Cannot connect to SMTP server (Outgoing Mail)

[acidbox]

I am having trouble connecting to the outgoing mail server (SMTP) on my plesk 7.5.4 server. In outlook I get this:

Outlook is unable to connect to your outgoing (SMTP) e-mail server.

Then if I try to telnet to the server, I get this:

421 Cannot connect to SMTP server xx.xx.xx.xx (xx.xx.xx.xx:25), connect error 10060

I Opened port 587 in my firewall to try to send mail through an alternate port SMTP will not recognize it. When I try to telnet, I get the following:

Connecting To mail.mydomain.com...Could not open connection to the host, on port 587: Connect failed

Also, there are no errors or connection failures in /usr/local/psa/var/log/maillog

Does anyone know why this is happening and how to fix it?

[jamesyeeoc]

I Opened port 587 in my firewall to try to send mail through an alternate port SMTP will not recognize it.

Other than just opening the port, what configurations did you do to tell SMTP to listen/accept on that port?

Was the Outlook error code one of the following:
• 0x800ccc15
• 0x80042108
• 0x800ccc0e
• 0x8004210b
• 0x800CCC0B
• 0x800CCC79
• 0x800ccc67
• 0x80040900
(all these indicate no response from mail server)

Try telnet'ing to your server on port 25 and 587 to see if you get any response. Post results here.

From a SSH root login, see if Qmail and/or IMAP are running in memory:

ps -ax |grep 'qmail'

ps -ax |grep 'imap'

[acidbox]

Thanks for the reply. If you look at my first post, you will see the results of the telnet attempt. The error is quoted above.

The outlook code was 0x80042109.

i did a ps on the qmail:

28574 ? S 0:00 /usr/bin/spamd --username=popuser --daemonize --helper-home-dir=/var/qmail --max-children 20 --create-prefs --nouser-config --virtual-config-dir=/var/qmail/mailnames/%d/%l --pidfile=/var/run/spamd/spamd_full.pid --socketpath=/tmp/spamd_full.sock
28576 ? S 0:00 /usr/bin/spamd --username=popuser --daemonize --helper-home-dir=/var/qmail --max-children 20 --create-prefs --nouser-config --virtual-config-dir=/var/qmail/mailnames/%d/%l --pidfile=/var/run/spamd/spamd_light.pid --socketpath=/tmp/spamd_light.sock --siteconfigpath=/dev/null
5076 ? S 0:00 qmail-send
5077 ? S 0:00 splogger qmail
5078 ? S 0:00 qmail-lspawn ./Maildir/
5080 ? S 0:00 qmail-rspawn
5081 ? S 0:00 qmail-clean
14775 pts/1 S 0:00 grep qmail

and a ps on the imap:

28834 ? S 0:00 /usr/lib/courier-imap/couriertcpd -address=0 -stderrlogger=/usr/sbin/courierlogger -stderrloggername=imapd -maxprocs=40 -maxperip=4 -pid=/var/run/imapd.pid -nodnslookup -noidentlookup 143 /usr/sbin/imaplogin /usr/lib/courier-imap/authlib/authpsa /usr/bin/imapd Maildir
28836 ? S 0:00 /usr/sbin/courierlogger imapd
28846 ? S 0:00 /usr/lib/courier-imap/couriertcpd -address=0 -stderrlogger=/usr/sbin/courierlogger -stderrloggername=imapd-ssl -maxprocs=40 -maxperip=4 -pid=/var/run/imapd-ssl.pid -nodnslookup -noidentlookup 993 /usr/bin/couriertls -server -tcpd /usr/sbin/imaplogin /usr/lib/courier-imap/authlib/authpsa /usr/
28848 ? S 0:00 /usr/sbin/courierlogger imapd-ssl
28856 ? S 0:00 /usr/lib/courier-imap/couriertcpd -address=0 -stderrlogger=/usr/sbin/courierlogger -stderrloggername=pop3d -maxprocs=40 -maxperip=4 -pid=/var/run/pop3d.pid -nodnslookup -noidentlookup 110 /usr/sbin/pop3login /usr/lib/courier-imap/authlib/authpsa /usr/bin/pop3d Maildir
28867 ? S 0:00 /usr/lib/courier-imap/couriertcpd -address=0 -stderrlogger=/usr/sbin/courierlogger -stderrloggername=pop3d-ssl -maxprocs=40 -maxperip=4 -pid=/var/run/pop3d-ssl.pid -nodnslookup -noidentlookup 995 /usr/bin/couriertls -server -tcpd /usr/sbin/pop3login /usr/lib/courier-imap/authlib/authpsa /usr/
14779 pts/1 S 0:00 grep imap

[jamesyeeoc]

Sorry, brain malfunction, thought that was still part of the outlook error.

Ok, looks like the services are all running in memory.

Have you tried from any other ISP? If you PM me with the IP / domain name I can try from my side.

Some ISP's do not only blocking or 'filtering' of port 25, but sometimes also use a transparent proxy mechanism for reducing spam transmission. (just a possibility)

Another obscure reference I found (probably not applicable, but thought I'd mention it) concerns the use of LinkSys routers

http://www1.linksys.com/support/support.asp?spid=87

and you didn't reply to:
Other than just opening the port, what configurations did you do to tell SMTP to listen/accept on that port? (587)

[acidbox]

Originally posted by jamesyeeoc
Sorry, brain malfunction, thought that was still part of the outlook error.

Ok, looks like the services are all running in memory.

Have you tried from any other ISP? If you PM me with the IP / domain name I can try from my side.

Some ISP's do not only blocking or 'filtering' of port 25, but sometimes also use a transparent proxy mechanism for reducing spam transmission. (just a possibility)

Another obscure reference I found (probably not applicable, but thought I'd mention it) concerns the use of LinkSys routers

http://www1.linksys.com/support/support.asp?spid=87

and you didn't reply to:
Other than just opening the port, what configurations did you do to tell SMTP to listen/accept on that port? (587)

I don't have a LinkSys, however I do have BellSouth and I think they do block port 25. The only thing I did to allow incoming mail from port 587 was open the port, I am not sure how to tell plesk to look for SMTP on that port. That may be a good place to start. Know how to do that?

I'll also send you a PM. Thanks. (Trying to make the migration from Ensim and it's not going well lol)

[acidbox]

I found your article on the issue here: http://forum.sw-soft.com/showthread....ange+smtp+port

It seems to work ok. I'll keep you posted if I have any issues with it. Now on to bigger and better issues

Thanks again!

[jamesyeeoc]

Ok, I have verified that I can telnet to both your port 25 and 587, however you are suffering from the SMTP delay issue.

You need to add the -Rt0 option in your smtp_psa and smtp_additional files.

Run /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd stop

Edit the file /etc/xinetd.d/smtp_psa

server_args = -Rt0 /var/qmail/bin/relaylock /var/qmail/bin/qmail-smtpd /var/qmail/bin/smtp_auth /var/qmail/bin/true /var/qmail/bin/cmd5checkpw /var/qmail/bin/true

Check that you have -Rt0 added to the server_args

Then run /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd restart

[acidbox]

Looks like that worked great. Thanks again for all your help.

[LászlóL]

Hy guys.

I'm totaly new in lynux but i get a preconfigured email server. My problem is that i can't send emails, but i can get them. My outlook client gives me the following error message:
An unknown error has occurred. Account: 'ns2.itteam.ro', Server: 'ns2.itteam.ro', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '421 Cannot connect to SMTP server 86.125.35.24 (86.125.35.24:25), connect error 10060', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 421, Error Number: 0x800CCC67

Can anybody help me?

Thanks a lot

[Rodolfo Paparas]

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