sendmail problem, sends ok but the receiver doesn´t receive
 

I`m using fedora 10 and acording to the sendmail log, the sendmail server accepts the message for delivery but doesn`t send it.
Any ideas what might be the problem or how to troubleshoot?
I entered the following commands:
[ ~]# dig gmail.com mx

; <<>> DiG 9.5.1-P2-RedHat-9.5.1-2.P2.fc10 <<>> gmail.com mx
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 54230
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 5, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 5

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;gmail.com. IN MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
gmail.com. 1609 IN MX 40 alt4.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com.
gmail.com. 1609 IN MX 5 gmail-smtp-in-v4v6.l.google.com.
gmail.com. 1609 IN MX 30 alt3.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com.
gmail.com. 1609 IN MX 20 alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com.
gmail.com. 1609 IN MX 10 alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
gmail-smtp-in-v4v6.l.google.com. 98 IN A 173.194.77.27
alt3.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com. 17 IN A 173.194.73.26
alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com. 199 IN A 173.194.76.26
alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com. 208 IN A 74.125.130.27
alt4.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com. 23 IN A 173.194.66.26

;; Query time: 155 msec
;; SERVER: 200.33.146.201#53(200.33.146.201)
;; WHEN: Mon Jul 16 08:54:58 2012
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 249

I entered the following commands for each of the ips in the dig command and get the same result:
[~]# telnet 173.194.73.26 25
Trying 173.194.73.26...

Any ideas will be appreciated!

The log of the sendmail program would help more than dns resolution...

My first guess without seeing the maillog would be that you are trying to use Google's mail gateway from your server. Most sites do not allow external servers to relay through them. If you are using a Gmail account, then my guess is that you should have software like Thunderbird or Evolution and set up to use Google's mail servers rather than your local server.

Here is the mail log:

Jul 16 11:30:02 fsrdf sendmail[2721]: q6GGU2kv002721: from=<root@fsrdf.localdomain.com>, size=852, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201207161630.q6GGU2KK002720@fsrdf.localdomain.com>, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=localhost6.localdomain6 [127.0.0.1]
Jul 16 11:30:02 fsrdf sendmail[2720]: q6GGU2KK002720: to=root, ctladdr=root (0/0), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=30573, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (q6GGU2kv002721 Message accepted for delivery)
Jul 16 11:30:03 fsrdf sendmail[2723]: q6GGU2kv002721: to=<root@fsrdf.localdomain.com>, ctladdr=<root@fsrdf.localdomain.com> (0/0), delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=local, pri=31083, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Jul 16 11:45:02 fsrdf sendmail[3638]: q6GGj29m003638: from=root, size=573, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201207161645.q6GGj29m003638@fsrdf.localdomain.com>, relay=root@localhost
Jul 16 11:45:02 fsrdf sendmail[3644]: q6GGj23i003644: from=<root@fsrdf.localdomain.com>, size=852, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201207161645.q6GGj29m003638@fsrdf.localdomain.com>, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=localhost6.localdomain6 [127.0.0.1]
Jul 16 11:45:03 fsrdf sendmail[3638]: q6GGj29m003638: to=root, ctladdr=root (0/0), delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:01, mailer=relay, pri=30573, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (q6GGj23i003644 Message accepted for delivery)
Jul 16 11:45:03 fsrdf sendmail[3647]: q6GGj23i003644: to=<root@fsrdf.localdomain.com>, ctladdr=<root@fsrdf.localdomain.com> (0/0), delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=local, pri=31083, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Jul 16 11:53:21 fsrdf sendmail[4110]: q6GGrLgF004110: from=root, size=248, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201207161653.q6GGrLgF004110@fsrdf.localdomain.com>, relay=root@localhost
Jul 16 11:53:21 fsrdf sendmail[4111]: q6GGrL65004111: from=<root@fsrdf.localdomain.com>, size=517, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201207161653.q6GGrLgF004110@fsrdf.localdomain.com>, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=localhost6.localdomain6 [127.0.0.1]
Jul 16 11:53:22 fsrdf sendmail[4110]: q6GGrLgF004110: to=XXXXXXXX@gmail.com, ctladdr=root (0/0), delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:01, mailer=relay, pri=30248, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (q6GGrL65004111 Message accepted for delivery)

Hope it`s useful for resolving the problem.

It is possible that gmail is accepting the message but just dropping it. Most properly run email gateways will not accept email from unknown mailers. Usually, they rely on the MX records in the domain or the SPF records. This validates the sender as coming from a legitimate mailer. If you are sending email out as localhost.localdomain6, my guess is that they are being accepted but dropped. If you are going to use this server as an email system, then it needs to have a legitimate domain name and registered in DNS with at minimum an MX record but better still with SPF records.

I don't see any errors inside the maillog. But croftale is right that the domain name you are sending from would normally be blocked by any mail server.
Where I must contradict croftale is that one needs a valid MX record for sending mail. Normally mail servers check for an PTR record to verify that the host is who he claims to be. Also SPF might work on it's own.

By the way did you check your spam folder on your gmail account?

Another thing does sendmail show greylisting or other form of delayed transmition?

Might be the problem yes.
I will have to try it in a test environment first as the server with the problem is actually working on a client.
I will test and tell you about my findings.

Thanks!

Not certain I understand the issue beingpresented. Is the issue - not able to send email to a gmail account? Or sending email through gmail for a single user OR through gmail for various users on your sendmail box?

If it is the first case, then configuring your sendmail server as previously stated with valid domain name registered/resolvable on the Internet with applicable MX records will do it.

The fact that you 'dig' gmail as an example shows your DNS resolution is good and should be valid for any host you choose to relay host to.

This is not necessarily an answer to a question - but merely me confirming just what the specific ask is.

PK

Yes pkozlenko, the issue is not able to send email to a gmail account, nor to any account, but testing with gmail as is the first testing for the mail sending to work.