[SOLVED] sendmail sometimes sending emails and sometimes not

Majed17 · 11-04-2011, 01:34 AM

hello, i'm using sendmail to send notification emails.
i'm sending test emails as root but some messages get delivered and some not even though i'm sending to the same sender.
the command i'm using :

Code:

sendmail -v monitoring@mydomain.by

in /var/log/messages
i am getting:

Code:

16:54:47 srvmon-Bellakt sm-mta[17248]: pA3Dsifc017248: to=<monitoring@mydomain.by>, ctladdr=<root@srvmon-Bellakt.otherdomain.com> (0/0), delay=00:00:03, xdelay=00:00:03, mailer=esmtp, pri=30322, relay=mx2.activeby.net. [109.237.213.144], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (OK id=1RLxkj-0002dF-6r)
Nov  3 16:54:47 srvmon-Bellakt sendmail[17237]: pA3DseMv017237: to=monitoring@mydomain.by, ctladdr=root (0/0), delay=00:00:07, xdelay=00:00:03, mailer=relay, pri=30005, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (pA3Dsifc017248 Message accepted for delivery)

when it gets sent
and when it fails to be sent i get:

Code:

Nov  3 17:17:20 srvmon-Bellakt sm-mta[32754]: pA3EHG4E032754: to=<monitoring@mydomain.by>, ctladdr=<root@srvmon-Bellakt.otherdomain.com> (0/0), delay=00:00:04, xdelay=00:00:04, mailer=esmtp, pri=30364, relay=mx2.activeby.net. [109.237.213.144], dsn=5.0.0, stat=Service unavailable

any idea on what can be the cause for this?
perhaps there is a better mail agent to send emails...

deep27ak · 11-04-2011, 01:42 AM

from the logs what I can guess is port issue

which port no. are you using to for ESMTP and RELAY in sendmail.mc?

Code:

#vi sendmail.mc

define(`RELAY_MAILER_ARGS', `TCP $h 587')dnl
define(`ESMTP_MAILER_ARGS', `TCP $h 587')dnl

Majed17 · 11-04-2011, 01:49 AM

here is my sendmail.mc configuration:

Code:

divert(-1)
divert(0)dnl
include(`/usr/share/sendmail-cf/m4/cf.m4')dnl
VERSIONID(`$Id: sendmail.mc,v 1.2 2004/12/07 01:59:31 g2boojum Exp $')dnl
OSTYPE(linux)dnl
DOMAIN(generic)dnl
FEATURE(`smrsh',`/usr/sbin/smrsh')dnl
FEATURE(`local_lmtp',`/usr/sbin/mail.local')dnl
MASQUERADE_AS(otherdomain.com)dnl
FEATURE(masquerade_envelope)dnl
FEATURE(masquerade_entire_domain)dnl
MASQUERADE_DOMAIN(otherdomain.com)dnl
MAILER(local)dnl
MAILER(smtp)dnl

netstat -nl shows:

Code:

Active Internet connections (only servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address         State
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:587             0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:110             0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:80              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:21              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:22              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:25              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:443             0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN
tcp6       0      0 :::22                   :::*                    LISTEN
udp      320      0 0.0.0.0:52684           0.0.0.0:*
udp        0      0 172.16.1.40:123         0.0.0.0:*
udp        0      0 127.0.0.1:123           0.0.0.0:*
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:123             0.0.0.0:*
raw        0      0 0.0.0.0:1               0.0.0.0:*               7
raw        0    960 0.0.0.0:1               0.0.0.0:*               7
raw        0      0 0.0.0.0:1               0.0.0.0:*               7
Active UNIX domain sockets (only servers)
Proto RefCnt Flags       Type       State         I-Node   Path
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     5436183  /var/run/proftpd/proftpd.sock
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     5436188  /var/run/proftpd/proftpd.sock
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     10489008 /var/run/cgisock.22701
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     5507     /var/run/syslog-ng.ctl
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     5504     /dev/log

deep27ak · 11-04-2011, 02:17 AM

I don't see any smtp server in sendmail.mc

Is that your complete file?

Majed17 · 11-04-2011, 02:20 AM

yes that is the complete file, i thought senmdmail is a mail server and doesn't need a relay. i read in the internet that a smart host can be set up to relay to the smtp server but the boss doesn't want the messages relayed to the smtp server in case the server fails.

deep27ak · 11-04-2011, 02:29 AM

but when mail sending is failed it is getting RELAYED by 109.237.213.144

what is this ip?

Majed17 · 11-04-2011, 02:35 AM

this ip is of mx2.activeby.net which can be seen in a

Code:

nslookup 109.237.213.144

this is our email host service provider for the domain profiland. i have a susspicion that some messages are filtered as spam and some are passed, is it possible?

Majed17 · 11-04-2011, 03:12 AM

what is weird is that if i send mail to the local domain bellakt.com the mail always gets delivered probably because it is forwarded to the internal ip address of the exchange server. but if i send mail to the domain profiland throught the relay mx2 it sometimes gets delivered and sometimes not. the boss just informed me that he is going to ask that bellakt.com (which is domain of the linux machine) to be added to the white list. hopefully this will help.

deep27ak · 11-04-2011, 04:06 AM

by asking what is this ip I meant is this your server which you are using to sendmails?

I don't think it has got anything related with spam

Quote:

Originally Posted by Majed17

what is weird is that if i send mail to the local domain bellakt.com the mail always gets delivered probably because it is forwarded to the internal ip address of the exchange server. but if i send mail to the domain profiland throught the relay mx2 it sometimes gets delivered and sometimes not. the boss just informed me that he is going to ask that bellakt.com (which is domain of the linux machine) to be added to the white list. hopefully this will help.

and yup that might be the issue because the sendmail is using mx2.activeby.net as a relay server for sending mails for which the mail is not getting delivered

and when your server is taking localhost as relay everything goes fine

you can try this but this will again act as a relay server(which you don't want I guess)

Code:

#vi /etc/mail/access
Connect:109.237.213.144          RELAY

Code:

#makemap -r hash access.db < access

#service sendmail restart

Majed17 · 11-04-2011, 06:16 AM

i did the relay and now but still not all mail is reaching profiland.by.
i test 4 test emails and only 2 arrived

Code:

Nov  4 14:03:44 srvmon-Bellakt sm-mta[19040]: pA4B3eA1019040: to=<monitoring@mydomain.by>, ctladdr=<root@srvmon-Bellakt.Bellakt.com> (0/0), delay=00:00:04, xdelay=00:00:04, mailer=esmtp, pri=30331, relay=mx2.activeby.net. [109.237.213.144], dsn=5.0.0, stat=Service unavailable

but now messages to bellakt.com are not arriving at all with the following error.

Code:

Nov  4 13:54:04 srvmon-Bellakt sm-mta[12706]: pA4As1uS012704: to=<admin50@localdomain.com>, ctladdr=<nagios@srvmon-Bellakt.Bellakt.com> (102/1002), delay=00:00:03, xdelay=00:00:03, mailer=esmtp, pri=120575, relay=mail.bellakt.com. [172.16.1.100], dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: mail.bellakt.com.: No route to host

i suspect this is because nslookup at the linux machine for mail.bellakt.com is 172.16.1.100
while from a computer not in the domain it is : 178.124.149.43

mydomain=profiland
otherdomian=bellakt

Majed17 · 11-04-2011, 07:03 AM

it seems it was a problem with the exchange server and it was down. now the message i'm getting:

Code:

Nov  4 14:53:20 srvmon-Bellakt sm-mta[21536]: pA4BrKEo021534: to=<admin50@localdomain.com>, ctladdr=<nagios@srvmon-Bellakt.Bellakt.com> (102/1002), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=esmtp, pri=120595, relay=mail.bellakt.com. [172.16.1.100], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (<201111041153.pA4BrKsE021533@srvmon-Bellakt.Bellakt.com> Queued mail for delivery)

but i'm still unable to login to check mail.
but anyway the problem is not solved. some emails are still not getting delivered and bellakt.com (the local domain) was added to the white list. any more ideas for this weird problem?

deep27ak · 11-04-2011, 07:15 AM

In the mean while I was checking your sendmail.mc as your last post did confused me

because as I said you to make changes in access file
but your sendmail.mc is not configured to listen access.db

Code:

FEATURE(`access_db', `hash -T<TMPF> -o /etc/mail/access.db')dnl

this line is missing from your sendmail.mc

Now returning to your issue

Code:

mx2.activeby.net. [109.237.213.144]------->>is your mail server?

Code:

which machine are you using to send mails?

on which machine

Code:

mydomain=profiland
otherdomian=bellakt

are configured?

kindly provide me wit all details at once so that I can understand the whole thing...as everytime I have to scroll the page to view the info

Majed17 · 11-04-2011, 07:27 AM

frankly i don't understand how sendmail is working, it seems it is an smtp server by itself?
sendmail is running on srvmon-Bellakt.Bellakt.com gentoo machine. profiland is the domain i'm trying to send the messages to and the are also emails on bellakt.com which i send emails too. (mainly through the nagios program, but my test emails are from root)

Quote:

mx2.activeby.net. [109.237.213.144]------->>is your mail server?

it is not my mail server. it is the server that profiland is on and so when root sends emails to profiland it passes through this mx2.

Quote:

which machine are you using to send mails?

from srvmon-Bellakt.Bellakt.com

i disscused the situation with my boss and he says if we relay to mx2 then messages other than to profiland will not be delivered because there is authentication on the server otherwise it would be used by spammers to relay spam. so i'm gonna wait for your answer before adding the new feature:

Code:

FEATURE(`access_db', `hash -T<TMPF> -o /etc/mail/access.db')dnl

deep27ak · 11-04-2011, 07:47 AM

So from all this what I got to know is when you are sending mail to your

Code:

bellakt.com

where sendmail is configured---everything works fine

but while sending to another domain

Code:

profiland

the problem comes

As far as your sendmail.mc is concerned I don't see any configuration stuff so even I am surprised to see your sendmail is working fine.

What I can say is to properly configure the sendmail using a proper smtp and relay server

Code:

You can always use spamassassin feature in sendmail to stop spams

Majed17 · 11-04-2011, 08:01 AM

yes you are correct. you understood it to the letter it seems

i just checked the exchange server on bellakt and all the mail on bellakt arrived after the exchange server is up and running again.
but the problem is when sending to profiland or hotmail for that matter

some emails arrive and some get status unavailable.. i'm reading on the internet and some say this is a dns problem others say the server sending the emails has to be from a real domain which is true (bellakt.com is a real domain) yet others say that the mail server (mx2) is rejecting the emails.
when i configured send mail i was expecting to supply some smtp address and pop3 but it started working simply after installing it so i thought it is an smtp server by itslef.
today the work day is over so i'm going to try adding the feature you meantioned later but i think it will cause problems for sending emails to the bellakt local domain.
monday will be holiday here (they still celebrate the october revolution of 1917 over here) so i'll be back on tuesday and hopefully you'll still be fine by then