Hi,
I'm not sure if this is a bug with Exim or if the remote host isn't
following the RFC's when it comes to incomming SMTP connections, but here's
the situation:
I've been trying to send a mail to a user on cyberspace.org but I'm getting
errors in my exim log like this:
<message id snipped> == <snip>@cyberspace.org
T=remote_smtp defer (110): Connection timed out: SMTP timeout
while connected to grex.cyberspace.org [216.93.104.34] after
initial connection
I've had a look at this and found that grex.cyberspace.org does not send SMTP
greeting (220) when you connect to the SMTP port, infact it doesn't output
anything. However, if you telnet to the smtp on the host and manually enter a
HELO line, it will start the usual SMTP delivery process, accept and deliver
the mail without any problems.
I believe this is what is causing the deferment issues because Exim is
expecting (and waiting for) a 220 greeting from the remote host and isn't
getting one.
As I said above, I'm unsure if this is a bug in Exim or if cyberspace.org
isn't following the RFC's by not outputting a 220 greeting, but either way,
would it be worth looking into a configuration option which will set a timeout
after which Exim will try to start to send an email even through it has not
recieved a greeting message?
I've had a look through the archive on the website for issues relating to
timeout problems, but I couldn't see any which matched this situation. If
anyone has any input on this matter, I'd be interested to hear it.
If this is a bug in Exim or a feature which may prove a good idea to add to
the configuration options, can someone let me know how to submit this bug
report to the maintainers directly?
Cheers,
Darren Austin.
