helo failed

W

wildun

Verified User
Joined
Feb 2, 2006
Messages
53
When testing my mail sever at dnscolos.com I keep getting this error:
Mailserver connection test
HELO, MAIL FROM, RCPT TO, QUIT Connect to mailserver mail.wilds-hosting.net FAILED (could be greylisting)
I've googled and have read in several tutorials and forums, made changes to exim.conf per instructions but I haven't been successful in preventing the error. Email is working but I want to get it right. It is on a dedicated server using the latest version of DA. Any suggestions?
 
Are you using greylisting or nolisting? Since the site doesn't allow tests to my machine there's nothing I can do to see what's going on.

So you might have to check your /var/log/exim/mainlog file while the test is being run to see what's going on.

Jeff
 
Thanks for the reply Jeff. Admittedly I am new with this. The box I moved from was a vps and I never had to change anything in it after the initial install. It was pretty much a set and forget. That's why I wanted to stay with DA on the dedicated server. Actually now it will neither send or receive mail. I followed the posts I found in the DA forums and I guess I broke something. Not sure how to proceed at this point. Should I reinstall exim and start over?
 
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If you've got a live amber alert you can't send out that's really not the fault of anyone connected with DirectAdmin, and certainly not of those who volunteer on the forums.

You never explained what you even ment when you wrote that you couldn't send or receive mail. If you ever followed my suggestion to check your logs you never mentioned what you found.

If you purchased DirectAdmin directly from JBMC, then depending on the kind of license you bought, you're eligible for a certain amount of free support; you should be asking for support at the DirectAdmin support site, not here on the community forum.

If you've obtained DirectAdmin from a datacenter, included in a dedicated server rental or purchase, then you get DirectAdmin from that supplier.

The community is happy to help, but we're not magicians.

If you want commercial support from DirectAdmin, contact them (link above); if you want to buy commercial support from me, feel free to call me at any hour of the day or night, telephone number is below in my sig.

If you want to hire any other third party support group, please feel free to search these forums; there are a bunch of us.

And yes, if you need emergency email that's always up, it's possible that DirectAdmin isn't the right solution for you; after all it's designed for best effort in a shared hosting environment, where hosting is the first priority.

Jeff
 
I was to quick with my previous post. I removed it. I did contact support and the issue was resolved. I missed a step by not repatching dovecot which was my own mistake. My apologies as it was my own inexperience and not that of DA's.
 
Glad to see you're moving forward. Note what I wrote above; in DirectAdmin's implementation of exim, delivering websites is the first priority.

Jeff
 
I did see that Jeff. I do host websites primarily. The amber alert system is one of my own sites, but an important one. I initially created it to service internet radio stations, but it now services terrestrial radio as well across the US. I guess I was panicking a little when I should have just emailed support as you said. Duh, I do forum customer support for a internet radio licensing company I should have been thinking.There is one remaining issue, the webmail scripts won't send mail. I replied to the support email with that issue since that was why I was messing with exim to begin with. I still don't know why the helo message says "failed may be greylisted". I will do as you suggested and run the test while viewing the log to maybe get an idea of what's going on. Thanks!
 
jlasman said:
Small world; we host one of the radio station automation companies.

Jeff
Click to expand...

Indeed it is a small world. I host several internet stations.
I still have send problems with mail.
Apparently neither built in webmail script can send email. I also discovered that membership scripts, in this case I tested phpnuke, can also not send mail. I'm sure there's a setting I am missing but I've read and googled and I can't seem to find the answer.
 
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wildun said:
Indeed it is a small world. I host several internet stations.
Click to expand...
Doesn't that use a lot of bandwidth :)?
I still have send problems with mail.
Apparently neither built in webmail script can send email. I also discovered that membership scripts, in this case I tested phpnuke, can also not send mail. I'm sure there's a setting I am missing but I've read and googled and I can't seem to find the answer.
Click to expand...
I've also suggested you might want to hire someone; that's not because of some perverse desire to make money ;), but rather because it requires time and work and access to your server for someone to figure out the problem.

Barring that you should at least see if you can determine a problem in the exim logs (I mentioned these previously as well) and go from there.

Jeff
 
jlasman said:
Doesn't that use a lot of bandwidth :)?

Jeff
Click to expand...

I host their streams on a separate dedicated shoutcast server.. Yes very bandwidth intensive. Have to be on a unmetered 100mbs switch, even then you have to stay on top of the amount of slots per server and what bitrates they are so you don't oversell ;)

Ok- I'm on a shoestring budget or believe me I would hire you in a sec :cool:

This what I get in the exim main log when sending with webmail ..

2008-05-23 13:02:31 1JzbGk-0001Up-RZ SMTP error from remote mail server after initial connection: host ib1.charter.net [216.33.127.20]: 421 Service not available

I do have to require authentication commented out per the DA tut.

I do have require authentication disabled per the DA tut.
2008-05-23 13:02:31 1JzbGk-0001Up-RZ == [email protected] R=lookuphost T=remote_smtp defer (0): SMTP error from remote mail server after initial connection: host ib1.charter.net [216.33.127.20]: 421 Service not available


This is what I get when doing a mx test on mxtoolbox

2008-05-23 13:14:08 rejected HELO from mxtb-pws1.mxtoolbox.com [64.20.227.131]: syntactically invalid argument(s): mxtoolbox.com - DIAGNOSTIC TEST - See http://www.mxtoolbox.com/Policy.aspx
2008-05-23 13:14:08 H=mxtb-pws1.mxtoolbox.com (mxtoolbox.com) [64.20.227.131] F=<[email protected]> rejected RCPT <[email protected]>: authentication required
2008-05-23 13:14:08 H=mxtb-pws1.mxtoolbox.com (mxtoolbox.com) [64.20.227.131] incomplete transaction (QUIT) from <[email protected]>

I also discovered that using outlook to send from a email account on one of my domains is never received as well.
 
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it appears you're trying to send email to "ib1.charter.net and that they're telling you that they're not offering you service. They do (upon testing) offer me service, so I'd check to see if your IP# is blocklisted. You haven't given us the main IP# of your server so I can't tell why.

Are you mxtoolbox.com?

If so, you probably have your mx records set up incorrectly:
mxtoolbox.com. 3600 IN MX 15 mxtoolbox.com.s5b2.psmtp.com.
mxtoolbox.com. 3600 IN MX 0 mxtoolbox.com.s5a1.psmtp.com.
mxtoolbox.com. 3600 IN MX 5 mxtoolbox.com.s5a2.psmtp.com.
mxtoolbox.com. 3600 IN MX 10 mxtoolbox.com.s5b1.psmtp.com.
Click to expand...
Is that your mx server?
What's the main IP# of your server?

This is getting complex; I still think you may need some administrative help.

Jeff
 
My server ip is 205.234.223.183 ... No I just used mxtoolbox to test the mx dns for my mail server. It is getting a bit complex. I have been after it for days. Mail I send from my charter account to one of the domains on my server just sits in the mail que and never sends to the local domain. I dunno Jeff. I have gone over the dns server config and the exim files dozens of times. I can't seem to find the problem.
 
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Your IP# is blocked by spamhaus because it's blocked by CBL.

For more information, look here.

Jeff
 
That would explain it. Not sure how that happened. I just got the ip about a week and a half ago. The link to the report isn't resolving for me to see what it says :(
 
Ok.. I did get the report. Goes back to my original post with email helo error. Thanks Jeff for pointing that report out. I assume I need to add qualified domain in the exim.conf to fix this. Or should it be my hosts file.
 
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I resolved the helo issue and now it appears all is well once again. The key it turns out was putting my server name at the top of the host file. It apparently was reading localhost before reading the actual server name and ip. Thanks for the heads up on the blacklist Jeff. It never occured to me to check for that. I hafta say it was a learning experience ;)
 
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