OT - Quck DNS MX question.

[DAve]

Steve Campbell wrote:
> We host a few different outside domains for people as a courtesy. They 
> are usually on older servers, don't require much maintenance, stuff like 
> that.
> 
> I did have one of them misconfigured, or at least it was that way maybe 
> when I took it over, having an IP instead of a host name with a reverse 
> pointer for the MX record.
> 
> A local ISP ran a report on  dnsstuff.com reporting all of this terrible 
> stuff in big red boxes and sent it to the office of the company owning 
> the domain. They said they couldn't connect to the domain to send mail.

Ask for a copy of the email headers. If they cannot provide them, ala 
not reproducible, remind your client of the storm window salesmen who 
used to make sales calls in the evening and use a light meter to show 
how "your windows are leaking energy!".

> 
> Now I have ran into this before, ususally because of the reverse record, 
> but mail seems to have always went through to the domain. What kind of 
> SMTP doesn't send mail to such a receiving server? Is that part of how 
> sendmail works also? I believe it was always Exchange that complained.

I've used Postfix, Sendmail, Qmail, and anyone remember EIMS? Never had 
a mail server refuse to send if a MX lookup succeeded, and port 25 answered.

> 
> I always thought it was up to the receiving server to decide on the mail 
> transaction. It sort of POed me the way they threw the scare tactics at 
> these guys at this little company.

Yea, we got a few of those, one who convinces our client's to drop us 
for email and then installs Exchange on the client's location. Funny 
thing, they use us scrub their own incoming mail through our MS install.

DAve

-- 
Three years now I've asked Google why they don't have a
logo change for Memorial Day. Why do they choose to do logos
for other non-international holidays, but nothing for
Veterans?

Maybe they forgot who made that choice possible.