----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Paxton" <jon-exim@???>
To: <exim-users@???>
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2000 4:08 PM
Subject: [Exim] "You must say full HELO first" SMTP error
>
> A while ago I reported some problems to this list I was having when
> sending mail to a particular remote SMTP host that one of our customers
> uses frequently. Phil asked me to run a few test messages with debugging,
> which I did, unforunately the problem seems to be intermittent and I
> personally have never been able to replicate it myself, and messages don't
> remain in the queue long enough for me to be ablet o force certain ones
> down with debugging.
>
> The error e-mail being sent back from exim at our end to the original
> sender is:
>
> David.Tellis@???:
> SMTP error from remote mailer after MAIL
> FROM:<marion.daltrey@???>:
> host mail.letec.co.uk [194.129.189.164]:
> 503 You must say full HELO first 212.13.193.20
>
> It isn't just this remote recipient which is causing the problem
> either... As far as I can tell, the problem is something to do with the
> fact that the server suggests it is ESMTP capable (in the initial
> smtp response when you connect), but doesn't actually support the EHLO
> command... I'm running exim 3.14
>
> If anyone can shed any light on this or any way in which I could test this
> I would be very greatful, as I'm getting a lot of angry complaints from
> our customer...
>
It looks like a "broken" MTA to me, here's a standard SMTP HELO:
[mike@gate mike]$ telnet mail.letec.co.uk 25
Trying 194.129.189.164...
Connected to mail.letec.co.uk.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 fndexch001.foundation Mail essentials server (2.422) ready for ESMTP
transfer
helo gate.thorcom.com
250 Hello> GATE.THORCOM.COM You are from : 212.172.148.2
here's an EHLO followed by a MAIL command:
[mike@gate mike]$ telnet mail.letec.co.uk 25
Trying 194.129.189.164...
Connected to mail.letec.co.uk.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 fndexch001.foundation Mail essentials server (2.422) ready for ESMTP
transfer
EHLO gate.thorcom.com
502
mail from: mike@???
<- blank line!!
503 You must say full HELO first 212.172.148.2 <- error message
twice!!
503 You must say full HELO first 212.172.148.2
They appear to advertise ESMTP but only support SMTP HELO - hence I would
say they are broken.
You might be able to fix this by creating a transport specifically for this
host and
forcing it to SMTP only (no ESMTP).
Mike
