I''ve lost everything!(was-mail server cannot b

Re: I''ve lost everything!(was-Re: mail server cannot b

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On 01/14/00 at 12:31, Higher Powered wrote:

> Ok- I've contacted my isp about the reverse records.
>
> I added an "A" record for foothillstrading.com, but still cannot send mail
> to it. The mail server cannot find it..

If memory serves, you've got an MX record for foothillstrading.com that points
to your mail server. So, as long as the mail server knows that it's supposed
to be the final destination for foothillstrading.com mail (i.e., it should
deliver those messages to local mailboxes), it shouldn't need to be looking
for foothillstrading.com. An A record for foothillstrading.com. is only useful
if, say, you want people to be able to use <http://foothillstrading.com/>
interchangeably with <http://www.foothillstrading.com/>. From the perspective
of your mail server, it shouldn't matter whether there's an A record for it or
not.

> Here's an interesting thing... (this mail problem has been there throughout-
> I've tried different mail servers as well)
>
> I just went into the tcp/ip setting on the server.(MacOS 8.6)
> The Domain Name Server was listed as my isp's
> I changed it to 208.1.125.162 (my dns server, also running web*4.1).
> server restarted
>
> EIMS could not find a dns address for itself...
> I cannot reach any sites on my server from my other machines on the same
> network (using the browser- I can reach them fine with file sharing,
> etc...set from the beginning with dns record in tcp/ip pointing to my
> server).
> People were still hitting the server from outside the network.
> I paniced, switched the Domain Name address back to my isp's on the servers
> tcp/ip, but I still cannot reach any sites on the server through the
> browser!

Have you restarted the machine in question since changing its TCP/IP settings
back? IIRC, Open Transport is a little funky when it comes to what name server
it uses -- it may not want to use a different one without restarting (I'm a
little fuzzy on this, so I could be way off base).

> This sounds a little weird, doesn't it?
> Could this be the root of my problems?

It certainly doesn't sound normal. Your name server/web server seems to be
alright, since people from the outside world (including me) can find your web
server. However, I just tried to telnet to your mail server on port 25 (SMTP)
and couldn't make a connection. Pinging it results in 90% packet loss and
rather high round trip times (699 millisecond ave) -- NOT a good situation:

--- postal.higherpowered.com ping statistics ---
112 packets transmitted, 11 packets received, 90% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 619.1/699.0/810.0 ms

Pinging your name server is somewhat better, but still not what you really
want to see:

--- taoist.higherpowered.com ping statistics ---
42 packets transmitted, 35 packets received, 16% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 240.0/342.4/700.0 ms

I'd say that you probably have some network problems in general, and a big
problem with the mail server in particular. Try pinging your various machines
from inside your LAN, and also ping some machines in the outside world. That
should help you determine if the network problem(s) is (are) in your LAN or
somewhere upstream from you. If it's outside your LAN, you'll need to work
with your ISP to resolve it. As to the mail server in particular, if you have
a machine with a known good OT/TCP setup, you might try throwing a copy of
your mail server software on it and see what happens. You might just need to
start from scratch with the TCP/IP settings on the postal.higherpowered.com
machine.

Christopher Bort

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