A MX lookup for your domain gives this result:

- Name=imagineandthink.zapto.org
    Type=MX, Class=1, TTL=60 (1 Minute), RDLENGTH=4
    Preference=10, Mail Exchange=imagineandthink.zapto.org
Additional Records Section:
- Name=imagineandthink.zapto.org
    Type=A, Class=1, TTL=60 (1 Minute), RDLENGTH=4
    IP Address=121.215.144.174

However, I'm not able to connect to 121.215.144.174 (no ping response, no reply on port 25, no reply on port 110). In other words, the MX record is formally correct, but there is no server to be found at that IP address.

So: Make sure the MX IP is right, make sure the required ports aren't blocked by a firewall, make sure SMTP and POP3 ports are forwarded to the local server IP from your Internet router/modem. Furthermore, to connect locally to the server on port 110 use the LAN IP address, not the public IP.

This is the networking part. Besides that there might be things to check in Mercury configuration, but we can come back to that when the network issues are resolved.

Needless to say it's much easier to set things up with a fixed IP if that option is available.

/Rolf 

I am planning on running my own email server.

Firstly, my ISP is blocking port 25 outbound traffic so I cannot send emails to the outside anyway. I am planning to possibly upgrade to a business account.

However I should be able to receive emails from my gmail account.

I wanted to test this so I sent an email to daemonturk@mydomain, using pegagsus as a client to receive it. I got a POP3 error. Here is the log:

--- Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:30:18 ---

Connect to 'imagineandthink.zapto.org' port 110, timeout 15.

17:30:19.320 15: Peer connect failure (the host has refused the connection).

No matter what I try, I still get this error (actually, two of these error/logs appear per email sent).

I am using a free domain service (no-ip) and I'm also not sure about MX records. The norm seems to be to use mail.domainname, but how can I use that if it doesn't exist?

I would appreciate it if you could tell me what to type in the MX record section of my domain settings, and maybe tell me a bit about them.

My domain name (imagineandthink.zapto.org) is linked to my external IP, which I have a feeling is dynamic. However it rarely changes, it only changes when I reboot the modem.

If you need more info then just ask, but my MercuryP settings are probably ok. I still think the root of this problem is still Mercury/domain/network problems.

I am unclear about what you are trying to accomplish but I know you can retrieve mail from a gmail account via POP3.  I am using

MercuryD to POP mail from a gmail account with a POP3 mailbox definition configured as follows: 

POP3 Host:  pop.gmail.com

Username:  username@gmail.com

Password:  gmail account password

Local User:  localuser@localdomain.com

Default user: blank

Connection and port type:  Port 995   SSL encryption using direct connection

You should be able to do this with Pegasus Mail as well.

As for sending mail, you can send via gmail's smtp server (at least I could a few months ago when I last used it).  The server I used was smtp.gmail.com on port 587.  My gmail account credentials worked for authentication.  One drawback to this is the From address your recipients see will always be your gmail address.  This may not be an issue for you.  I also don't know whether there are regional differences regarding the use of gmail's smtp servers.

If you are the only user and have Pegasus Mail as a client then do this from within Pegasus Mail rather than using Mercury, at least until you have a business account and access to their smtp server.

I am trying to run my own mail server. So I want to send an email from the outside (gmail) to my username@mydomain. I am trying to test the receiving component of my mail server before unblocking port 25.