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spigotdesign

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qmail unable to send email to certain domains

I'm having an issue where qmail is unable to send to certain domains, leaving them in the queue for about a week before returning the messages with this mailer-daemon error:

<example@example.com>:
Connected to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx but connection died. (#4.4.2)
I'm not going to try again; this message has been in the queue too long.

95% of my messages send out just fine, right now it's only about 5 domains that I cannot send to, but the list seems to be slowly growing.

Here's my server info:
" Media Temple (dv) server
" Plesk server software
" Linux
" I use a shared IP with about 25 of my clients

After doing a lot of research on this, the only answer that I've come across is that my domain (or IP) is on a blacklist. I've used quite a few tools to find out if this is the case, but thus far I'm not on any lists...

I've resorted to using my gmail account to send mail to these certain domains, but unless I check the mail queue every time I send a message (not practical) it takes a week for the me know if someone received the message...

Thanks in advance,
Bryan
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joeyfm

This may or may not help, but if you get your internet service providor to issue a new dedicated ip address to the line that the server is using.
hope this helps.
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@joeyfm

I'm wondering if you're right, and that's my only recourse. I'll give it a try and report back.

Bryan
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Daniel McAllister
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Well, switching IP addresses didn't solve the issue, as itsoho pointed out.

I've been on the phone with a couple of the hosts for accounts I'm unable to send to, as well as my own host and I'm stuck in the middle of a he-says-she-says scenario.

I've found a workaround for now, which is to use my ISP's SMTP server to send mail to these recipients.
Not ideal, but at least I know they're getting there.

Bryan
The receiving sites are unable to say why their mail host refused (or dropped) your connection?

Sounds like front-line tech support -- not particularly helpful...

Maybe try sending a note to postmaster@domain.com? (Believe it or not, a message to postmaster@yahoo.com got me a REAL answer from a REAL tech!)

Good luck! (Did you try all the tests at mxtoolbox?)

Dan
IT4SOHO
Dan

I did try all the tools at mxtoolbox, and I was pleased to see that my domain/IP are clean. I'm really glad this isn't a blacklist issue.

The strangest thing is that it's so random (and rare, thankfully), so I'm tending to believe my hosting company over the others, and that the connection is being blocked for some reason.

Bryan