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Issue mail server not sending

Hi Felix90,

first, pls. be aware that DNS - changes may take UP TO 48-72 hours, untill all DNS - servers are synched worldwide. In most cases, the worldwide - sync is faster, but it is always good to know, that DNS - changes can take some time! ;)

After all, I can currently see some changes and your IP "212.227.174.66" now resolves to "nck.de".


Pls. remember as well to adjust your DNS - settings for your domain(s) over the Plesk Control Panel, if you use different MX - entries ( i.e.: in.hes.trendmicro.eu (preference:10) / mx00.kundenserver.de (preference:20) / mx01.kundenserver.de (preference:21) ) and don't forget SPF - entries, if you want to avoid issues. Check your latest settings with for example the help of

 
I am not sure if the SPF record would help or makes any sense here.

The server does not have any email account except from 1 on togaether.com, which I used to check. Emails arrive there from the website, but they do not arrive externally. togaether.com mail server is the same as for nck.de the trendmicro one.
So emails are delivered and send to our exchange server in house, which works perfectly and is secured by trendmicro.

so the plesk cloudserver is just supposed to process the emails send by wordpress php forms. this seems to require the server to function as a mail server. since the emails still stuck in the mail server queue and won't get send anywhere, there still seems to be a problem. in the maillog i saw something with problems connecting to mx gmx something, I assume that is where it tries to send my test mail to my gmx.de address.

apart from that the server functionality is all fine. only email drives me insane.

I have found something strange within my DNS settings on plesk:
v=spf1 +a +mx -all +a:localhost.localdomain
its a TXT entry I have never added myself, but from the cryptics it looks like the mx is set or redirected to the local host of the server.
will the problem disappear if I remove it? plesk must have created it by itself recently, since it was not there when I added the MX record for trendmicro.
Is it necessary for anything, so problems may get caused when I remove v=spf1 +a +mx -all +a:localhost.localdomain?
 
Hi Felix90,

v=spf1 +a +mx -all +a:localhost.localdomain
Your "/etc/hostname" - file seems to be un/misconfigured. Make sure, that the hostname is a fully qualified domain name and change the SPF - entry to a correct hostname of your server ( i.e. servername.domainname.com ).

Just for your understanding: The domain specific SPF - entry is created with templates and the template could be for example:

v=spf1 mx a +a:<hostname> +a:mail.<domain> ip4:<ip> ?all​

( Pls. see your Plesk Control Panel: Home > Tools & Settings > DNS Zone Template )
During the domain installation process, the result for a domain specific DNS - entry would be for example "v=spf1 mx a +a:servername.domainname.com +a:mail.domainname.com ip4:XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX ?all".
If you have an un/misconfigured server, then a misconfiguration to your DNS - entry will be the result, according to your actual server configuration.


If the hostname is un/misconfigured, you might experience additional misconfigurations, as for example at "etc/hosts", "/etc/mailname"... My guess out of the blue is, that your server installation had failures/issues/problems and the result was an unfinished server installation - you could experience more un/misconfigurations, if this is the case, so my advice is a complete new server installation, if you are an unexperienced linux administrator.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ah so this entry is the mail issue?

yes I have no idea about linux, but the server installation was done via 1&1 panel and no issue was shown anywhere. domain hosting and wordpress seems to work just fine and for now I am a little afraid to reinstall everything and upload all files and databases again :( took me hours before already and we would have severe downtimes on many domains.

so I found the template which is:
<domain>.

TXT v=spf1 +a +mx -all +a:<hostname>

what would be the correct information to enter or which would be the correct template?
can you maybe give me the correct answer? you got the IP already, is there anything else I can provide you to help me out here?

would it by any chance make sense to deactivate the DNS function on plesk and use 1&1 domain control center to specify the DNS entries? not sure if that makes sense....
 
Hi Felix90,

pls. DON'T change the template itself, unless you know what you are doing and are aware of the results... just change the DNS - settings for your specific domain(s). The template itself should be as suggested:

v=spf1 mx a +a:<hostname> +a:mail.<domain> ip4:<ip> ?all
... when you have an additional "A" - entry "mail.<domain>".

It is really essential, that you read the post(s) step-by-step to avoid misconfiguration(s)... I mostly explain my suggestion in detail. In this case I wrote:
Your "/etc/hostname" - file seems to be un/misconfigured. Make sure, that the hostname is a fully qualified domain name and change the SPF - entry to a correct hostname of your server ( i.e. servername.domainname.com ).
and
... for example "v=spf1 mx a +a:servername.domainname.com +a:mail.domainname.com ip4:XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX ?all".

You can check the current setting for your hostname with the command

hostname

over the command line. If you are not satisfied with the output, you have as well the possibility to change the hostname over your Plesk Control Panel:

Home > Tools & Settings > Server Settings

Any changes here will result in a change to your "/etc/hostname" - file on your server.
Pls. make sure, that a valid "A" - entry exists at the DNS - server from your domain registrar, to avoid issues ( i.e.: If you choose "servername.domainname.com", there has to be an "A" - entry for "servername" at "domainname.com", which should resolve to your server-IP ).


At the moment, the server -IP "212.227.174.66" to "nck.de", which is correct, when the MX - record resolves to "nck.de", but when you use "mail.nck.de", then the server-IP should resolve to "mail.nck.de" as well, to match the SMTP greeting ( banner ).
As suggested before, pls. see "http://mxtoolbox.com/domain/nck.de/" to check your settings. Use the option "Show All Tests" to show the tests in detail, which mostly point directly to possible misconfigurations.



I know it sounds hard, when I write "consider to re-install your server", but due to the fact that you are unexperienced in linux administration, you should really consider to do that, because you should make sure, that all basic installation tasks are finished without issues/problems/failures - which doesn't seem to be the case here. You could avoid a lot of investigations, time-wasting log - researches, depending misconfiguration corrections, ... , when you have a clean installation and last but not least, you get more experience, when you start all over again. ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
the hostname seems to be localhost.localdomain
so I should not remove the line "v=spf1 +a +mx -all +a:localhost.localdomain" ?

A entries seem to be fine.
all domains have a missing spf entry. could this lead to emails not being delivered? I will try to figure out how to set spf.

well if reinstalling my server washes away all my issues, I have no problems doing it, but if nothing changes after, I destroyed a lot of work. a backup would be useless, since I dont want the "bad settings" to be there again.

the installation is done by 1&1 I have no influence, I just click install and it is installed and I add my domains. How can I check that no errors occured?
 
do I have to make the DNS spf within 1&1 control panel or on the plesk panel of my cloud server?
is the 1&1 dns overriding the cloudservers dns settings or the other way around?
 
Hi Felix90,

do I have to make the DNS spf within 1&1 control panel or on the plesk panel of my cloud server?
The initial nameserver for your domains is the one from your domain registrar. "Normally" you can just put all domain specific settings from Plesk to the domain registrars nameserver and all would be fine.

is the 1&1 dns overriding the cloudservers dns settings or the other way around?
The Plesk settings and configurations are just relevant for the installed services on your server, but if for example wrong, missing, or misconfigured settings are existent at the nameserver of your domain registrar, you might experience issues, when mail - servers for example communicate. A missing SPF - entry for example will lead to communication errors, or will result in a possible refusal of an email - delivery - depending to the configuration of the corresponding mail-server.


the hostname seems to be localhost.localdomain
Pls. read again:
You can check the current setting for your hostname with the command

hostname
over the command line. If you are not satisfied with the output, you have as well the possibility to change the hostname over your Plesk Control Panel:

Home > Tools & Settings > Server Settings

Any changes here will result in a change to your "/etc/hostname" - file on your server.
Pls. make sure, that a valid "A" - entry exists at the DNS - server from your domain registrar, to avoid issues ( i.e.: If you choose "servername.domainname.com", there has to be an "A" - entry for "servername" at "domainname.com", which should resolve to your server-IP ).


so I should not remove the line "v=spf1 +a +mx -all +a:localhost.localdomain" ?
Pls. try not mix "templates" with domain specific settings. If you see the entry "v=spf1 +a +mx -all +a:localhost.localdomain" in your domain specific DNS - settings, they are wrong and should be corrected, as suggested in my above post(s).


well if reinstalling my server washes away all my issues, I have no problems doing it, but if nothing changes after, I destroyed a lot of work. a backup would be useless, since I dont want the "bad settings" to be there again.
Well, a re-installation will not "wash away" misconfiguration(s) at your domain registrars nameserver - you still have to correct misconfiguration(s), or have to add missing entries there manually.
The re-installation should just make sure, that your server, the services and the Plesk components are correctly installed and working as expected, without the need of any modification. ;)
 
Ok, can I check whether my services are working fine or reinstalling the server is really necessary?

The localhost.localdomain entry is found on all domains within my plex dns settings.

Yes I read that about the hostname change, but I am not sure how to apply it.
Will I delete the entry and add nck.de instead of localhost.localdomain as the PTR?


What I just though is: can I deactivate the DNS function of my plesk server and use what was set up within my 1&1 settings? So maybe I can use the 1&1 mail service as before, since that worked like a charm.

Fighting since a week with this server and apart from that everything works now. Never ending story xD
 
Hi Felix90,

first, please correct the hostname - configuration. I wrote above, how to do that ( either manually, by editing the fie "etc/hostname", or by using the Plesk Control Panel at "Home > Tools & Settings > Server Settings" ).

The standard setting for a server - hostname would be:

servername
domainname
TLD

Example: => servername.domainname.com

If you would like to use the domain "nck.de" as your primary domainname, you could use: server1.nck.de


Second, please add an "A" entry at your domain registars dns - server, with the SERVERNAME of your choice as subdomain, which you just setup for your hostname.
Currently, you have these DNS - entries for the domain "nck.de" :
nck.de. 21599 IN NS ns-de.1and1-dns.de.
nck.de. 3599 IN A 212.227.174.66
nck.de. 21599 IN SOA ns-de.1and1-dns.de. hostmaster.kundenserver.de. 2016081501 28800 7200 604800 600
nck.de. 3599 IN TXT "google-site-verification=1j-ixStaOGpAa7DlplgTYfqRenlgAAjrSf2l8dxomDo"
nck.de. 21599 IN NS ns-de.1and1-dns.com.
nck.de. 21599 IN NS ns-de.1and1-dns.org.
nck.de. 3599 IN MX 10 in.hes.trendmicro.eu.
nck.de. 3599 IN MX 20 mx00.kundenserver.de.
nck.de. 3599 IN MX 21 mx01.kundenserver.de.
nck.de. 21599 IN NS ns-de.1and1-dns.biz.

Third, pls. adjust/modify/add your DOMAIN SPECIFIC DNS - setting for the domain "nck.de" at your domain registrar's DNS - server AND over the Plesk Control Panel ( Home > Subscriptions > nck.de > Websites & Domains > DNS settings ):

Check that your MX - settings over the Plesk Control Panel equal your settings at the DNS - server from your domain registrar!​

Add SPF - entry:

=> TXT
=> HOST: nck.de
=> VALUE: v=spf1 mx a +a:server1.nck.de +a:mail.nck.de ip4:212.227.174.66 ?all​


Fourth, while you are still editing the DNS - settings, consider to add as well a DMARC - entry:

ADD DMARC- entry:

=> TXT
=> HOST: _dmarc.nck.de ( YES, a subdomain with an UNDERSLASH in front )
=> VALUE: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:EXISTENT-EMAIL-NAME-FOR-ABUSE-REPORTS@nck.de; ruf=mailto:EXISTENT-EMAIL-NAME-FOR-ABUSE-REPORTS@nck.de; fo=0; adkim=r; aspf=r; pct=100; rf=afrf; ri=86400; sp=none​

... where "EXISTENT-EMAIL-NAME-FOR-ABUSE-REPORTS@nck.de" should be an EXISTENT-EMAIL-ADRESS-FOR-ABUSE-REPORTS , which you setup for possible abuse - reports.


Fifth, pls. wait up to 48 hours, untill all worldwide DNS - server synched and continue then with a test at "http://mxtoolbox.com/" and another one at "http://www.mail-tester.com/" to control your settings.


Sixth, pls report any issues/problems/failures, after you tested with the suggested links at "Fifth" - don't forget to include a new mail - log, try to include your mail - server configuration files and don't forget to include a note, with WHAT changes you made and last, pls. try to have a second look at all suggested points, to be sure, that you didn't miss one. ;)
 
working on the application of all suggested changes! many many thanks!!!

so I will report back tonight if the dns check shows some first improvements :)

while working on the DNS settings, a question about the nameserver came to my mind: is my plesk server able to be a nameserver and if so, would that make any sense?
When using the 1&1 name server, it says I should be able to use their services like mail etc., so why does it not send mails through the 1&1 mail server? that would have made my life so much easier ^^
 
and something else I have been working on before: how can I upgrade the php 5.4 to 7 for my wordpress databases on plesk? 1&1 offers an upgrade button for this.
 
Hi Felix90,

pls. contact your domain provider, if you experience issues with THEIR nameserver and THEIR control panel. Try to use as well the Google search, if you experience issues ( I did this for you and the first search result was: http://lmgtfy.com/?q="1und1"+"_dmarc" )




To possible other different issues, not related to your current thread:
Pls. open a NEW thread, if you have OTHER questions, issues, problems, than the ones you started the thread with.
 
awesome :) dmarc works now.

server is set to [email protected] with this subdomain created and pointing to the servers ip (same as nck.de basically)

So I am moving on to the other domains and I have the following template to be used:

=> TXT
=> HOST: _dmarc.CURRENT_DOMAIN.de (e.g. _dmarc.trashnculture.de)
=> VALUE: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:abuse@MY_DOMAIN.de; ruf=mailto:[email protected]; fo=0; adkim=r; aspf=r; pct=100; rf=afrf; ri=86400; sp=none

so if i use [email protected] for abuses or as in nck.de the [email protected] as abuse mail for the reports, would that make any difference? the abuse mail has to be from the current-domain or can I use info or [email protected] for all reports, to have it all send to 1 place? from what I understood having a different domain in spf or dmarc could give issues, is that correct?


=> TXT
=> HOST: nck.de
=> VALUE: v=spf1 mx a +a:cloudserver1.nck.de +a:mail.nck.de ip4:212.227.174.66 ?all

is my nck.de spf the mail.nck.de server (which has a different ip than my hosting server - there is a seperate exchange mail server running for emails, that is why the MX is different from all other domains except togaether.com, which has the same exchange mail server with trendmicro in front of it) or the cloud server? because if it needs to be the mail.nck.de servers ip at the end, I would have to change this entry regarding to my mail.nck.de subdomain and mailserver.

so new value would be:
v=spf1 mx a +a:cloudserver1.nck.de +a:mail.nck.de ip4:213.187.91.124 ?all

for the other domains which are using the 1&1 mail server:
MX mx00.kundenserver.de
MX mx01.kundenserver.de
I assume I have to use their IP's:
checked it online:
mx:kundenserver.de

Pref
Hostname IP Address TTL
10 mxint01.1and1.com 212.227.126.206 10 min
10 mxint02.1and1.com 212.227.126.207 10 min

I am not sure if I can set a dmarc if their mail server is used? so maybe I move all mails to our cloudserver or just fix the mx settings on the cloudserver to the 1&1 mail server.
 
Hi Felix90,

let's keep it simple and straight please. You may change ALL settings another time and play around with it as you wish... but you should definetly setup your server once in a "normal" way, so that you see, that all works as expected! ;)

What ever eMail - adress you use for abuse-reports in a DMARC - record is totally up to you. You may have [email protected] or [email protected], you even may setup a freemail-account-eMail-adress - just make sure, that the eMail-adress is valid and possible reports reach you.

is my nck.de spf the mail.nck.de server (which has a different ip than my hosting server - there is a seperate exchange mail server running for emails, that is why the MX is different from all other domains except togaether.com, which has the same exchange mail server with trendmicro in front of it) or the cloud server? because if it needs to be the mail.nck.de servers ip at the end, I would have to change this entry regarding to my mail.nck.de subdomain and mailserver.
Again... pls. let's keep it simple and straight. Setup the SPF - entry exactly like suggested, assuming that you host eMails on the very same server, you currently setup. What ever you setup later on, is totally up to you... we just want to make sure, that you setup all correctly once! ;)
 
appreciate that, but I just try to understand and avoid mistakes here.
The MX on 1&1 is in.hes.trendmicro.eu the trendmicro email security server, but the mail server is mail.nck.de
in.hes.trendmicro.eu is just for blocking incoming spam, shall I use mail.nck.de in spf or rather the trendmicro.eu one?

the spf is for mails and mails are send via exchange, so if I set the spf to mail.nck.de I have to use the IP from mail.nck.de which is the IP of my exchange server, not the cloudserver.
the cloudserver can send mails himself, but that is just necessary for wordpress mail function.

is this spf:
v=spf1 mx a +a:cloudserver1.nck.de +a:mail.nck.de ip4:213.187.91.124 ?all
correct for 1&1 AND the cloudserver1 or do I need to point the spf to 212.227.174.66 which is the cloudserver.

I have set the DNS in the cloudserver up the following way:
dnsnckplesk.png

at the 1&1 domain control center's DNS settings I added what you told me to, with the ip of our mail server:

_dmarc.nck.de
TXT
v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]; ruf=mailto:[email protected]; fo=0; adkim=r; aspf=r; pct=100; rf=afrf; ri=86400; sp=none?

nck.de
TXT
spf1 mx a +a:cloudserver1.nck.de +a:mail.nck.de ip4:213.187.91.124 ?all

MX Record there is
in.hes.trendmicro.eu

A Record is the CloudServer's IP 212.227.174.66

Nameserver is 1&1 Nameserver
 
Hi Felix90,

again... pls. remember, that your goal should be:

Configure/setup your mail-server and the corresponding nameserver(s), to that all works as expected. ( what experiments you setup afterwards is totally up to you! )

... and I would like to help you with that... BUT ( !!! ), if you are going to change this setting and modify another setting and basically would like to have a personal support to setup your server in a unique way, with your unique settings and configurations, pls. consider to hire an experienced linux administrator to do the tasks for you, or consider to open a ticket over the => Plesk Support <=, where experienced linux administrators are going to help you with the unique tasks.
 
I have choosen trashnculture.de for testing now and so far I can receive E-Mails with the settings from you:

trashnculture.de.
TXT v=spf1 mx a +a:cloudserver1.nck.de +a:mail.trashnculture.de ip4:212.227.174.66 ?all

_dmarc.trashnculture.de.
TXT v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]; ruf=mailto:[email protected]; fo=0; adkim=r; aspf=r; pct=100; rf=afrf; ri=86400; sp=none

Seems like we are now only waiting for the sending to get activated when the DNS is synchronized. Lets push thumbs.


About the nck.de configuration: is it possible in general to use the plesk cloudserver to send out emails while the emails from the configuration set up in 1&1 DNS are pointing to our mail.nck.de exchange server for receiving and sending purposes?
I only want to send out emails from wordpress itself.
 
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