E-Mail Set-up Overview

[J.J.]

Question about the daunting task of email setup through ensim with the dns master being serverbeach.

I have had problems trying to figure out what to add where because of the 2 dns configurations. 1 at sb and the other on my Windows 2003 Web Edition server.

Here is what I have...

The domain is frunder.com
that seems to work fine now. I have smtp.frunder.com setup at sb along with pop3.frunder.com and the ping replies just fine. My error is when I setup my e-mail either through outlook or any other 3rd party email program, It connects to pop3 and smtp fine, but when it tries to log on to the incomming mail server (pop3) is where the problem lies. In outlook I have the Server info as
incomming - pop3.frunder.com
outgoing - smtp.frunder.com
Am I missing something somewhere?

On Ensim under the zones, I have www.frunder.com and under that I have
NS frunder.com
MX frunder.com
Host (a) mail.frunder.com

Thank you all so much in advance. SB has awesome forum response time and a great forum in general.

Thanks!!

J.J.

[QT]

Originally posted by J.J.
Question about the daunting task of email setup through ensim with the dns master being serverbeach.

I have had problems trying to figure out what to add where because of the 2 dns configurations. 1 at sb and the other on my Windows 2003 Web Edition server.

Here is what I have...

The domain is frunder.com
that seems to work fine now. I have smtp.frunder.com setup at sb along with pop3.frunder.com and the ping replies just fine. My error is when I setup my e-mail either through outlook or any other 3rd party email program, It connects to pop3 and smtp fine, but when it tries to log on to the incomming mail server (pop3) is where the problem lies. In outlook I have the Server info as
incomming - pop3.frunder.com
outgoing - smtp.frunder.com
Am I missing something somewhere?

On Ensim under the zones, I have www.frunder.com and under that I have
NS frunder.com
MX frunder.com
Host (a) mail.frunder.com

Thank you all so much in advance. SB has awesome forum response time and a great forum in general.

Thanks!!

J.J.

You really don't need to (and should not) set up DNS on your server for your domains if you are setting them up in the DNS Tool. This can cause your mail software to get confused if the DNS zones on your server do not agree with the DNS zones in the master nameservers. What error are you getting when you try to log into the POP server to check your mail?

[J.J.]

Thanks for the quick reply!
Well here is the error that I recieve through outlook.

There was a problem logging onto your mail server. Your Password was rejected. Account: 'frunder.com', Server: 'frunder.com', Protocol: POP3, Server Response: '-ERR Unable to log on', Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 0x800CCC90, Error Number: 0x800CCC92

And I know it is not a password prob because I know I have the right one. Maybe if you could explain how to set-up ones e-mail once dns pointing is established. What steps do I take next?

And one more questions, do you know if I require "as far as the server goes" secure password authentication and what other authentication tools? Basically, what settings inside of outlook do I need to have selected and not. Thanks, You're Awesome!!!:D :pleased:

[QT]

Originally posted by J.J.
Maybe if you could explain how to set-up ones e-mail once dns pointing is established.

I've actually just asked for a Forum for a "Mail How-To", and if that takes place..then there will definitely be some good how-tos in there. If not, then I'll see what I can put together.

If you can ping the hostname of your mail server and it shows the IP address of your server, then DNS is set up correctly. Outlook doesn't require any special settings, but SPA (Secure Password Authentication) must be turned off. Since you are using Ensim you may want to try "user@domain.ext" as your username instead of just "user" .. or vice versa if you've already tried that. :)

[J.J.]

Thanks once again for the quick reply, You are awesome! You should get a raise!

Well, I tried both with user@domain.ext and just user and it still fails. Even though outook is giving me a authentication problem, I still think it is in my set-up. Is it possible (if you would be willing) to go over the steps of e-mail set-up once the domain is pointed through the sb's dns as the master. And also what sub-domain do I need under frunder.com - and maybe where do I add the MX record, at sb or ensim. And where is the alternate place that I can log-on so I can skip all of the outlook (microsoft) bugs. I know it is a bunch of questions, so I am sorry... So a really BIG THANKS in advance.

I think a mail how-to would be an awesome forum. Because while searching for mail issues, I foudhelp in the genral, ensim, cpanel, dns, and other forums. It is crazy! Also, it would be cool if the sb forum allowed you to search for words that are 2 letters, instead of limiting it to a min. of 3. In other words I can't search for " ip , sb , and other important troubleshooting terms needed to search effectivly. THANKS AGAIN!! :)

[knightfoo]

Originally posted by J.J.
Thanks once again for the quick reply, You are awesome! You should get a raise!

We'd give her a raise, but she's not an employee .. just someone who doesn't mind volunteering their time. :)

Well, I tried both with user@domain.ext and just user and it still fails. Even though outook is giving me a authentication problem, I still think it is in my set-up. Is it possible (if you would be willing) to go over the steps of e-mail set-up once the domain is pointed through the sb's dns as the master. And also what sub-domain do I need under frunder.com - and maybe where do I add the MX record, at sb or ensim. And where is the alternate place that I can log-on so I can skip all of the outlook (microsoft) bugs. I know it is a bunch of questions, so I am sorry... So a really BIG THANKS in advance.

You might also want to check the mail logs on your server to see why authentication is failing. DNS really has no affect on your ability to download your mail via POP3. If you want to completely eliminate DNS from the picture, just enter the IP address of your server for the incoming mail server. If you think Outlook is causing problems, you might want to try another mail client like Netscape/Mozilla or Eudora. If you are familiar with telnet you can use it to talk directly to the POP server:

C:\> telnet 1.2.3.4 110
+OK (banner here)
USER username
+OK User name accepted, password please
PASS password
+OK Mailbox open, ### messages

-knightfoo

[KevinRHurst]

Hello forum,
I am having a similar issue as JJ. I have enterd the following into Outlook:

-------------------------------------------------------
Your Name: frst last (first=first name, last=last name)
E-mail Address: first@domain.com (of course, I did not use 'domain'!)
Incoming mail server (POP3): pop3.domain.com
Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.domain.com
User Name: first (also tried w/ first@domain.com)
Password: *****

under more settings, 'My Outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication' w/ Use same settings as my incoming mail server
-------------------------------------------------------

When I test the settings, the 'Establish network connection', 'Find outgoing mail server (SMTP)', 'Find incoming mail server (POP3)', & Send test e-mail message' all succeed. The 'Log onto incoming mail server (POP3)' returns the 'Log onto incoming mail server (POP3): Unable to logon to the incoming mail server (POP3). Please verify the settings in the User Name, Password, and E-mail fields.' error every time. I double-checked all these settings, & even tried different combinations of user names, mail.domain.com, etc to see if any of this would work with no luck. In further investigation of the system logs on the server, I discovered this error:

-------------------------------------------------------
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: smtpsvc
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4000
Date: 10/8/2003
Time: 10:38:52 PM
User: N/A
Computer: computername
Description:
Message delivery to the remote domain 'domain.com' failed for the following reason: Unable to deliver the message because the destination address was misconfigured as a mail loop.
-------------------------------------------------------

Trying to look up this problem on the net got me a lot of similar Exchange problems &/or solutions which did not seem to apply here. Any help or pointing in the right direction would rock socks!

thanks in advanced,
Kevin

:bang:

[QT]

Originally posted by KevinRHurst

-------------------------------------------------------
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: smtpsvc
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4000
Date: 10/8/2003
Time: 10:38:52 PM
User: N/A
Computer: computername
Description:
Message delivery to the remote domain 'domain.com' failed for the following reason: Unable to deliver the message because the destination address was misconfigured as a mail loop.
-------------------------------------------------------

A mail loop normally means 1 of 2 things:

1. You have an alias pointing back to itself
2. The host in the MX record for domain.com does not know it is supposed to accept mail for domain.com.

However, that won't affect POP3 logins. If your POP3 is failing, it seems there is a username/password problem.

[J.J.]

Well it seems as though we cannot resolve this issue. We insist it is a server / dns / mail set-up problem while sb insists that it is a log-in / user / pass problem. So let me ask the same question in a diff manner.

Once the server is set-up, and once I added an MX record inside sb dns tool, what are the next steps to send and recive mail?

Thanks again. It seems like such a small thing that we are missing. I know the answer is simple, we just have to find it.

J.J.

Thanks Kevin for the post, at least I know I am not alone! Thanks!

:thumbsup:

[knightfoo]

Originally posted by J.J.
Well it seems as though we cannot resolve this issue. We insist it is a server / dns / mail set-up problem while sb insists that it is a log-in / user / pass problem. So let me ask the same question in a diff manner.

Once the server is set-up, and once I added an MX record inside sb dns tool, what are the next steps to send and recive mail?

Thanks again. It seems like such a small thing that we are missing. I know the answer is simple, we just have to find it.

J.J.

Thanks Kevin for the post, at least I know I am not alone! Thanks!

:thumbsup:

Sending and receiving mail are not directly linked. You can set up your server to allow you to send mail through it and still be unable to receive mail on your server, or choose not to receive mail on your server. I think this is where some of the confusion is coming from.

In order to use your server as an outgoing SMTP server, you need:

1. SMTP Authentication - this requires users to authenicate before sending mail so you don't end up blacklisted for being an open relay. Your client will need to configure the proper username and password in their mail client.
2. Reverse DNS Resolution - IP to hostname resolution. The IP address of your server should resolve to the FQDN that your server thinks its name is. If your server name is "server1.domain.com" then the PTR for your IP address should point to "server1.domain.com". If the PTR is incorrect, you need to submit a PTR request ticket to have it fixed.

To receive mail on your server for a specific domain you need:

1. MX record for your domain. The MX record should point to an A record (no CNAMES) and the A record should point to the IP address of your mail server.
2. The SMTP daemon on your server needs to know that it is supposed to accept mail for your domain. This varies by OS and control panel, consult your documentation.
3. In order to actually check your mail, you need an IMAP or POP service running on your mail server. Some servers require that you add system users to check mail and some mail services support "virtual" users. Either way, you need to make sure the users are added and their passwords set properly.

If there is anything specific about your configuration or everything that I mentioned about seems to be setup OK, then you will probably need to submit a ticket. If you want me to check out your DNS configuration, let me know what the domain is that you're dealing with.

-knightfoo

[J.J.]

Thanks again!

Here is the domain that we are trying to configure.
frunder.com
Frunder is all via sb. sb is the maser and MX is created under it while the user names are via ensim. And of course before I created usernames I added the site www.frunder.com

and here is the other domain that I am playing with
j3creations.com
where it is experiencing the same problem. The MX record is on ensim.

Feel free to check them out, that would be greatly appreciated! I just would like to knip this problem in the bud.

J.J.