Email problem driving my nutts

[Matthew Bradley]

Having a heck of a time with an email issue. I have one client who we just manage their filemaker server and backups. He has his email through 1and1.com (he loves them because they're cheap)
He's trying to email to another law firm however his emails to this particular individual bounce back immediately. Even stranger, is the other party also cannot send to my client. Same thing - bounces back immediately. Otherwise, email to everyone else on both ends is flawless.

Below is the diagnostic codes being returned to each sender:

Diagnostic-Code: smtp; Gave up after 48 hours, last error: Open (74.208.5.3) Error 63sec (399 TCP Read failed (Connection timed out after 0 seconds) 0 sec)

Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 5.4.7 - Delivery expired (message too old) [Default] 451-'Requested action aborted: local error in processing' (delivery attempts: 28)

My client emailed 1and1 and they said the MX records for the other party's domain don't exist. That's BS since they've been using the same email for years and this is the 1st time they've had this problem. I would just assume switch my client over to a "real" mail provider and get him away from 1and1 however I'm not convinced who's end is really the problem here.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Have heard about lots of problems with that 1and1 place. Yup...you get what you pay for.
http://mxtoolbox.com/
Run MX check there and take a screenshot and shoot that back to the dork at 1and1 support.

Another possible cause of an issue like this...and I've seen it more than a few times.
Sometimes when a client used "hosting company A"......and then they switch to "hosting company B"....they suddenly have issues receiving e-mails from other users that happen to use hosting company A. Because hosting company A didn't know the client left, so they still have internal MX records pointing internally to some dead end mailbox.

....just a shot in the dark...

 

[nlinecomputers]

Ditto. Punch both the sender and the receiver domains into mxtoolbox.

 

[Matthew Bradley]

The only thing mxtoolbox came back with was a warning on one of the domains "8.267 seconds - Not good! on Transaction Time". Ugh.
No errors on either domain though.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

High transaction time warning not surprising on cheap bulk services like that...they oversell their hardware, sooooOOOOooo oversubscribed. Poor performance, everything is bogged down on them.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Tell em you get what you pay for and move on. Can't help those that do not want to spend money to do it right.

 

[Mainstay]

Are there any blacklist results on either domain?

Is it to a PARTICULAR mailbox or all email addresses at that site?

Have you confirmed that autocomplete isn't messing with the address?

Can you send to that destination address from another device outside of the one business? (i.e. configure client A with the account on their phone, disconnect from wifi, and send to that destination client B?)

Do you support Client B? Can you reach out to them to see what the server logs are showing for mail delivery?

Can you run a mail trace?

Can you set up a forwarder for Client A? i.e., let's say their current mailbox is dave@company.com and this is failing to receive from Client B. So then set up a forwarder with davejones@company.com that forwards to dave@company.com... Can Client B now email davejones@company.com?

Just mulling this one over.

 

[Matthew Bradley]

Neither is running exchange so my options are VERY limited. I have verified the problem happens outside of the company firewall and neither side pops up on any blacklist. Problem is also domain wide and not tied to any particular email account. Don't support the other client and their IT guy keeps saying the problem is on "my end" (since I manage their filemaker server, obviously I'm responsible for their email too, and their washer and dryer). I haven't run into a situation like this in a while since most of our clients are fully managed and we handle all DNS. Per nline, I WOULD tell them to stick it however the contract we have for managing their one server is quite lucrative (his RTO is the lowest of any business we deal with).

At this point I'm at a complete loss. Talking with 1and1 is like talking with my 10 year old while she's trying to watch Netflix. I'll talk with my client in the morning about switching email hosting and keep my fingers crossed that the problem was in fact on our end.

 

[Markverhyden]

Obviously switching hosting to someone reliable is the proper solution. But if it's domain wide have your tried whitelisting the domains on both ends from within C-Panel or whatever interface they have.

 

[nlinecomputers]

A 547 error means that they cannot see the email server. However with it failing on both end it sounds like it might be firewall issue between servers.

 

[Matthew Bradley]

The other IT guy emailed to apologize. They had all domains from 1and1 blacklisted. Really? Not only an entire domain but all domains that use 1and1 name servers? Holy cow. I'm glad he emailed instead of calling. This should have been solved on day 1.