Bouncing emails

[kearton]

I'm having problems emailing another school in the area. My immediate thought was that the address was incorrect, but when I also tried other addresses (including the info@ listed on their website) they also bounce.

RM ScanMail V3.1.0.5 (Core build)
Copyright RM Plc 2008

Your message to user@domain.name has not been delivered.
This is because there is no known user with this email address.

(NOTE: The address has been edited)

Their IT bod apparently "doesn't take calls during the day" when I phoned them this morning. Perhaps the receptionist thought I was trying to sell them something?

Has anyone got any clues about what the problem might be, assuming the address is indeed correct?

[Michael]

Assuming the address is correct, it would be a mail server problem but at their end. I presume you've tried basic tests your end, such as sending mail to yourself, or sending e-mail to a Yahoo or Hotmail account and visa/versa.

[kearton]

We have no other email problems, except when sending to this domain. And the bounce message isn't coming from our mail server...

[Michael]

We have no other email problems, except when sending to this domain. And the bounce message isn't coming from our mail server...

Well then clearly it's definitely a problem their end. I would say e-mail them, but maybe something in the post would be more appropriate?

[kearton]

Tried sending from GMail and that worked fine...

[kmount]

Could be cached DNS looking up an old MX for them if they've recently changed providers.

[Michael]

Or your domain has been blacklisted possibly?

[kearton]

Update: When I ping their mail server (mail.domain.name) the response comes from mail.easymail.ifl.net
When I check on our mail server I can see the bounce messages are coming from mq4.ifl.net
They are (apparently) receiving emails fine from everywhere except us. We are having no problems sending to anyone else. Sounds like their mail server (or their providers at least) doesn't want to talk to us specifically. Anyway, their IT bod says he's looking into it...

[kmount]

Don't worry about those DNS differences.

The box you're pinging will be the load balancer/front end to a larger cluster of boxes, mq4 I'd think would be mail queue 4.

[GrumbleDook]

As Kim said, don't worry about the DNS side too much.

The MX records for the hosted domains will all probably point to the same FQDN and this is load balanced. The mail hubs/queues will then pass it onto the filtering boxes and then on to the hosting mail server where the school accesses it. Outbound has a similar route to travel, but often you see the originating mail queue/hub , hence the MQ4. FQDN.

It sounds as if the filter is trying to place it in a mailbox that it cannot find. It could be an issue with the filter or an issue with the mailbox ... it varies from setup to setup in this sort of system, but yes ... it is not your problem, but something in theirs ... possibly rules and routing of traffic.

[witch]

Did you mean easymail? Because if you did,with all their recent upgrades and what have you it is very likely to be them - we have had the oddest problems since the upgrade.
You could give them a ring?

[kearton]

Did you mean easymail? Because if you did,with all their recent upgrades and what have you it is very likely to be them - we have had the oddest problems since the upgrade.
You could give them a ring?

I've been convinced from the start that the problem isn't at our end. I guess the other school uses easymail. Their IT bod says he's going to add our mail server's FQDN into an "allow"-type list (so I guess he's been talking to someone at easymail) in their mail system and to try again tomorrow...