Re: [exim] 421 Unexpected failure, please try later

On 3/8/06, martin.dm.hull@??? <martin.dm.hull@???> wrote:
>
> Folks
>
> Some of my users have been getting 421 errors when trying to send email
> from their systems via my servers. None of this is logged by Exim on my
> server. The customers logs are getting something like



It's odd that there's nothing in your logs. Are the users behind some sort
of transparent smtp proxy? Some antivirus programs include this feature (so
they won't have to modify your mail client settings). If the client does a
"telnet smtp.xxx.net 25", does your server answers? While they do this, do
you see the connection on your server (netstat -na | grep ip.add.re.ss or
exiwhat | grep ip.add.re.ss)


>
> I'm not sure what the 421 means. I had though that it meant that there
> were no available connections left but it appears to be set for other
> reasons too (like AOL use it when rejecting mail because the sending IP
> has been flagged for spamming).
>
>
>
> What does it mean?



Temporary failure. Google for "smtp reply codes" for a more complete
answer/list

Can I log whenever my server sends this message to connecting hosts?



It should be logged by default in mainlog and rejectlog.

How do I measure what the current connections are for my server?


"exiwhat" gives a breakdown of what every exim process is doing. Count the
"handling incoming connections" or use "wc -l" or the like.

Hope this helps.