025-04-22 16:11:21 cwd=/tmp 4 args: /usr/sbin/exim -oMr spam-scanned -bS
2025-04-22 16:11:21 1u7GDR-00000003idI-2SWu <= [email protected] U=mail P=spam-scanned S=1324 id=[email protected] T="Testmail" from <[email protected]> for [email protected]
2025-04-22 16:11:21 cwd=/var/spool/exim 3 args: /usr/sbin/exim -Mc 1u7GDR-00000003idI-2SWu
2025-04-22 16:11:21 cwd=/etc/virtual/majordomo 5 args: /usr/sbin/sendmail -oi -oee [email protected] -t
2025-04-22 16:11:21 1u7GDR-00000003idS-3QBg <= [email protected] U=majordomo P=local S=1932 T="BOUNCE [email protected]: Approval required:" from <[email protected]> for [email protected]
2025-04-22 16:11:21 1u7GDR-00000003idI-2SWu => |/etc/virtual/majordomo/wrapper resend -C /etc/virtual/.nl/majordomo/majordomo.cf -l deelnemers -h .nl -f owner-deelnemers [email protected] <[email protected]> F=<[email protected]> R=majordomo_aliases T=majordomo_pipe S=1393
2025-04-22 16:11:21 1u7GDR-00000003idI-2SWu Completed
2025-04-22 16:11:21 cwd=/var/spool/exim 3 args: /usr/sbin/exim -Mc 1u7GDR-00000003idS-3QBg
2025-04-22 16:11:21 1u7GDR-00000003idE-2Gup => deelnemers <[email protected]> F=<[email protected]> R=spamcheck_director T=spamcheck S=1184
2025-04-22 16:11:21 1u7GDR-00000003idE-2Gup Completed
2025-04-22 16:11:21 1u7GDR-00000003idS-3QBg => dylan <[email protected]> F=<[email protected]> R=virtual_user T=dovecot_lmtp_udp S=2144 C="250 2.0.0 <[email protected]> hezeMam/B2hvhQ0AWIjm3A Saved"
2025-04-22 16:11:21 1u7GDR-00000003idS-3QBg Completed
"

This is after he send it

 

[Richard G]

Well at least clamd is having an issue, you should fix that one, but seems that does not cause any further issues.

Then for the mail address I see a BOUNCE because of an "approval required". So I wonder if you need to send a message and approve it first. i don't know where this comes from, normally Directadmin does not hae such approval system, cPanel does.

Then I see the wrapper resent and then it gets delivered because it says completed.
Also the last line shows that the mail is successfully delivered to dylan.

However, I've found some crucial beginner errors. Nothing to be ashamed about and fairly easy to fix.

You are sitll using the Directadmin hostname. You should not use that da.direct hostname if you are going to send mail from your server. Create your own FQDN hostname and configure it correctly.

This also causes your nameservers to be incorrect, because you don't own the da.direct domain.
Create a hostname like shown in that manual and than don't use hostname nameservers but domainname nameservers so not:
ns1.server.domain.com
but
ns1.domain.com
same for ns2.

And then set those up correctly at your registrar.
You could use the hostname nameservers, but I advise against it in case you want to easily move to another server or something like that, then only ip change is sufficient and also you can change the hostname to something else if required without needing the nameservers. That's why it's not common to use hostname nameservers and it's in fact better not to.

Next to that, your rDNS/PTR record is incorrect, which can also block mail at certain points and fore sure to gmail this will have issues.
It now points to your Hetzner hostname and should point to the correct FQDN hostname you are going to create.

If you don't understand all this, send me a pm in Dutch for any questions you have. Then I will explain in Dutch.

Edit: P.s. I would suggest that you edit your previous message and mask all mail addresses and domain names to prevent spammers getting it.