[ale] Problem with Earthlink's mail server

Christopher Fowler cfowler at outpostsentinel.com
Thu Mar 24 12:35:53 EST 2005


I totally agree.

I have this version of sendmail: Sendmail 8.11.6/8.11.6

I wonder if it does not address this issue?  


On Thu, 2005-03-24 at 11:38, Joe Steele wrote:
> On Wed, 23 Mar 2005, Christopher Fowler wrote:
> 
> > MY mail relay is having a serious problem with Earthlink's mail server. 
> > In the old days a remote mail server would accept a file larger than
> > allowed and then send a bounceback to the sender.  
> 
> This doesn't accurately describe how it is supposed to work.  If the
> message is too large, the remote server does not accept it, nor does the
> remote server send a bounceback. 
> 
> What should should happen is that the remote server rejects/discards the
> message and returns a permanent failure (552) reply code.  It is then the
> job of your server to generate a bounceback. 
> 
> > Earthlink does not do
> > that.  It terminates the connection.  This causes sendmail to think
> > there is a problem and then reties constantly.  
> 
> I doubt that Earthlink is intentionally dropping the connection as a
> method for signaling that the message is too large.  This would make no
> sense because, as you say, SMTP servers such as yours would repeatedly
> hammer Earthlink's servers with retry attempts. 
> 
> Telneting to one of Earthlink's SMTP servers yields this
> exchange:
> 
> | $ telnet mx1.earthlink.net 25
> | Trying 207.217.125.16...
> | Connected to mx1.earthlink.net.
> | Escape character is '^]'.
> | 220 mx-a065a05.pas.sa.earthlink.net EL_3_9_13_21 / ESMTP EarthLink SMTP
> | Server Thu, 24 Mar 2005 06:52:58 -0800 (PST)
> | ehlo test.com
> | 250-mx-a065a05.pas.sa.earthlink.net Hello test.com [64.207.9.32], pleased to
> | meet you
> | 250-8BITMIME
> | 250-SIZE 10485760
> | 250 HELP
> | 
> 
> As shown, Earthlink imposes a size limit of 10485760 bytes.  Your SMTP
> server should recognize this and immediately bounce any message that exceeds
> their limit without attempting to transmit it.  But any messages under this
> limit should go through fine.
> 
> Bottom line is, a dropped connection should not imply that the message
> size has exceeded administrative limits imposed by Earthlink.  I would
> investigate other possibilities.  Do your mail logs contain any useful
> info?  Perhaps tracing the TCP connection would shed some light on the
> problem.
> 
> > Do you know what this
> > does to the upload on a DSL connection.  My relay is on a RH 7.2 box and
> > I'm finding myself setting the limit at the server no to 3M's just so
> > this does not eat up my bandwidth.  Is there another alternative?
> >
> 
> A possible short-term fix:  Relay all Earthlink-bound mail through your
> ISP's servers, rather than through Earthlink's servers.  Connection failures
> then become your ISP's problem, rather than yours.
> 
> --Joe
> 
> 
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