Author: Suresh Ramasubramanian Date: To: exim-users Subject: Re: [Exim] 554 Transaction Failed and Hotmail
Dicky Underwater [exim-users] <22/05/01 09:19 -0000>:
> We run a small mail server running exim 3.22. I have noticed in the logs
> that a number of hotmail addressed e-mails are failing with the error 554
> Transaction Failed.
Which just means hotmail's server is (as usual) overloaded and is therefore
refusing mail with permanent errors.
All this means is "wait for a hour or two and resend the mail"
> hotmail. If their is another reason why 554 Transaction Failed would appear
> in the logs. Why Microsoft would time-out the connection with a 500 error.
Several freemail services prefer issuing 550s for several (normally 4xx-able)
reasons, to save their bandwidth / disk space.
> If their is any way of getting my mail server to re-try even though it is a
> 500 error and Microsoft fault.
No. That would be violating RFCs. A 550 means "go away and dont retry the
same way". In hotmail's case, it means "have your user resend his mail a
hour later".