* on the Thu, Mar 15, 2007 at 05:08:32PM -0400, johnc8117 wrote:
> We're having a problem with a few clients saying that people are
> sending email to them but that the emails are not getting through. They
> ran their domain name via a system that tests email servers and it came
> back with the following issues for the server:
>
> "There was a problem while talking with the mail server. Got 'Socket
> Timeout Exception: Read timed out'"
>
> The mailserver we're running is Exim. The domain name is
> www.newwritingnorth.com and the site they used for testing is here:
>
> http://pingability.com/zoneinfo.jsp?...itingnorth.com
>
> we ARE getting emails in, but just not from some people, so its a
> strange one
>
> Is there anything that anyone can suggest? Really appreciate it
I just connected to your mail server and went through the first part of
an SMTP transaction. It seems that the first time it receives a "RCPT TO:"
there is a delay. The webpage you mentioned is testing your server to see
if it's an open relay, and it times out due to the delay. I think you're
allowed up to a 5 minute delay per "RCPT TO" in the RFCs however, but
they're obviously not going to wait for 5 minutes to load the page!
If the delay is an artificial one, you might want to try turning it off
and seeing if the problems stop. If the delay is down to some sort of
check that's taking a long time, try to speed it up.
Mike
