Persistent Mail Delivery Issues

[gw4life]

Need your help to address a couple of
problems administratively and functionally with LISTMAIL which is being used on our site: www.executiveent.com.

1) When a new person signups on the website for our newsletter
distribution and selects the box to recieve the Welcome newletter, the
following message is returned to our newsletters@executiveent.com
mailbox:

"Date: 4/23/2004 15:01:02 -0400
From: Mail Delivery System <Mailer-Daemon@server.serverhost6.com>
To: newsletter@executiveent.com
Subject: Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender All headers
This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

  WALKEFL@co.mecklenburg.org
    SMTP error from remote mailer after RCPT
TO:<WALKEFL@co.mecklenburg.org>:
    host co.mecklenburg.org [69.56.227.14]: 550 5.7.1 Unable to relay for
WALKEFL@co.mecklenburg.org"

The never get the Welcome message. This has been a problem that first surfaced in July 2003.

2) When sending out emails via Listmail, we are getting about 500 return
messages from servers (last send was 4/21/04) to bounce@executiveent.com, this is a serious concern as our message is not getting out to a significant number of our subscribers. The email addresses are valid and they returns are coming from any number of domains (@yahoo.com, @hotmail.com, @aol.com, etc.).

3) Mail messages sent out 5/02 and 5/03 have not been delivered.

4) Listmail is still timing out after sending 1000 messages. In order to
get it to complete sending we have to logout, back in and manually click
on a resume button. Does the version of Listmail we have use counters that limit the number of emails that go out at a given time. Is there a
problem with STMP?

I've noticed that CRON jobs are no longer running and didn't know if this
could be contributing to the issues.

I lost my web administrator and we are doing some knowledge transfer for these types of things.

Your feedback and recommendations would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance...

Tony Williams
Executive Entertainment

[DW]

Greetings

1) When a new person signups on the website for our newsletter
distribution and selects the box to recieve the Welcome newletter, the
following message is returned to our newsletters@executiveent.com
mailbox:

It appears that this could be caused by one or two things.  It could be caused by the outgoing mail server not being set up correctly to send email via the PHP mail() function (welcome, confirmation, and notification messages are sent with it).  This seems less likely.

Another possibility, and probably the correct one, is that the destination account does not exist on the server.

This error indicates that this is true:

SMTP error from remote mailer after RCPT
TO:<WALKEFL@co.mecklenburg.org>:
host co.mecklenburg.org [69.56.227.14]: 550 5.7.1 Unable to relay for

Notice it says SMTP error from  remote mailer and the remote software is giving an error.  This does not seem to be a problem with your installation or server config, but rather the email address / destination server.

When sending out emails via Listmail, we are getting about 500 return
messages from servers (last send was 4/21/04) to bounce@executiveent.com, this is a serious concern as our message is not getting out to a significant number of our subscribers

This indicates that your server may have received SPAM complaints.  This can happen due to your own or other clients on the server's list mailings.  If you are using bounced message processing you will want to enable "notify when a user is removed for bouncing" on the List Settings page.  In the notification you will see a portion of the mailer-daemon's response which should include the reason the user bounced.

If you are not using bounced message processing, simply use your email client to check the mailer-daemon bounce messages for the reason the user(s) bounced.

If you suspect your server has been blocked by a SPAM list, you will need to contact your host and/or the SPAM list(s) in question.

3) Mail messages sent out 5/02 and 5/03 have not been delivered.

It is highly recommended that you upgrade to v1.77b, available from the member area.  Simply overwrite your ListMail files, except config.php, and re-login to the program.  This version features much stronger SMTP error checking and reporting which should guarantee message delivery.

4) Listmail is still timing out after sending 1000 messages.  Does the version of Listmail we have use counters that limit the number of emails that go out at a given time. Is there a
problem with SMTP?

It is possible that your host has a limitation on the number of messages that can be sent during a single connection.  The new v1.77b files should tell you if this is the problem.  If it says "maximum number of message reached" and disconnects you at exactly 1000 messages each time you should set the config menu option "Reconnect every X emails" to a value of "999" to prevent this.

ListMail does not limit the number of emails that go out at a given time.

I've noticed that CRON jobs are no longer running and didn't know if this
could be contributing to the issues.

This could happen if your host changed their server configuration or erased your cron task.  It could also happen if you change your Dailymail Password, in the Config menu, without updating the cron task.

Here's the Dailymail help page:
http://www.listmailpro.com/help/10.html

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns!