Question about email bounces

Post #319,107 by drook 12/24/09 2:14:10 PM Reply	Question about email bounces I've had a few emails come back similar to this: The Postfix program <username@hg.com>: host mail.hg.com[199.79.200.193] said: 553 5.3.0 <username@hg.com>... User unknown (in reply to RCPT TO command) (I redacted the address, it was there in the error report.) The "from" and "reply to" addresses on what I sent are an alias that automatically forwards to my main box, but if the mailserver is queried, that user doesn't exist. Is that what this error is telling me, that it's bounced because the sender address doesn't exist? -- Drew
Post #319,109 by boxley 12/24/09 2:22:12 PM Reply	yes sending mail from foo.bar to bar.foo mail from: bill@foo.bar ok rcpt to: bill@bar.foo 5.x error unknown recipient too many of those during a session can result in blocks being placed
Post #319,110 by drook 12/24/09 2:31:12 PM Reply	How do I fix it? Do I need to set up an actual user for the mail server to report? Kind of defeats the purpose of having multiple aliases delivered to a single account. -- Drew
Post #319,112 by boxley 12/24/09 2:37:32 PM Reply	Re: How do I fix it? its not broken working as designed. Multiple aliases foo@bar.com bawb@bar.com cheech@bar.com all sharing the same mailboxid single delivery point so they look like real users but deliver to one box
Post #319,116 by drook 12/24/09 4:07:18 PM Reply	More words please I'm sending from foo@domain.com. That's not a real address, it's an alias that delivers to bar@domain.com. The bounces I'm getting seem to be saying the problem is that foo@domain.com doesn't exist. If that's as designed, in other words of the receiving system should reject anything sent from an alias, then I need to not use an alias. Is that what the bounce messages are saying? If it matters, it's not an explicit alias. I have *@domain.com delivered to the main inbox. -- Drew
Post #319,124 by boxley 12/24/09 4:54:04 PM Reply	hmm does the alias need to receive mail? and what mail system are you using? sample ldif file (bad example but the important peice is mailboxid) mailbox:foo@bar.com, dc=bar dc=com mail from:foo@bar.com mailboxid=12345678 passwd:foobar mailbox:drewk@bar.com, dc=bar dc=com mail from:foo@bar.com mailboxid=12345678 passwd foobar mailwill be delivered to mailboxid 12345678 when rcpt to: is either drewk or foo either alias can log in as themselves and see the same mail thanx, bill
Post #319,137 by drook 12/24/09 8:51:34 PM Reply	Dunno, I connect via IMAP I used the web interface to create a "catchall" address that gets everything that isn't to a named account. I've been sending from whatever name I want, because the return always goes the same place. If this causes problems with anti-spam measures, I'll need to look into what they actually use and how it's set up. -- Drew
Post #319,142 by static 12/25/09 6:33:39 AM Reply	Hang on... Are you talking about email you've been sending that has bounced? Or email that your readers have tried sending to you and has mysteriously bounced? Wade. Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
Post #319,147 by drook 12/25/09 2:10:04 PM Reply	Stuff I've sent coming back -- Drew
Post #319,149 by scoenye 12/25/09 3:46:36 PM Reply	RCPT TO is the addressee Without other details, the addressee's server reports the mailbox you are trying to reach does not exist there (i.e. correct domain, incorrect box.) If hg.com is your domain, then the only thing I can think of is that some other error was returned by the destination, your server tried to deliver that bounce to the "username" mailbox, could not find it, and then somehow managed to deliver the double bounce to your admin box. Most of my boxes run Exim, so I'm afraid I can't give any hints on how to check the aliases in PostFix.
Post #319,153 by static 12/25/09 5:58:41 PM Reply	Ahh. That's what I thought. It looks like their mailer is supposed to forward it on inside a firewall or something, but something is broken. So their relay is reporting a relay error. Not your problem, IOW. Sometimes MTAs report "cute" error messages when things like this happen. They perhaps shouldn't as it can be confusing to figure out what's actually arong. It's an error message you shouldn't be seeing, but the intermediate relay has no way of knowing that. Wade. Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
Post #319,157 by folkert 12/25/09 7:21:12 PM Reply	Nope. It working as expected. RCPT TO == the address you are sending to. That error messages says: Sorry this user doesn't exist or is unknown. Its that simple. You should have an "auto-unsubscribe" setup for the alias you are sending from, to capture those and remove them after 2-3 failures. Bounces happen all the time. If you don't set a "bounces-to" header, then they goto the "from" address. If the From address can't receive e-mail, then you gots problems. Most place check to make sure the "From" domain entry exists... such that if you have a list server, you might have lists.clygm.com with messages coming from drew@lists.clygm.com, most servers now a day check to make sure the DNS record for lists.clygm.com exists and is reachable. Cheers.
Post #319,162 by drook 12/25/09 10:37:54 PM Reply	Haven't set up auto bounce handling yet That's on the agenda. Looks like maybe I'll need a real DNS entry for doing that. -- Drew

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