Other than not being able to receive external mail sent by my Mercury installation, it does seem to be set up correctly... however, this one problem is a deal-killer.
I do not know of any reason that I should be classified as spam, unless it is something in the set-up or DNS records. (more below)
Yes, I have a static public IP
If I understand correctly, REVERSE DNS just might be the problem. I "DO" have an MX record set up via my DNS registrar so that a DNS lookup (nslookup on Win) returns my public IP, however, if I do a DNS lookup on the IP, (is that REVERSE DNS?) it returns my static IP domain name as assigned by my ISP. I am ignorant of any method by which I might resolve this issue -- my ISP and my DNS (domain) registrar are not the same, and if my public IP is set up to resolve (only?) to my mail-server, what happens to my HTTP, FTP sites and my other computer connections? Additionally, I am NOT getting SMTP rejects, the mail is -- according to the session logs -- being accepted and queued for delivery, it is just NEVER delivered.
Using MercC would defeat the purpose, for me, of setting up Mercury in the first place. I do not want to have to depend on my ISP to forward mail, nor upon the hosting company which hosts any of my several domains. With my hosting package, I have access to 2500+ email address (and an almost unlimited number of email forwards) on any of the several domain-names I own. However, I want to run my own complete email server and can see no reason that I should not be able to do so... As far as I'm aware, anything that can be set-up for the ISP, or my Hosting provider, should also be available to be set-up for my domain(s) also -- is that not correct?
I have noticed something else which may be germane to this discussion... I am getting "reject" emails from my AVG E-mail scanner program (running, I believe, as a proxy to MercE) which say:
This is the AVG E-mail Scanner program.
I'm sorry to have to inform you that the message returned
below could not be delivered to one or more destinations.
The e-mail server has responded with the following error:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Cannot open SMTP connection to '74.208.5.3'
Receive: : The operation completed successfully. (0)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Your e-mail message is being returned to you in the next part of this
message. Try to send the message again.
Should you need assistance, please contact your administrator or your
Internet service provider.
You can also verify e-mail client's settings, for instance:
- whether your SMTP authentication has been configured <-- Not Applicable, using end-to-end SMTP, not MecrcC relay, so no 'authentication' should be needed.
- whether you have provided correct SMTP server name <-- SMTP servers are being determined by DNS for email address domain names.
- whether the sender's address responds to the used SMTP server domain <-- according to 'session logs' they ARE responding; accepting & queueing mail for delivery.
Is there the possibility that the SMTP servers to which I'm connecting are doing some type of post-acceptance, queueing policy checking which might include doing a reverse DNS lookup and, when the domains do not match, simply discarding the email, or rejecting it after the fact... or am I missing something that has to do with the AVG anti-virus proxy?
Thanks for your input and assistance, regardless of the outcome, they are much appreciated.
Dennis
<P>Other than not being able to receive external mail sent by my Mercury installation, it does seem to be set up correctly... however, this one problem is a deal-killer.</P>
<P>&nbsp;I do not know of any reason that I should be classified as spam, unless it is something in the set-up or DNS records. (more below)</P>
<P>Yes, I have a static public IP</P>
<P>If I understand correctly, REVERSE DNS just might be the problem.&nbsp; I "DO" have an MX record set up via my DNS registrar so that a DNS lookup (nslookup on Win) returns my public IP, however, if I do a DNS lookup on the IP, (is that REVERSE DNS?) &nbsp;it returns my static IP domain name as assigned by my ISP.&nbsp; I am ignorant of any method by which I might resolve this issue -- my ISP and my DNS (domain) registrar are not the same, and if my public IP is set up to resolve (only?) to my mail-server, what happens to my HTTP, FTP sites and my other computer connections?&nbsp; Additionally, I am NOT getting SMTP rejects, the mail is -- according to the session logs -- being accepted and queued for delivery, it is just NEVER delivered.</P>
<P>Using MercC would defeat the purpose, for me, of setting up Mercury in the first place.&nbsp; I do not want to have to depend on my ISP to forward mail, nor upon the hosting company which hosts any of my several domains.&nbsp; With my hosting package, I have access to 2500+ email address (and an almost unlimited number of email forwards) on any of the several domain-names I own.&nbsp; However, I want to run my own complete email server and can see no reason that I should not be able to do so... As far as I'm aware, anything that can be set-up for the ISP, or my Hosting provider, should also be available to be set-up for my domain(s) also -- is that not correct?</P>
<P>I have noticed something else which may be germane to this discussion... I am getting "reject" emails from my AVG E-mail scanner program (running, I believe, as a proxy to MercE) which say:</P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT size=2>
<P align=left>This is the AVG E-mail Scanner program.
I'm sorry to have to inform you that the message returned
below could not be delivered to one or more destinations.</P>
<P align=left>The e-mail server has responded with the following error:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Cannot open SMTP connection to '74.208.5.3'
Receive: : The operation completed successfully. (0)
-------------------------------------------------------------------</P>
<P align=left mce_keep="true">&nbsp;</P>
<P align=left>Your e-mail message is being returned to you in the next part of this
message. Try to send the message again.</P>
<P align=left mce_keep="true">&nbsp;</P>
<P align=left>Should you need assistance, please contact your administrator or your
Internet service provider.</P>
<P align=left mce_keep="true">&nbsp;</P>
<P align=left>You can also verify e-mail client's settings, for instance:
- whether your SMTP authentication has been configured&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &lt;-- Not Applicable, using end-to-end SMTP, not MecrcC relay, so no 'authentication' should be needed.
- whether you have provided correct SMTP server name&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &lt;-- SMTP servers are being determined by DNS for email address domain names.
- whether the sender's address responds to the used SMTP server domain&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &lt;-- according to 'session logs' they ARE responding; accepting &amp; queueing mail for delivery.</P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P align=left>Is there the possibility that the SMTP servers to which I'm connecting are doing some type of post-acceptance, queueing policy checking which might include doing a reverse DNS lookup and, when the domains do not match, simply discarding the email, or rejecting it after the fact... or am I missing something that has to do with the AVG anti-virus proxy?</P></FONT>
<P>Thanks for your input and assistance, regardless of the outcome, they are much appreciated.</P>
<P>Dennis</P>
<P mce_keep="true">&nbsp;</P>