Undeliverable Mail from Script

[csandstedt]

Within the last couple of weeks I started receiving undeliverable mail messages on all posting to the forums at http://www.analystforum.com. The script uses sendmail as the mail program. The weird part is that I haven't touched the script for several months. Any ideas on what might be causing the problem? Was there something that changed at FQ?

Thanks in advance.

Chad

[Terra]

Please post FULL headers from one of the bounced emails...

--
Terra
sysAdmin
FutureQuest

[sheila]

You know, I haven't been getting "undeliverable messages", but I was wanting to ask if something in the mail set up had changed recently.

Per the Qmail docs:
http://www.qmail.org/man/man8/qmail-local.html
It says, that the envelope Recipient should be recorded in a Delivered-To: line, that is added to the header.

I used to get message headers that looked like this:

Return-Path: <Jsoperiii1121@aol.com>
Delivered-To: xthinkspot-userid@thinkspot.net
Received: (qmail 26589 invoked by uid 41121); 16 Jan 2001 01:17:28 -0000
Delivered-To: xthinkspot-mrs_king@thinkspot.net
Received: (qmail 26577 invoked from network); 16 Jan 2001 01:17:28 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO imo-r09.mx.aol.com) (152.163.225.9)
[nbsp][nbsp]by nine.futurequest.net with SMTP; 16 Jan 2001 01:17:28 -0000
Received: from Jsoperiii1121@aol.com
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]by imo-r09.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v29.5.) id l.d9.ee80b4a (17236)
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp] for <mrs_king@thinkspot.net>; Mon, 15 Jan 2001 20:15:16 -0500 (EST)
From: Jsoperiii1121@aol.com
Message-ID: <d9.ee80b4a.2794faa4@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 20:15:16 EST
Subject: Last Friday
To: mrs_king@thinkspot.net
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=&quot;US-ASCII&quot;
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows sub 127


That basically show, that the e-mail was sent to one of my alias' and then from there forwarded to my catch-all e-mail address. In the case of spam, I could see which address they were trying to send to, originally. But now, sometimes the headers look like this:


Return-Path: <mbm@mail.canacad.ac.jp>
Delivered-To: xthinkspot-userid@thinkspot.net
Received: (qmail 1560 invoked from network); 2 Apr 2001 23:18:23 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO nine.futurequest.net) (63.95.221.43)
[nbsp][nbsp]by x43.futurequest.net with SMTP; 2 Apr 2001 23:18:23 -0000
Received: (qmail 1552 invoked from network); 2 Apr 2001 23:18:22 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO mail.canacad.ac.jp) (203.216.126.13)
[nbsp][nbsp]by nine.futurequest.net with SMTP; 2 Apr 2001 23:18:22 -0000
Received: from [192.168.1.130] ([203.216.126.3] <mshsnat.canacad.ac.jp.>) by mail.canacad.ac.jp (AppleShare IP Mail Server 6.3.1) id 56830 via TCP with SMTP; Tue, 03 Apr 2001 08:20:03 +0900
User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/9.0.2509
Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 08:17:26 +0900
Subject: thanks
From: mbm <mbm@mail.canacad.ac.jp>
To: Sheila King <sheila@thinkspot.net>
Message-ID: <B6EF3795.180B%mbm@mail.canacad.ac.jp>
In-Reply-To: <76D5CC235FC@kserver.org>
Mime-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=&quot;US-ASCII&quot;
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

Even though the original message was not sent to the envelope recipient userid@thinkspot.net (a bogus addy, BTW), the original envelope recipient is not being recorded with a delivered-to line.

It has been most missed, recently, where I was debugging cgi mail scripts that I am writing, and was sending myself multiple copies of the same message, but couldn't determine any difference in the headers as to which copy of the message was sent to whom. In the past, the delivered-to lines would always let me know to whom each copy had been sent.

[csandstedt]

One possible source of the problem is that I'm using Bigmailbox for free email on the site. Could this be the problem? Here's the full email header:

From analystforum@analystforum.com Mon Apr 02 20:31:47 2001
Return-Path: <analystforum@analystforum.com>
Delivered-To: xanalystforum-c.sandstedt@proforums.com
Received: (qmail 7684 invoked from network); 2 Apr 2001 20:31:47 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO mailrecv15.bigmailbox.com) (209.132.220.88)
[nbsp][nbsp]by nine.futurequest.net with SMTP; 2 Apr 2001 20:31:47 -0000
Received: (from mailsys@localhost)
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]by mailrecv15.bigmailbox.com (8.10.0/8.10.0) id f32KV8N19785;
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]Mon, 2 Apr 2001 13:31:08 -0700
From: analystforum@analystforum.com
X-Authentication-Warning: mailrecv15.bigmailbox.com: mailsys set sender to analystforum@analystforum.com using -f
Received: from questmail.futurequest.net (sourcenat1.bigmailbox.com [209.132.220.250])
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]by mailrecv15.bigmailbox.com (8.10.0/8.10.0) with SMTP id f32KUvq19779
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]for <analystforum@analystforum.com>; Mon, 2 Apr 2001 13:30:57 -0700
Received: (qmail 17340 invoked from network); 2 Apr 2001 20:35:26 -0000
Received: from nine.futurequest.net (63.95.221.102)
[nbsp][nbsp]by questmail.futurequest.net with SMTP; 2 Apr 2001 20:35:26 -0000
Received: (qmail 7598 invoked by uid 40860); 2 Apr 2001 20:31:34 -0000
Date: 2 Apr 2001 20:31:34 -0000
Message-ID: <20010402203134.7597.qmail@nine.futurequest.net>
X-Envelope-To: analystforum@analystforum.com
X-Original-To: analystforum@analystforum.com
Reply-To: PleaseRespond@TheBulletinBoard.nine.futurequest.net
Subject: [AnalystForum:] Re: Weekends
To: c.sandstedt@proforums.com

Thanks again.

[Terra]

Right, once you have an MX record change done - FutureQuest is no longer handling or responsible for your email delivery...

Sheila:[nbsp][nbsp]If you are running filters, then anything is fair game...[nbsp][nbsp]By nature of the QMail chain of commands, I would say it is almost always consistent unless overridden somehow...[nbsp][nbsp]I have done nothing to override the normal flow of things other than the siphoning of email from NINE and PHOENIX...[nbsp][nbsp]However, this would not affect you because qmail-local is the last mile...[nbsp][nbsp]Double check your filters because you are most likely dropping a line somewhere or influencing it's behavior...[nbsp][nbsp]Whatever that may be I encourage you to dig through either:
a) Docs
b) Mailing List
c) Source Code

Your filters are somewhat extensive and well beyond the realm of what we can provide support for...

--
Terra
sysAdmin
FutureQuest

[sheila]

OK, thanks.

Sheila

--on a free weekend, sometime in the not too distant future...

[csandstedt]

After looking at the undeliverable message again. it looks to me like it is a sendmail problem. Here's the actual message which I get:
------------
Your message

[nbsp][nbsp]To:[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]analystforum@analystforum.com
[nbsp][nbsp]Subject: [AnalystForum:] Re: Weekends
[nbsp][nbsp]Sent:[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]Mon, 2 Apr 2001 14:31:34 -0600

did not reach the following recipient(s):

robert.davis@sunmed.com on Mon, 2 Apr 2001 14:31:11 -0600
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]The recipient name is not recognized
The MTS-ID of the original message is: c=US;a=
;p=Sunrise;l=LON1-MAIL20104022031H5SW1YD3
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]MSEXCH:IMS:Sunrise:LON1:LON1-MAIL2 0 (000C05A6) Unknown Recipient
---------------

If it were a Bigmailbox problem, wouldn't it be able to send just fine... regardless of who my Mx record is through?

Thanks.

[Terra]

That tells me that the mail server for 'sunmed.com' could not find that user and bounced the message back to you for informational purposes...

Last I checked, we were not running 'MSEXCH'... ;)

--
Terra
sysAdmin
FutureQuest

[csandstedt]

Why would this suddenly begin on all posts to the forum? It happens from all domains, not just from sunmed.com. I assume MSEXCH is Microsoft Exchange... but why would this suddenly create a problem?

[Terra]

What did BigMailBox have to say about this, since your mail is handled by their servers?

Personally, I would go with 'Everyone.net' because over time, I've seen that they have at least half a clue more than BigMailBox...

--
Terra
sysAdmin
FutureQuest

[sheila]

A rejection message of that type, indicates problems with the sunmed.com mail server. There are two possibilities:
1. They are having some (probably temporary) configuration problems with their server. (I see this type of stuff on my mailing list all the time. Someone's address will be undeliverable for a week or two, and then it will be fine again.)
2. The person you are trying to send to no longer has an email account with them. (This is what the &quot;user unknown&quot; error message should mean. However, I find that many times I get that error message for people on my mailing list, and then ... I know it's crazy, but ... the server apparently re-acquaints itself with them a short time later!)