error in sending mails

[talha]

What does this mean and how do i correct it:

Rejected with: 554 5.7.1 <>: Sender address rejected: Access denied

thanks

[Code Crafters]

This error means that the receiving mail server didn't like your sender address. This is usually due to either the smtp sender address bing null <> (no sender) or if you are sending via an ISP or other limited mail server that won't allow you to send to / via it unless you are one of it's member's email addresses. Please contact the destination mail server administrator if possible for more detail on the reason and how to overcome it.

[talha]

OK - this does not sound too good because I am getting these message from recipients all over the world. I use the smtp server of my ISP which is open and does not require authentication .. which i dont like and would prefer to use the smtp provided by my hosting provider. But there are issues with it I discussed them a long time back but no solution could be found. Here is the issue again:

When i use my hosting providers smtp i use my talha@mydomain as the authentication username ... so if i use talha@mydomain (AMS user) the email goes fine but for anyother user xyz@mydomain the error is "reason=Rejected with: 550 SMTP Envelope Sender must be valid" - I have absolutely no idea why this happens ... because i have successfully sent mails using my hosting providers smtp using completly gibberish address e.g. adsfsaljkj2@gmail.com ... so i dont what does AMS do the smtp envelope sender that either AMS or my hosting provider rejects the message and it stays in the outmail folder.

Would definitely like to have the solution this time.

[Code Crafters]

This confirms it then. The error message seems to be simply from your ISP who is not allowing mail to be relayed via their mail server unless it comes from your single email address which they allow. Most ISPs don't want full mail systems relaying through them. Can you not just send using independent mode direct to each recipient without relaying via your ISP?

[talha]

I have been using AMS for almost a year now and have always used the same SMTP (of my ISP) without any problems till now .. i also checked with my ISP no new policy is in place and they are not blocking anything.

Secondly what about the problem of relaying through my hosting provider's smtp?

Independant mode? Never tried it can you please explain how that works and through which smtp/via which server will the mail be delivered? and it says look up mx records so whose mx records will it look up?

Thanks.

[talha]

Ok i enabled the independant mode and all stuck mails went out. But i still want to know how this mode works. I also clicked test dns so it tested the dns servers i have put in my lan settings they both failed then it tested two more dns servers which i have no idea where did get the IPs from .. i looked up the dns servers they are nameservers of a local ISP (not mine!) here .. so i want to know from where does AMS gets the list of dns(s) to test?

Thanks.

[Code Crafters]

You should open a command prompt (Run: cmd) from any computer connected directly to your router or modem and type:

ipconfig/all

This will list all the DNS servers provided by your ISP. Enter these seperated by semi-colons (;) into the DNS server settings in outgoing mails then use the Test DNS and Test Outgoing Route buttons again to see if it now works ok.

[talha]

ok i still have a few unanswered questions:

1. If i use autodetect dns hosts ..from where does AMS get the list of dns to test. Currently on autodetect it is detecting 4 dns servers; 2 are local and it is getting from the lan settings 2 are completely unknown i have not entered them and nor are they of my isp.. so from where is ams getting them?

2. How does independent mode work? Ok i will give it the dns of my isp (as per your mail) but what port does it use .. i always thought that only smtp can send mails ... so how do mails in independent mode go without an smtp?

3. why am i not able to use the smtp of my hosting provider?

[Code Crafters]

1) AMS gets the DNS servers from the socket layer of windows which has some lookup functions for your DNS servers. However, your router / modem usually is given specific DNS servers from your ISP and the settings of the router / modem and also the ipconfig/all command will show these more accurately than AMSs auto-detect mode.

2) Relay mode sends via a particular mail server which then will send in a sort of independent mode most likely. Independent mode looks up the MX records of the recipients domain which are used to show where receiving mail servers are (by IP) for a particular domain. If these aren't available outgoing mail can try the domain itself and some other things depending on the options you allow. Outgoing Mails is basically an outgoing SMTP so it does use the SMTP protocol and connects to other SMTPs. In AMS1 these were combine as just an SMTP service (both incoming and outgoing) but in AMS2 several filter and delivery systems exist in between.

3) You can relay via your hosting provider (relay mode) or use their DNS servers if they allow you to.

[talha]

1& 2. Ok

3. whenever i use my hosting providers smtp server in relay mode - i get the same error in all outgoing mails: "Rejected with: 550 SMTP Envelope Sender must be valid" - so I have never been able to use my hosting providers smtp successfully on AMS - putside ams the same smtp works like a charm even for gibberrish and made up email addresses. so any insight to solve this would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Code Crafters]

Sounds like your ISP is doing a fairly common thing of only allowing you to send from your email address at your ISP domain that they give you and not allowing you to send from anything else. So you'll have to stick to independent mode and tweak til things work ok.

[talha]

No my ISP is not blocking other smtps .. i know because two users dont use AMS but connect directly to my hosting provider while connected via the same network/internet that AMS connects to. but just now i discovered the problem the problem is that ini file in the outmail folder the from field becomes empty and hence i get the error smtp sender must be valid. Now you have to find out why does this happen?

Normal syntax of ini file:
queueentrytime=20100303114556
lastsendattempttime=20100303134700
sendattemptcount=14
warningsent=1
from=name@mydomain
originalfromip=192.168.x.x

and this is what happens to the ini file on which i get errors:
queueentrytime=20100303114556
lastsendattempttime=20100303134700
sendattemptcount=14
warningsent=1
from=
originalfromip=192.168.x.x

now to test this i put in the email address of the sender manually after "from=" line .. and yes the email was sent successfully.

[Code Crafters]

Whatever client is generating the mail isnt correctly inserting the SMTP evelope sender (different to the header lines in the actual email). If you are using a script to send mails then it will need to be modified. If you are using a mailing list then you can add a content filter rule to add the SMTP sender when the mail is going to the mailing list.. Otherwise let me know what creates the mail (mail client via SMTP, WebMail, script etc.) and I'll try to help you resolve the issue.

[talha]

ok i have checked thoroughly and this is what i found up till now three kinds of emails are showing this error:

1. read receipt sent by outlook (smtp in outlook is local AMS address) - whenever one of my users click yes on sending a read receipt to the sender (outside) the ini file of that email has empty from line - the corresponding message file in the outmail folder has the correct and intact from line.

2. warning email generated by AMS itself - this email was sent to the local sender telling them about failure. By policy an outside recipient is added to all incoming emails execpt pop3 for backup. So this forward has the from line empty - the corresponding message file in the outmail folder has the correct and intact from line. (example postmaster@mydomain.com sent warning to user@mydomain.com, now as per policy recipient user@gmail.com is added to all incoming emails except pop3 of user@mydomain.com. In the outmail the mail to user@gmail.com from postmaster@mydomain.com is stuck with from line empty in the ini file)

3. Mailing list messages generated by AMS (for non local recipients)

[Code Crafters]

1) Read receipts sent by outlook are under outlook's control. Outlook sets the SMTP sender (or not) and AMS doesn't control this since it didn't generate the responses. This backs up again the normality of not setting a sender for notifications.

2) It's very common and normal for notification messages generated by a mail system to have no SMTP Sender set. This is mainly to avoid mail loops as 2 mail servers both sending each other delivery failure notices over and over would loop. Setting no return address (since there is no email address account to receive the response anyway) solves this and is intended only as a notification to the sending account.

3) Mailing lists have no account for a return address to return to. However, you can set the return address within the mail headers and if you want to add an SMTP sender you can do this but only with content filtering in the current version. In a future update we plan to add bounce-back addresses for each mailing list so that an SMTP sender is set to a special automated bounce-back email address which can then be used to remove addresses from the mailing list if delivery fails several times or similar other things.