SMTP Outbound Retry Updates

Need help? Ask here.

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
Black20VT
Posts: 134
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2005 12:35 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

SMTP Outbound Retry Updates

Post by Black20VT »

Hi,

I'm currently using your 'Outbound Mail Service' as a 'Smarthost' to my server, but I'm wondering if the following is supported, or can be supported.

When a message is moved to the retry queue at Rollernet, is it possible for the sender to be notified of such status change and further retry attempts?

The reason I ask, is that one of my users sent a mail to an incorrect address (admittedly their own fault), however, they didn't receive any notification of any problems/retries until the full 5 day retry cycle had passed, then they received an undeliverable message.

Can you let me know your thoughts on this, as I think this will prove priceless for some of my users :P

Thanks in advance.
RollerNetSupport
Site Admin
Posts: 598
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 10:05 pm
Location: Nevada
Contact:

Post by RollerNetSupport »

Our AUTH server actually supports DSN (from RFC 3464), but it's up to the client to be able to request it. As far as I'm aware, Outlook already supports it, and Thunderbird might have it in version 3. We aren't aware of any other clients that support it at this time.

It may be possible for us to inject this SMTP command at submit time; we'll look in to it.
Technical Support support@rollernet.us
Roller Network LLC
Black20VT
Posts: 134
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2005 12:35 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Post by Black20VT »

Hi glendale2x,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I didn't realise you had to request delivery attempt/retry mail notifications. I only knew of delivery receipt and read receipts. You learn something new everyday :wink:

It would be great if you could inject the command, or at least offer it as an option, as the bulk of my users don't use MS apps for email and therefore would miss out on this notification.

My main concern is users being blissfully unaware that they've sent a mail to a wrong address. This was highlighted by the fact the sender found it strange that no response came from the recipient, only to get the delivery failure 5 days later. Had they know about the retry via a notification, they "should've" noticed the typo in the email address instantly and subsequently, sent an email to the correct address.

I hope that makes sense and would appreciate any help you can offer, or better still the solution you mentioned as an option in the settings sounds perfect :P

Keep up the great work!
RollerNetSupport
Site Admin
Posts: 598
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 10:05 pm
Location: Nevada
Contact:

Post by RollerNetSupport »

The "no error for 5 days" thing is *probably* because the recipient's mail server doesn't return a fatal error for bad addresses. If they return a defer error instead, the message will wait in the queue until it times out (5 days), after which it will be returned to the sender.
Technical Support support@rollernet.us
Roller Network LLC
Black20VT
Posts: 134
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2005 12:35 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Post by Black20VT »

Hi glendale2x,

Apologies, I wasn't clear in the first place.

The delivery failure was as a result of an incorrect domain after the @

The sender added an extra '.' in the domain address where one wasn't required.

Here's the failure message received on the 9th (edited out addresses, domains & IP);

--

Reporting-MTA: dns; smtpauth.rollernet.us
X-Postfix-Queue-ID: 20E4B59405D
X-Postfix-Sender: rfc822; *****@*****.***
Arrival-Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 08:30:33 -0700 (PDT)

Final-Recipient: rfc822; *****@*****.***
Original-Recipient: rfc822;*****@*****.***
Action: failed
Status: 4.4.1
Diagnostic-Code: X-Postfix; connect to *****.***[**.***.*.**]: Connection timed out

--

I hope that helps?
RollerNetSupport
Site Admin
Posts: 598
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 10:05 pm
Location: Nevada
Contact:

Post by RollerNetSupport »

Yes, that helps.

It looks like what happened is that the typo *did* happen to resolve to an IP address, but there was no mail server there for it to contact. In that case, it would keep trying until it gives up after 5 days. If the domain didn't exist, it would have bounced immediately as undeliverable. It was a lucky (or unlucky) typo that it happened that way.
Technical Support support@rollernet.us
Roller Network LLC
Black20VT
Posts: 134
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2005 12:35 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Post by Black20VT »

Exactly, was a shame it hit an IP.

However, would be great if the sender were to know of the delivery problems.

Can you keep us posted with regards to potential developments?

Thanks again.
Post Reply