Why are e-mails entering the queue from #@[] to postmaster@<blah>.com

[jrehmert]

I've been looking for months and haven't been able to find any more information than the day I started looking. Frustrating!!!

In any case, almost every few minutes (and sometimes more frequently) a message shows up in the mail queue from #@[] to postmaster@... (see attached screenshot) or the following excerpts from the log:

Nov 1 21:54:54 linux qmail-remote-handlers[19456]: from=#@[]
Nov 1 21:54:54 linux qmail-remote-handlers[19456]: to=postmaster@...
Nov 1 21:54:55 linux qmail-remote-handlers[19458]: from=#@[]
Nov 1 21:54:55 linux qmail-remote-handlers[19458]: to=postmaster@...
Nov 1 21:54:55 linux qmail-remote-handlers[19459]: from=#@[]
Nov 1 21:54:55 linux qmail-remote-handlers[19459]: to=postmaster@...

Does anybody have any ideas what might be causing this???

Thanks!
- John

 

[anb_t]

Originally posted by jrehmert
I've been looking for months and haven't been able to find any more information than the day I started looking. Frustrating!!!

In any case, almost every few minutes (and sometimes more frequently) a message shows up in the mail queue from #@[] to postmaster@... (see attached screenshot) or the following excerpts from the log:

Nov 1 21:54:54 linux qmail-remote-handlers[19456]: from=#@[]
Nov 1 21:54:54 linux qmail-remote-handlers[19456]: to=postmaster@...
Nov 1 21:54:55 linux qmail-remote-handlers[19458]: from=#@[]
Nov 1 21:54:55 linux qmail-remote-handlers[19458]: to=postmaster@...
Nov 1 21:54:55 linux qmail-remote-handlers[19459]: from=#@[]
Nov 1 21:54:55 linux qmail-remote-handlers[19459]: to=postmaster@...

Does anybody have any ideas what might be causing this???

Thanks!
- John

I guess Plesk 8.2.x had a problem with qmail handlers: mail header was not composed correctly, thus the messages were not sent. You should upgrade Plesk to the latest build of the 8.2.x branch: 8.2.1.
In my opinion it is really a good idea to keep Plesk build up-to-date, sometimes we face problems that have been already fixed and new build is available for downloading and installation.

./anb

 

[jrehmert]

I'm using 8.2.1...

CPU GenuineIntel, Intel(R) Celeron(TM) CPU 1300MHz
Version psa v8.2.1_build82070919.15 os_RedHat el4
OS Linux 2.6.9-5.EL
Key number PLSK.********.****
System Uptime: 40 day(s) 14:48

Any other recommendations?

 

[Cass@]

My attempt

Apparently the # was supposed to send all double bounced mail to some sort of /dev/null, but that's not what happens.

I just implemented something here that I think will work:

1) echo "nospam" > /var/qmail/control/doublebounceto
2) echo "| cat > /dev/null" > /var/qmail/alias/.qmail-nospam
3) restart qmail

Let's see if that will do it.

Cass

 

[jrehmert]

Hey Cass,

Thanks! I've added that to the QMail configuration... I still see the #@[] senders pop up in the log every once in a while, but now I know they're going to /dev/null.

- John

 

[Cass@]

A little more fun with qmail

Hi mate,

I could not get that working until I created a domain within plesk with the name of my local machine. Then, on /var/qmail/mailnames/my-machine/nospam/.qmail I put:

| true
| cat > /dev/null

and it worked perfectly.

It looks like Plesk's Qmail does not recognise the host name as local, hence needing your little push by including a domain with its name.

Now I can see messages being binned here.

Also, if you want to test it to ensure it is working, do a cat > /tmp/test
and tail -f it after restarting qmail.

Cheers

Cass