qmail not binding to the proper IP, messing with mail delivery

[mikesg]

qmail is binding to the first IP on the server rather than the IP/MX set up in DNS. This is causing mail delivery to AOL (among others) to fail. It just sits in the queue. While I would call not allowing communication with AOL users a feature, my customers don't see it my way. So I need to know how to fix this. I have found other people in the forum with this same question and no answer. How do I bind qmail to the correct IP?

 

[jamesyeeoc]

Without recompiling Qmail to add a patch, the quick and easy fix would be to change the DNS MX records to point to the server's primary IP. This is how Qmail by default (ie. unpatched) normally works, it uses the primary IP of the server.

 

[mikesg]

How can I easily do this with several domains already set up and running? Can I just edit the config for the address assignment and reboot? Doing this through the admin panel seems suicidal. It would probably fix the problem to have the IP for the mail server assigned with the rest as aliases. It would be easier to edit the text file and reboot, but I am not sure if that would work. Does plesk store any of this information in a database that would cause conflicts with this idea?

 

[crnunez]

qmail is binding to the first IP on the server rather than the IP/MX set up in DNS. This is causing mail delivery to AOL (among others) to fail. It just sits in the queue. While I would call not allowing communication with AOL users a feature, my customers don't see it my way. So I need to know how to fix this. I have found other people in the forum with this same question and no answer. How do I bind qmail to the correct IP?

I have the same problem.


http://forum.swsoft.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34630

 

[jamesyeeoc]

I have many client's who are able to send/receive with AOL mail servers. As a matter of fact, I communicate with AOL users all the time (daily) from my own server accounts, with Qmail bound to the primary IP.

 

[crnunez]

but, do you have any steps for patch qmail?

How Can I change the Outbound IP for some domains?
Example:

IP Server: 1.2.3.4

5 domains outbound for: 1.2.3.4

4 domains in the same server should outbound for: 4.5.6.7 ???

The ideal scenario is each domain over himself IP, Outbound through this IP. domain.com = 24.10.1.10 (Name Base IP) then all domain under this IP should outbound from 24.10.1.10 and not from primary IP.

Thanks!

 

[mikesg]

Originally posted by jamesyeeoc
I have many client's who are able to send/receive with AOL mail servers. As a matter of fact, I communicate with AOL users all the time (daily) from my own server accounts, with Qmail bound to the primary IP.

This is exactly the problem. What's the point of your post?

 

[jamesyeeoc]

The point of my post was in reference to what you had quoted, the part about sending to AOL failing due to Qmail binding to the primary IP instead of to the domain's DNS MX IP. The point being that Qmail binding to the primary server IP is 'normal' for Qmail, and that in itself is not a reason for AOL delivery to fail.

 

[jamesyeeoc]

Originally posted by crnunez
but, do you have any steps for patch qmail?

How Can I change the Outbound IP for some domains?
Example:

IP Server: 1.2.3.4

5 domains outbound for: 1.2.3.4

4 domains in the same server should outbound for: 4.5.6.7 ???

The ideal scenario is each domain over himself IP, Outbound through this IP. domain.com = 24.10.1.10 (Name Base IP) then all domain under this IP should outbound from 24.10.1.10 and not from primary IP.

Thanks!

Please use the search function, there is at least one other post fairly recent where someone posted his instructions for downloading the Qmail sources and patching.

 

[mikesg]

Originally posted by jamesyeeoc
The point of my post was in reference to what you had quoted, the part about sending to AOL failing due to Qmail binding to the primary IP instead of to the domain's DNS MX IP. The point being that Qmail binding to the primary server IP is 'normal' for Qmail, and that in itself is not a reason for AOL delivery to fail.

I have searched this forum and found many other people with this problem. In every case the proposed solution was proper reverse DNS setup. I have now done that. dnsreport.com tells me my mail server is sending mail out on my web server's IP. What am I suppose to think the problem is given that information?

Did you do anything to make your qmail work? Or did it just work out-of-the-box like that?

 

[jamesyeeoc]

I have some servers which are still 'out of the box' with nothing special done to them. Some others, I did do a couple of things to 'clean up' the DNSReport (some clients get picky about the 'warnings'). Those changes should have no effect on sending to AOL/Hotmail/etc. Otherwise, the server's which I have not done this to (and those hosted domains) would not be able to send/receive to AOL...

Changes to hosted domain(s) DNS in Plesk CP
(to cleanup DNSReport MX warnings):
Change 1:
- Added PTR record:

[b]mail.domain.com. PTR  primary.server.ip.address / 24[/b]

Change 2:
- Changed A record for mail.domain.com. from individual IP to server's primary ip

[b]mail.domain.com. A  primary.server.ip.address[/b]

Change 3: (should be done nowadays in any case):
- Add SPF DNS 'TXT' record to all hosted domains

You are correct about the reverse DNS pointers needing to be setup properly. In my book, that is a 'given' and something a hosting server admin should do from the start. Many who are renting/leasing from another company may not have direct control over their www.xxx.yyy.zzz.in-addr.arpa zone , but then they should have it sorted out by their DC or hosting company. For those other readers who do not know, this is NOT the same as putting PTR records in the Plesk CP. (I only mention this since I have helped many other admins who thought it was the same)

Now, the only other thing I have come across was when AOL began using a blacklist/blocklist which caused some initial problems due to some IP addresses 'former' owners having been on AOL's list. IIRC, they maintain their own list, not one of the public ones like spamhaus. I finally got those taken care of, well over a year ago.

Here is one older thread which discusses these AOL issues: (there are others)
http://forum.swsoft.com/showthread.php?threadid=29072&highlight=aol+AND+block
Hope this helps.

 

[crnunez]

But, isn't possible put PTR through Plesk.

Example:

70.50.15.123 / 24 PTR ondedomain.net.
70.50.15.123 / 24 PTR mail.ondedomain.net.
ondedomain.net. NS ns.namersever.com.
ondedomain.net. NS ns2.nameserver.com.
ondedomain.net. A 70.50.15.101
ondedomain.net. MX (10) mail.ondedomain.net.
ondedomain.net. TXT v=spf1 a mx ptr ~all
ftp.ondedomain.net. CNAME ondedomain.net.
mail.ondedomain.net. A 70.50.15.101
webmail.ondedomain.net. A 70.50.15.101
www.ondedomain.net. CNAME ondedomain.net.

secondary.server.ip.address = 70.50.15.101 (only example)
IP's ondedomain.net = 70.50.15.101 Name Based

Plesk give only the possibilities of put PTR/range.

Any comments? Thanks!

 

[jamesyeeoc]

Sorry, I forgot to put the /24, I'll correct my earlier post now.

 

[mikesg]

I'm curious as to one of my questions that has not been addressed. Would it be possible for me to simply change the way I declare IP's in the OS? I use FreeBSD and in the rc.conf file the interface is assigned it's address on one line and each IP alias follows with it's own line. Can I just declare the IP for the mail server as the assigned (primary) IP and set the other 2 as aliases? Or would this have unintended consequences in Plesk?

 

[mikesg]

Well, I have finally made the changes to the IP's on my server os the mail IP is first and the rest are the aliases. Seems there is no change. I don't know what else to do. *sigh*

 

[mikesg]

I asked for advice on a local Linux user group list I am on and someone mentioned a pretty simple solution that I should have thought of myself. This won't work for everyone, but it should be acceptable for those using a broadband connection. I set qmail to forward all outbound email to my ISP's SMTP server. You can do this by creating the file smtproutes in the ../qmail/control/ folder. In it put the line:

:smtp.mailserver.com

and restart qmail. Substitute the name of your ISP's server obviously. Your customers will still be able to use their own mail servers but now won't have any trouble. For those hosting their server at a data center, they most likely have SMTP servers you could forward to as well.

 

[geonas]

I just had the same problem and the easy fix was to email my ISP (USlec in my case) and asked them to place a reverse route xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx to resolve to mail.xxx.com
then i placed a PTR record in the xxx.com domain and waited about 24 hrs and all is well.

 

[dw604]

HERE is how to patch qmail:

http://forum.swsoft.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=155986