Re: [PLUG] mail question

[Stephen Gran <steve@lobefin.net>]

On Tue, Aug 03, 2004 at 10:36:11PM -0400, Jeff Abrahamson said:
> I see the following in my exim log:
> 
>   2004-08-03 22:34:46 1BsBc6-000225-00 <= jeff@purple.com H=asterix (asterix.purple.com) [192.168.0.6] P=esmtp S=1210 id=20040804023305.GR29299@purple.com
>   2004-08-03 22:35:16 1BsBc6-000225-00 == xxxx@verizon.net T=remote_smtp defer (0): SMTP error from remote mailer after MAIL FROM:<jeff@purple.com> SIZE=2270: host relay.verizon.net [206.46.170.12]: 450 Requested mail action not taken-Try later:sc015pub.verizon.net
> 
> A message just like that one has been trying for a few days without
> success.
> 
> Any thoughts what might be happening and what I can do?

Verizon is hopeless - they do all sorts of broken things in an attempt
to slow the influx of spam, and one of their many tactics is to just
randomly defer email, it seems.  Another is to use pipelining in
callouts, even when pipelining is not advertised, so that your MTA
rejects (rightly) the connection, and then their MTA defers you.

Try the following (this is exim4 - things are differnet in exim3):

In exim.conf (or something under conf.d/main/ if you're using the split
config file):
smtp_enforce_sync = false

That works around Verizon's broken use of pipelining.  Should mostly be
enabled, except for the odd time to send email to them, as it catches
quite a bit of spam.

Then 
/usr/sbin/exim_dumpdb /var/spool/exim4/ retry | grep -i verizon | less

Will tell you the retry status for verizon.  If it's a while, try
forcing the email with `/usr/sbin/exim4 -M 1BsBc6-000225-00`.  If it
still results in errors, you can do 
`/usr/sbin/exim4 -d+all -M 1BsBc6-000225-00` to see every possible bit
of debugging.  I am betting on some sort of ridiculous sync issue on
their end, though.  Do you, by any chance, see a connection from one of
verizon's MTA's at about the same time?  You can also increase logging
with:
log_selector = +all

in conf.d/main or exim.conf

HTH,
-- 
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|  Stephen Gran                  | Half of being smart is knowing what     |
|  steve@lobefin.net             | you're dumb at.                         |
|  http://www.lobefin.net/~steve |                                         |
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