Tell me more ×
Server Fault is a question and answer site for professional system and network administrators. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

Sometimes.

It's very confusing. We have a service and you get a confirmation e-mail with a link to confirm your account, etc.

If a user is sending an e-mail from one of their own domains; like moo@moohouse.com or james@bigjamesdean.com or lol@laughterhouse.net then it always reports that it can't find them, or the user doesn't exist.

Now, all this is is a php mail function (from what I understand) and it's sent from our web servers. These web servers are a part of our domain, and we use Google, and have the appropriate SFP & MX entries.

The most common message that I get is a claim that the address does not exist or that it's mistyped, but -- in all of the cases, the e-mail exists & has no extra .'s or spaces, or letters.

The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try 550-5.1.1 double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or 550-5.1.1 unnecessary spaces. Learn more at 550 5.1.1 http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?answer=6596 el5si16864532vdb.30 - gsmtp (in reply to RCPT TO command))

I've tested this with one of my @gmail.com accounts and have not had an issue with it sending me an e-mail.

So, since it tends to have a higher reject rate of these @randomtheirdomain.net here, could it be us or them? Or both?

Edit; I'd like to note that when I set up postfix, I set it up using the postfix's "null client" settings (http://www.postfix.org/STANDARD_CONFIGURATION_README.html#null_client)

I did this because I figured the server would only ever be sending mail, and should not receive and/or do local mail delivery.

share|improve this question
you may need a "smarthost" over which you relay your message? – Tim Haegele Feb 18 at 19:51
I didn't really want to use SMTP to do this. – Ethabelle Feb 18 at 19:52
1  
You're already using SMTP, and configuring postfix/exim to deliver mail using an existing email account isn't too hard. It should be reliable too. – gparent Feb 18 at 21:17
The information here is probably not going to be enough to solve this issue. What we really need to look at are email headers. If we could see the code, or if you could use a tool like wireshark to capture the email sending communication, that would be very useful. – Ryan Gooler Feb 18 at 21:17
Right, but I don't want to pay money to create an e-mail account that can then send e-mail from it-- when these are just simple verification e-mails, which my server should be able to generate and can -- unless the other person has their own private domain. – Ethabelle Feb 18 at 23:41
show 2 more comments

Know someone who can answer? Share a link to this question via email, Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.