Issue Email forwarding doesn't work

[Hossam Hossny]

So I installed two domain names, added the mail service and email accounts, forwarding, aliases, etc., etc.. I can send and receive e-mail just fine, except that forwarding doesn't work.
Any email I send to these domain name email addresses, I can see it in the webmail, but I don't see it forwarded to my Gmail address as configured.

Could it possibly be a Gmail issue blocking such emails? I don't even see them in spam/junk folders and I have already used Gmail addresses as forwarded addresses in the past without an issue.

Please advise

Cheerfully
Hossam

 

[Bitpalast]

Have you checked /var/log/maillog what is logged for the forwarded mail?

 

[Hossam Hossny]

Have you checked /var/log/maillog what is logged for the forwarded mail?

I have already. Nothing there has anything to do with forwarded mails.

 

[Bitpalast]

If you do not see the forwarded email in the maillog, the mail is not being forwarded (there is not attempt on the server to forward the mail). How did you configure the forwarding? If in Plesk, did you "activate" it, meaning did you check the box in the forwarding list?

 

[Hossam Hossny]

If you do not see the forwarded email in the maillog, the mail is not being forwarded (there is not attempt on the server to forward the mail). How did you configure the forwarding? If in Plesk, did you "activate" it, meaning did you check the box in the forwarding list?

Things is, I have done this a thousand time (literally). I am sure I have done the forwarding correctly.
If you need screenshots to show you the working configuration, I can send a couple. However, it's gonna take some time since I will need to edit the screenshot for privacy reasons.

 

[Bitpalast]

The point is that if there is no attempt logged in the maillog to send a mail to your GMail account, it can only be either for a misconfigured forwarding, a disabled mail service for the domain in general or a corrupted database record for the configuration set.

 

[Hossam Hossny]

Should I try Plesk email repairing tool? What services need to be on, in order for mail forwarding to work?
What entries I should be looking for /var/log/maillog should I be looking for, other than the addresses?

 

[Bitpalast]

Both, the subscription and domain, must not be in a "suspended" or "deactivated" state. The mail service of the domain must be "active" (general mail settings).

In /var/log/maillog for forwarded mails the recipient address must be mentioned.

 

[Hossam Hossny]

Both, the subscription and domain, must not be in a "suspended" or "deactivated" state. The mail service of the domain must be "active" (general mail settings).

In /var/log/maillog for forwarded mails the recipient address must be mentioned.

I understand all of this really well. If I dig through the file searching for addresses, I will get tons of unuseful information. What I asked for is any "keywords" to search for that are related to email forwarding. Thanks.

 

[AlanFallow]

Hi did you sort this problem as I have the same.
Thanks

 

[mschenk]

Hi, i have the same problem.
Any solutions?
How to search in maillog for forwarded emails? command line command..

 

[Peter Debik]

You can simply search for the recipient address like
# grep "recipient address here" /var/log/maillog
There you see at least one line mentioning that address and a long unique ID code such as ... postfix/smtpd[16064]: 129992FCBA2F: .... Now take the key to search for all entries related to that mail, e.g.
# grep 129992FCBA2F /var/log/maillog

 

[mschenk]

You can simply search for the recipient address like
# grep "recipient address here" /var/log/maillog
There you see at least one line mentioning that address and a long unique ID code such as ... postfix/smtpd[16064]: 129992FCBA2F: .... Now take the key to search for all entries related to that mail, e.g.
# grep 129992FCBA2F /var/log/maillog

Thats a great help!! Thanks very much.
And i used chatGPT4 to explain me the details of the log entry.
Cool.

 

[mschenk]

You can simply search for the recipient address like
# grep "recipient address here" /var/log/maillog
There you see at least one line mentioning that address and a long unique ID code such as ... postfix/smtpd[16064]: 129992FCBA2F: .... Now take the key to search for all entries related to that mail, e.g.
# grep 129992FCBA2F /var/log/maillog

Hi Peter, i did it this way.
My problem is that i want to check if a received email, was redirected automatically to another email address because its configured in Plesk -> Email Addresses -> Forwarding.

I have a customer, which insists, that not all of the emails are forwarded.
Do you have any idea why that could happen?
And how can i check or prove in the log, that it was forwarded or not please?

Regards, Martin

 

[Maarten]

Email forwarding doesn't always work due to the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC settings.

A good read:

How email forwarding can break DMARC

Are you seeing misalignment in your SPF and DKIM alignment? The culprit might be forwarding. Come down this rabbit hole with us!

postmarkapp.com

 

[mschenk]

Email forwarding doesn't always work due to the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC settings.

A good read:

How email forwarding can break DMARC

Are you seeing misalignment in your SPF and DKIM alignment? The culprit might be forwarding. Come down this rabbit hole with us!

postmarkapp.com

thanks Maarten

 

[Jujue]

thanks Maarten

This whole thread was an entertaining read, until one person, you, came up with a simple explanation.
Why all this fuss is talked in previous replies, which all lead into a dead end, ...doesn't make sense to me, just as PLESK itself, does Not make sense to me neither.
I mean, seriously?
Why offer an option, when it won't work anyway?
Worse even, Plesk does not find it necessary to at least "Inform" their paying customers that 'IF' they'd try using this option, 99/100 it won't work Becasue of, ... ....
But who am I to talk?
I don't use AI, I just use my own brain to try to make sense out of senseless stuff.

Excuse my rant here about Plesk but Plesk, who rakes in Tens of Millions of dollars every year can't find decent programmers to get their control panel 'Working'?

Pretty impressive!

 

[Maarten]

I never said that it didn't work. It works most of the time. But occasionally, you have to alter the DNS settings a bit.

As an example, when you forward your mail to Gmail, add this to the SPF record: include:_spf.google.com

It also helps to make the DMARC policy less strict.
So, instead of:
"v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; adkim=s; aspf=s"

Use this:
"v=DMARC1; p=none;"

But whatever you do, this is complex material. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Therefore, if you want to be sure every forwarded email reaches its destination, don't use it.

I agree with you that Plesk should add a warning to the forward email option. Then, the user can decide whether to forward the email or use IMAP/POP3 to retrieve the mail.

 

[mow]

As an example, when you forward your mail to Gmail, add this to the SPF record: include:_spf.google.com

It also helps to make the DMARC policy less strict.
So, instead of:
"v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; adkim=s; aspf=s"

Use this:
"v=DMARC1; p=none;"

Why? Everything you could alter in your SPF or DMARC configuration would only affect the ability to (elsewhere) forward mails originating from your domain, and wouldn't help at all with mails from other domains forwarded by yours.