mailx failure

[Grace Li]

The mailx failed to send email out on a HP-UX 11.23. I tested to send mail to "hotmail.com" for example, it failed. However, internal user get email okay.
I login as root and mailx to a "hotmail" account, here is the error message I get from the /var/mail/root.

/* ------------------------------------- */
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
****@hotmail.com
(reason: 550 5.7.1 <****@hotmail.com>... Relaying denied. IP name lookup failed [10.22.5.182])

>>> RCPT To:<****@hotmail.com>
<<< 550 5.7.1 <****@hotmail.com>... Relaying denied. IP name lookup failed [10.22.5.182]
550 5.1.1 ****@hotmail.com... User unknown

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Grace:

You need to insure that DNS is running and that your '/etc/mail/sendmail.cf' is configured appropriately for routing. This can be as simple as specifying the 'DS' macro to look something like:

DSexchange.xyz.com

The comments in '/etc/mail/sendmail.cf' will guide you.

Regards!

...JRF...

[VK2COT]

Hello,

Your server is not registered in DNS:

Relaying denied. IP name lookup failed [10.22.5.182].

In other words, the SMTP relaying server is refusing connection from you because it
cannot identify your server.

Cheers,

VK2COT

[Steven Schweda · Accepted solution]

> Relaying denied. IP name lookup failed [10.22.5.182]

So, it would seem that you're trying to send
e-mail from a system with IP address
10.22.5.182. Lacking useful info, I might
assume that that's your "HP-UX 11.23" system.

The (also unidentified) system you're trying
to get to relay the message to the outside
world apparently does a normal check on the
sending system, namely a reverse
(number-to-name) DNS look-up, which fails.
This causes the relay system to reject the
message. (The assumption is that a valid
e-mail sender will have a name, not only an
address.)

I'd guess that if you log into that e-mail
relay system (probably identified in your
sendmail configuration file), and try
something like "nslookup 10.22.5.182", that
will fail. When you get that to work
(probably by adding data for 10.22.5.182 to
your local DNS or /etc/hosts data), you might
get further with your e-mail.

[Grace Li]

Thank you all.

Correct. The IP represents my HP-UX.

I've no change on "sendmail.cf" since 2005. Meaning the DS****my_mail_server*** has been working fine.

I need to check the DNS on my mail server. Looks like something changed there (mailmarsh??).

[Grace Li]

The mail server does recognize my HP_UX server, as well as the DNS. What else I should check?

[Bill Hassell]

> The mail server does recognize my HP_UX server, as well as the DNS. What else I should check?

"Relaying denied" was sent to your HP-UX box by another box, perhaps your Exchange or Lotus server. To see how your mail is being sent out, use this command:

sendmail -v somebody@hotmail.com < /etc/profile
nslookup -type=mx hotmail.com

Post the results.

[Steven Schweda]

> The mail server does recognize my HP_UX
> server, as well as the DNS.

What, exactly, does this mean? What,
exactly, did you do, and what, exactly, did
the mail server say? Please provide some
evidence, not only your conclusions (based
on things we can't see).


> nslookup -type=mx hotmail.com

The complaint was about 10.22.5.182, not
hotmail.com.

[Michael Steele_2]

Hi Grace:

Re: "...internal user get email okay.
I login as root and mailx to a "hotmail" account, ..."

Note: "...Relaying denied....". DENIED!

This is a standard security feature in most backline, backbone internal networks. For you to gain direct access to the outside world then you need to contact your firewall administrator for the correct procedure through the firewall.

See Bill Hassell's response and use the -v option.

[Grace Li]

#/usr/sbin #/usr/sbin/sendmail -v grace@hotmail.com < /etc/profile

grace@hotmail.com... Connecting to mail.***.com via relay...
220 Van-Proofpoint1.***.com ESMTP Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:22:54 -0700
>>> EHLO host_name.***.com
250-Van-Proofpoint1.***.com Hello [10.22.5.182], pleased to meet you
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-PIPELINING
250-8BITMIME
250-SIZE
250-DSN
250-AUTH GSSAPI DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5
250-DELIVERBY
250 HELP
>>> MAIL From: SIZE=2551 AUTH=root@host_name.***.com
250 2.1.0 ... Sender ok
>>> RCPT To:
550 5.7.1 ... Relaying denied. IP name lookup failed [10.22.5.182]
>>> RSET
250 2.0.0 Reset state
root... Warning: alias database /etc/mail/aliases.db out of date
/root/dead.letter... Saved message in /root/dead.letter
Closing connection to mail.***.com
>>> QUIT
221 2.0.0 Van-Proofpoint1.***.com closing connection


#/usr/sbin #nslookup -type=mx hotmail.com
Using /etc/hosts on: host_name

looking up FILES
Trying DNS
Non-authoritative answer:
hotmail.com preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx4.hotmail.com
hotmail.com preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx1.hotmail.com
hotmail.com preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx2.hotmail.com
hotmail.com preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx3.hotmail.com

Authoritative answers can be found from:
mx4.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.245.104
mx4.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.244.104
mx4.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.244.232
mx1.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.244.8
mx1.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.245.8
mx1.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.244.136
mx2.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.245.40
mx2.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.244.168
mx2.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.244.40
mx3.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.244.200
mx3.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.244.72
mx3.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.245.72

[Steven Schweda]

> grace@hotmail.com... Connecting to mail.***.com via relay...
> 220 Van-Proofpoint1.***.com ESMTP Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:22:54 -0700
> >>> EHLO host_name.***.com
> 250-Van-Proofpoint1.***.com Hello [10.22.5.182], pleased to meet you
> [...]

If you're putting in the asterisks to hide
any useful information about what's going on
here, then it's working.

What is the e-mail relay specified in your
sendmail configuration?

> I'd guess that [...]

Still waiting ...

> #/usr/sbin #nslookup -type=mx hotmail.com
> [...]

No one cares. As I said:

> The complaint was about 10.22.5.182, not
> hotmail.com.

[Rita C Workman]

As folks have mentioned doing **** makes it difficult to tell the players (or mail servers) apart.

But here's somthing to consider:

Many mail servers have software on them to drop spam mail and certain others conditions.
One thing they do NOT like are what appear to be bogus "FROM" address info (i.e. Non reliable lookup addresses & IP's)
Internally you may change the FROM to your name using things like the userdb to flip root to grace@something.com. But let me assure, there are parts of the header record on emails that don't get affected with these tricks. And thus root@yourserver.domain will show up in the header and the receiving mail server (maybe even your internal or some external server) can and will deny relay.

Just a thought,
Rgrds,
Rita

[Grace Li]

The "***" just replace the company domain (e.g. "abccompany.com"). Nothing to hide.

I even swith to another mail server, the same issue remains.

sendmail[5863]: m2QM5Us05861: to=grace@hotmail.com, ctladdr=root (0/3), delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=1501
97, relay=vm-smtp3.abccompany.com. [10.22.X.XX], dsn=5.7.1, stat=User unknown

[Steven Schweda]

> [...] Nothing to hide.

Then WHY HIDE SO MANY THINGS?

> I even swith to another mail server, the
> same issue remains.

Probably because the problem* has little to
do with the e-mail server.

[*] Magazines have issues, you have problems.

> [...] [10.22.X.XX], [...]

This is a strictly internal IP address, which
no one in the real world can reach. WHY HIDE
THIS ONE?

I'll try one more time.

> I'd guess that if you log into that e-mail
> relay system (probably identified in your
> sendmail configuration file), and try
> something like "nslookup 10.22.5.182", that

or "nslookup 10.22.X.XX", if you like that
better.

> will fail. When you get that to work
> (probably by adding data for 10.22.5.182 to
> your local DNS or /etc/hosts data), you might
> get further with your e-mail.

If you ever do run that nslookup command on
your e-mail relay system, please let us know
what happens.

[Grace Li]

Thank you, Steven. The issue is on the mail sever, we switch from mailmarshel to proofpoint. i pointed back to the old mail server as a temporary fix. i will investigate further toward that direction.
much appreciate your help!