Warning: Verizon Email Is Unreliable

Blake Hawkins · Post by **Blake Hawkins** » 12 Aug 2006 12:28 am

No, Bob, I didn't get it.

I also have a Yahoo account:

sgr4436@yahoo.com

We can use that for comparison if you send to
both addresses at the same time.
My Verizon connection is "FIOS" we are in the Tampa test market for the fiber optic direct to the house.
I have had some periodic problems with their e mail.
If I can do anything from this end, let me know.
Blake

Blake

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 12 Aug 2006 8:07 am

b0b;
Check your email to see if you received a bounce from Verizon and if so, paste the text.

Blake;
I am sending you an email from my domain, with a delivery confirmation request. Please ack the delivery confirmation. If you don't receive my email by 1:00 PM EST let me know here.

Wiz[This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 12 August 2006 at 09:12 AM.]

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 12 Aug 2006 9:05 am

Wiz, the emails are sent by "nobody@central.b0b.com". Bounced emails fall into a bit bucket somewhere because "nobody" doesn't receive email.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 12 Aug 2006 9:10 am

That doesn't help us much does it? Can you change the sender to a named account on the server so we can track bounces?

Blake Hawkins · Post by **Blake Hawkins** » 12 Aug 2006 1:00 pm

Wiz I got your e mail.
Sorry I was out all afternoon and just checked my e mail.
It came in with no problems.
I sent the receipt and the reply.
Blake

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 12 Aug 2006 3:08 pm

Thanks Blake. I got the receipt. We're still working on this issue.

Wiz

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 12 Aug 2006 7:21 pm

Can you change the sender to a named account on the server so we can track bounces?

The httpd server runs as "nobody". I'm afraid to change it for fear that it would cause other problems.

------------------
<img align=left src="http://b0b.com/b0bxicon.gif" border="0"> Bobby Lee
-b0b- quasar@b0b.com 
System Administrator 
My Blog

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 12 Aug 2006 8:53 pm

The httpd server runs as "nobody". I'm afraid to change it for fear that it would cause other problems.

Don't you mean SendMail is sending as "nobody?" SendMail can be reconfigured to send as any named account.

W

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 12 Aug 2006 9:01 pm

b0b;
Have you considered taking this problem to WMW? I think you will get more technical answers on the Apache Web Server Forum. That is where I found out about SPF records.

Wiz
Full member of WMW

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 13 Aug 2006 9:37 am

I have setup an email account on my server to forward official SGF messages (from b0b.com) to Verizon members, pending approval by b0b. If this is approved, once tested successfully, I will post the actual address in unclickable plain text, for you to whitelist, later in this thread.

If not approved, this message will self destruct in 24 hours.

------------------
Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices

[This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 13 August 2006 at 10:38 AM.]

Ron ! · Post by **Ron !** » 13 Aug 2006 2:34 pm

Verizon is well known for this kind of behavior.They tell you that they don't block these e-mails but I know better.I heard from one of their operators that they block a lot of mails.One of the reasons why I pitch their junk.Not to mention their absurd prices.I'm goin' back to good ole comcast.

I had my wife's name changed by b0b and gave him a hotmail account address and never had a problem.With verizon...none of b0b's mails came through.

Ron

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 21 Aug 2006 3:22 am

As a side note to the forum Verizon problems. Almost every time I send out a Florida Steel Guitar Club notice to members I get a "Mail Delivery" message back with "Deferred: Connection timed out with relay.verizon.net." for all the Verizon addressees. Eventually the messages get delivered.

Jeff Agnew · Post by **Jeff Agnew** » 21 Aug 2006 5:27 am

Hey b0b, your MX record is messed up. One of the six mail servers is pointing to a CNAME instead of an A Record. Looks like it's Register.com's fault, though. You might tell them that this server (205.158.62.41) is configured incorrectly:

mxmail.register.com. CNAME rcom-outblaze-com.mr.outblaze.com

That's a no-no.

Regarding the SPF -- if Register.com doesn't support it that only means that mail coming to you through their mail servers won't be checked. IOW, spam or forged mail sent by someone else to b0b.com won't be checked for authenticity.

However, you can and should set up your own SPF record for b0b.com. This is what Verizon or similar ISPs that implement SPF are looking for. You can verify that any mail sent from b0b.com should come from the IP (or IPs) listed in your DNS A Record.

If you can, add a TXT record using Register's DNS management tools. Create your SPF record within the TXT record using something like this:

"v=spf1 a mx ~all"

Obviously you'll need to tweak that to your own requirements.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 21 Aug 2006 10:26 am

Register.com doesn't allow me to add a TXT record. I've forwarded your comments about the bogus CNAME to them. Thanks.

Webb Kline · Post by **Webb Kline** » 21 Aug 2006 7:21 pm

Bob, I haven't been on here much lately, but I've always gotten forum emails except for once a year or so ago when my hard drive crashed.

Sometimes this problem is not server-wide, but regional. DOn't ask me why.

You can test on mine too if you want.

jwkline@verizon.net
b3wiz@hotmail.com

Webb

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 21 Aug 2006 8:02 pm

Webb, the Forum just sent you your username and password. Did you receive it?

Jeff Agnew · Post by **Jeff Agnew** » 22 Aug 2006 4:58 am

Register.com doesn't allow me to add a TXT record.

Might be something to keep in mind when registration time rolls around again. I'd be glad to give you several suggestions of registrars that will give you full control over your DNS.

BTW, it's interesting Register.com won't let clients create an SPF record; they certainly use it for inbound traffic. Here are your mail servers:

- spf6-2s.us4.outblaze.com
- spf6-4.us4.outblaze.com
- spf6-2.us4.outblaze.com
- spf6-1.us4.outblaze.com
- spf6-3.us4.outblaze.com
- spf6-1s.us4.outblaze.com

Webb Kline · Post by **Webb Kline** » 22 Aug 2006 5:18 am

Nope, nothing here. I haven't had any problem with any other emails to my knowledge. The only returns I've gotten were from the PTD network which was having some issues.

Webb

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 22 Aug 2006 9:02 am

b0b;
I use Dotster as my registrar and I just looked up SPF Records and DNS Management in the FAQs and here is the results page.

They do allow you to manage your own DNS and create SPF records, etc. You can transfer your domain to dotster for $8.95 and they will add one year to the current expiration date.

I and all of my customers use Dotster and we don't have any problems sending email to anybody, including Verizon. Leo Laporte put me onto Dotster when he hosted the now defunct TechTV show. Leo is currently co-hosting Security Now with Steve Gibson, of GRC.com.

------------------
Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices

[This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 22 August 2006 at 10:03 AM.]

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 24 Aug 2006 4:01 pm

Is it fixed now, Jeff?

Jeff Agnew · Post by **Jeff Agnew** » 25 Aug 2006 4:50 am

I can see where you've added the central.b0b.com MX record but it failed a mail connection test. It's a priority 10, which places it below the mxmail.register.com servers.

I still get the CNAME error on register.com's first MX record but that may be because the DNS records haven't propogated yet, especially if it was done late yesterday. I'll try to remember to check later this afternoon.

BTW, if you want to take this offline send me an e-mail or I can send you my phone number.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 25 Aug 2006 8:40 am

Please keep this topic online. It is going to eventually impact other webmasters like me and other members who maintain a domain and email server. What we discover here will apply to others as well.

------------------
Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices

Jeff Agnew · Post by **Jeff Agnew** » 25 Aug 2006 2:08 pm

No problem, Wiz. I just figured everyone was getting waaaaaay bored.

b0b, I still show the bad CNAME record for one of the register.com mail servers so I'd say they probably didn't fix it. Should have propagated by now.

Also, I believe there are some other problems. I'm not sure why the MX record references central.b0b.com. Are you running a mail server there?

Also, that MX record is incorrectly formatted -- it includes a subdomain (central), and it's pointing to an IP instead of an A record. It should be something like this:

b0b.com IN MX 10 mxmail.register.com

This means that all mail to/from b0b.com goes through register.com's mail servers. It will then look up the A records for mxmail.register.com.

Is mail working in both directions right now for b0b.com (not talking Verizon here, BTW)?

(edited to fix stupid spelling error)[This message was edited by Jeff Agnew on 25 August 2006 at 03:09 PM.]

Webb Kline · Post by **Webb Kline** » 26 Aug 2006 5:48 pm

that test email b0b sent to my verizon email box finally came through this evening.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 27 Aug 2006 8:48 am

On August 21 the SGF sent an email to an SGF member who uses Verizon as his ISP. He received the email on August 26th. It seems that Verizon has resorted to using the services of the Pony Express to route incoming email to their customers. Never depend on email for mission critical transactions.

I know; the very fact that it was delivered at all is significant, but this is amazing. It sat for five days while various systems tried to determine how to handle that message. I bet the good folks at NANAE would get a chuckle out of this.

------------------
Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage.
Learn about current computer virus and security threats here.
Read Wiz's Blog for security news and update notices