Wow what a big mess, and it only looked more confusing because i used knsys.net which is not the real secondary server. Len I appreciate your reply very much. Right now I am downloading a tool that uses dig so that i can become more educated before i ask for further help from this list or the vendor. It is a dns problem , not an imail problem, that is clear. Next month I am finally getting my own full fledged dns..without a limiting inteface to deal with. However, right now I am dealing with "renting" a dns server and getting a web based interface that apparenetly ahs problems. It was shocking to me..if i read it right..that dns server i am using is version 4.97 when the newest version is abouve 6.0!!! Lets discard everything expect the fact that the mx record is resolving to : mailrecv.bigmailbox.com.e-pagedirect.com rather than mailrecv.bigmailbox.com I know and bigmailbox.com know they are not defined properly..my issue is to get the mx record to resolve to mailrecv.bigmailbox.com not mailrecv.bigmailbox.com.e-pagedirect.com knsys.net is not involved at all..it was one of my "disguised names" I will contact my vendor soon, but i want to be knowledgeable so that I can know exactly what the problem is, both for now and when i start fully managing my own dns next month. Hopefully this tool will give me "dig" output so i can see WHY it is resolving to the wrong place. Thanks again for your extensive analyis and good humour when faced with idiocy or at least..rampant ignorance. Best Regards Kim I compared From: Len Conrad Subject: Re: [IMail Forum] mx not working?? imail smtp resolution Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 11:55:46 -0800 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- >I am looking for some advice or education or troubleshooting steps... hmm, this is already complicate. >I have a domain that i have set a mx records for to direct the mail to some >other non-imail server rather than the default imail server. Perfectly ok, you can send mail wherever your want. >i have changed some of the info below to hide identities.. .... or so you think! :))) >However, when I send messages, the logs show that it attempts to attach to >the imail server on port 25... ok >When i look up the dns records..it looks proper... send me this super sensitive information privately and I'll check it out >I did have a cname smtp record pointing to knsys.net but removed it today. >could that be causing the problem? drop CNAME's, use A records everywhere, UNLESS you have VERY GOOD REASON. (and you probably don't). Most people screw up CNAME records. >Do mx records take precedence over cname?? I thought they did....but.... You don't want CNAMEs within 100 KM's of an MX record. >I don't understand..I thought putting a different destination in mx record >would cause all mail to get sent there... It will, where else would it go? if the MX host is not found, the mail will go to the domains's A record. >I am sending through imail server A. It is attaching to imail server B on a >different server I'm already lost. What's this "It is attaching" business? who's is "It"? The mail sender is attaching to A or B? Do you mean to say: "I am sending mail to server A that is then relaying the mail to Server B." ? >the server where there is a imail set up for the user >still resident (he moved from haivng his own mail to wanting all mail >forwared to mx destination about a week ago, i had left his imail set up so >he does not lose anything during propagation There's no such thing as "propagation". There are DNS queries and DNS answers, period. > - I thought as soon as the mx records kicked in, MX records don't kick in, they get queried for and returned by the authoritative DNS immediately. ie, they are immediately "kicked in" as soon as the zone file is read. The exception is when the old MX records have been cached in other DNS's, and then it will take TTL for them to expire (I guess we'd call that "kick out", technically ?? :)))) ). I doubt your TTL is "1 week", still no propation? >It should nor be resolving to server B at all...but sending mail to >bigmailbox So where does it go?? >Here is the mx record as i can view it through my dns interface...which does >not show me the raw records/ Always risky not to see the raw data. >This information is real...... no, it's not >e-pagedirect.com. MX 0 mailrecv.bigmailbox.com >e-pagedirect.com. MX 10 mailrecv.bigmailbox.com Here's the real stuff that the Real World is dealing with: # dig e-pagedirect.com mx ; <<>> DiG 8.1 <<>> e-pagedirect.com mx ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch ;; got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 6 ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2 ;; QUERY SECTION: ;; e-pagedirect.com, type = MX, class = IN ;; ANSWER SECTION: e-pagedirect.com. MX 0 mailrecv.bigmailbox.com.e-pagedirect.com. e-pagedirect.com. MX 10 mailrecv.bigmailbox.com.e-pagedirect.com. oh, is that screwed up or what?? It looks like you got errors in your e-pagedirect.com zone file, n'est-ce-pas? This won't help with mail delivery. Why don't you upgrade your DNS to something more recent? # dig @ns1.arriba.net txt chaos version.bind. ; <<>> DiG 8.1 <<>> @ns1.arriba.net txt chaos version.bind. ; (1 server found) ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch ;; got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 10 ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0 ;; QUERY SECTION: ;; version.bind, type = TXT, class = CHAOS ;; ANSWER SECTION: VERSION.BIND. 0S CHAOS TXT "4.9.7-REL" >However when i try to send mail here is what happens - note it is connecting >to knsys.net what? where does knsys.net come in and why? Is that server A or B? # dig knsys.net ; <<>> DiG 8.1 <<>> knsys.net ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch ;; got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 6 ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 0 ;; QUERY SECTION: ;; knsys.net, type = A, class = IN ;; ANSWER SECTION: knsys.net. 1D IN A 209.67.50.203 ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: knsys.net. 1D IN NS dns33.register.com. knsys.net. 1D IN NS dns34.register.com. # dig knsys.net mx ; <<>> DiG 8.1 <<>> knsys.net mx ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch ;; got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 6 ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 0 ;; QUERY SECTION: ;; knsys.net, type = MX, class = IN ;; ANSWER SECTION: knsys.net. 1D IN MX 10 mxmail.register.com. ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: knsys.net. 1D IN NS dns33.register.com. knsys.net. 1D IN NS dns34.register.com. why don't we see the A record for mxmail.register.com in the preceding query? whoa, look at this risible garbage: # dig mxmail.register.com a ; <<>> DiG 8.1 <<>> mxmail.register.com a ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch ;; got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 6 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2 ;; QUERY SECTION: ;; mxmail.register.com, type = A, class = IN ;; ANSWER SECTION: mxmail.register.com. 9m11s IN CNAME inbound.register-admin.com.criticalpath.net. inbound.register-admin.com.criticalpath.net. 59m53s IN A 209.228.32.104 ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: criticalpath.net. 4h35m4s IN NS NS1.CP.net. criticalpath.net. 4h35m4s IN NS NS3.CP.net. ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION: NS1.CP.net. 4h34m18s IN A 209.228.15.4 NS3.CP.net. 4h34m18s IN A 209.228.14.4 Look at that CNAME record!!! whoa, are these guys having fun or what?? Using a CNAME for an MX host (illegal) and then even screwing that up!!! I repeat: "Most people screw up CNAME records." >which is the default mail server on port 25 ...instead fo being >routed to mailrecv.bigmailbox.com That's not Imail, afaics: # telnet mailrecv.bigmailbox.com 25 Trying 209.132.220.133... Connected to mailrecv.bigmailbox.com. Escape character is '^]'. ehlo sv.meiway.com 220 mailrecv6.bigmailbox.com ESMTP Sendmail 8.10.0/8.10.0; Sat, 20 Jan 2001 11:06:00 -0800 250-mailrecv6.bigmailbox.com Hello sourcenat1.bigmailbox.com [209.132.220.250], pleased to meet you 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES 250-EXPN 250-VERB 250-8BITMIME 250-SIZE 250-DSN 250-ONEX 250-ETRN 250-XUSR 250 HELP quit 221 2.0.0 mailrecv6.bigmailbox.com closing connection Connection closed by foreign host. >Some changes here to hide identities.. You can try to hide, but we have ways .... :))) >20010120 132001 127.0.0.1 SMTPD (023101C0) [209.xxx.xx.xx] connect >209.181.118.142 port 2330 >20010120 132001 127.0.0.1 SMTPD (023101C0) [209.181.118.142] EHLO >arriba hey, what happened to the "xxx.xx.xx" ??? Get tired of typing?? :))) # dig -x 209.181.118.142 ; <<>> DiG 8.2 <<>> -x ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch ;; got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 4 ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 3, ADDITIONAL: 3 ;; QUERY SECTION: ;; 142.118.181.209.in-addr.arpa, type = ANY, class = IN ;; ANSWER SECTION: 142.118.181.209.in-addr.arpa. 1D IN PTR dialupF79.albq.uswest.net. >20010120 132002 127.0.0.1 SMTPD (023101C0) [209.181.118.142] MAIL >FROM: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >20010120 132002 127.0.0.1 SMTPD (023101C0) [209.181.118.142] RCPT TO: ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >20010120 132003 127.0.0.1 SMTPD (023101C0) [209.181.118.142] >C:\IMAIL\spool\Dd6d21c0.SMD 628 >20010120 132003 127.0.0.1 SMTP (394) processing >C:\IMAIL\spool\Qd6d21c0.SMD >20010120 132003 127.0.0.1 SMTP (394) Trying e-PageDirect.com (0) What is going on here? This is your Imail relaying but why is it trying e-PageDirect.com, shouldn't it be trying the MX host for e-PageDirect.com? in NT hosts: ip.ad.re.ss e-PageDirect.com The ip you want there is the ip of the MX host for e-PageDirect.com, not the A record. >20010120 132003 127.0.0.1 SMTP (394) Connect e-PageDirect.com >[208.199.xx.xxx:25] (2) what's with this xx.xxx stuff?? This is a really critical part for our "lesson". # dig e-PageDirect.com A ; <<>> DiG 8.2 <<>> e-PageDirect.com A ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch ;; got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 4 ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2 ;; QUERY SECTION: ;; e-PageDirect.com, type = A, class = IN ;; ANSWER SECTION: e-PageDirect.com. 4D IN A 208.199.34.223 does xx.xxx = 34.223 ??? :))) >20010120 132003 127.0.0.1 SMTP (394) 220 X1 NT-ESMTP Server knsys.net >(IMail 6.00 1204-1) You really should upgrade to "6.05a". >20010120 132003 127.0.0.1 SMTP (394) >EHLO arriba.net >20010120 132003 127.0.0.1 SMTP (394) 250-knsys.net says hello > >Any thoughts or specualtion would be appreciated. 1) Fix your BIND 4.9.7 for the MX records of e-pagedirect.com and check back with us. 2) Think real hard about the ip address you put in your NT hosts file. The ip is the ip of MX host for e-PageDirect.com mail, not of the A record of e-PageDirect.com. Len http://BIND8NT.MEIway.com : Binary for ISC BIND 8.2.3 T9B for NT4 & W2K http://IMGate.MEIway.com : Build free, hi-perf, anti-spam mail gateways Please visit http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html to be removed from this list. An Archive of this list is available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Please visit http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html to be removed from this list. An Archive of this list is available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/
