[SOLVED] Can send, can't recieve.

[ecobrazim]

Hi all,

The problem:
- I can send mail but I can't recieve any from the outside.


The situation:
- My server is a VM.
- I have multiple domains on my server all working fine except for the one I just created.
- I setup the DNS (on my server) to take the new domain into account.


What I tried that works:
- I can send an email from the new domain,
- I can recieve mail from other domains hosted by my server
- I can telnet from the internet to my domain and get a prompt
- I can resolve the domain and it's MX record from the internet
- The MX check in Zimbra works

What doesn't work:
- Getting any emails from the internet other than from domains hosted by the server.

I'm at a loss... can you help?
Thanks!

[uxbod]

cat /etc/hosts
cat /etc/resolv.conf
dig yourdomain mx
dig yourdomain any
host `hostname` <- note backticks and not single quotes

[ecobrazim]

domainA is the primary domain on my Zimbra server
domainB is the domain causing problems.

The names where changed to protect the innocent

All the commands where run on the Zimbra server which is a DomU (which is why you get IPs in the range 10.x.x.x

# cat /etc/hosts
# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain   localhost
127.0.0.1       localhost.domainA.com localhost
10.0.0.1    mail.domainA.com          mail

# cat /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 127.0.0.1
nameserver 91.121.179.5
nameserver 213.186.33.99

# dig domainB.be mx

; <<>> DiG 9.3.4-P1.1 <<>> domainB.be mx
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 19229
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;domainB.be.           IN      MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
domainB.be.    604800  IN      MX      10 mail.domainB.be.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
domainB.be.    604800  IN      NS      mail.domainB.be.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
mail.domainB.be. 604800 IN     A       10.0.0.1

;; Query time: 0 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Sat Aug  1 12:35:45 2009
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 88

# dig domainB.be any

; <<>> DiG 9.3.4-P1.1 <<>> domainB.be any
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 29631
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;domainB.be.           IN      ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
domainB.be.    604800  IN      SOA     mail.domainB.be. hostmaster.domainB.be. 2009073101 604800 86400 2419200 604800
domainB.be.    604800  IN      NS      mail.domainB.be.
domainB.be.    604800  IN      MX      10 mail.domainB.be.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
mail.domainB.be. 604800 IN     A       10.0.0.1

;; Query time: 0 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Sat Aug  1 12:35:51 2009
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 135

# host `hostname`
mail.domainA.com      A       10.0.0.1

[ecobrazim]

The following is what I get from the outside. If you need the right IP, etc, I can mail the details to you.

$ dig domainB.be mx

; <<>> DiG 9.5.1-P2 <<>> domainB.be mx
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 44457
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;domainB.be.           IN      MX

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
domainB.be.    7200    IN      SOA     ns25.domaincontrol.com. dns.jomax.net. 2009080100 28800 7200 604800 86400

;; Query time: 123 msec
;; SERVER: 193.74.208.135#53(193.74.208.135)
;; WHEN: Sat Aug  1 12:46:43 2009
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 108

$ dig domainB.be any

; <<>> DiG 9.5.1-P2 <<>> domainB.be any
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 3918
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 2

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;domainB.be.           IN      ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
domainB.be.    664     IN      A       91.21.65.239
domainB.be.    175     IN      NS      ns26.domaincontrol.com.
domainB.be.    175     IN      NS      ns25.domaincontrol.com.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
domainB.be.    175     IN      NS      ns26.domaincontrol.com.
domainB.be.    175     IN      NS      ns25.domaincontrol.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns25.domaincontrol.com. 58230   IN      A       216.69.185.13
ns26.domaincontrol.com. 58230   IN      A       208.109.255.13

;; Query time: 27 msec
;; SERVER: 193.74.208.135#53(193.74.208.135)
;; WHEN: Sat Aug  1 12:46:57 2009
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 168

[phoenix]

Your hosts file is incorrect, it should only contain the following:

127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain   localhost
10.0.0.1    mail.domaina.com          mail

You /etc/resolv.conf should only contain the IP for your Split DNS server i.e. 127.0.0.1 and your external records show you don't have a valid MX record.

BTW, you should only use lower case letters for your domain name entries (in the hosts file & DNS records), using anything else can cause problems.

[ecobrazim]

Hi Bill,

you are indeed right. I've contacted my provider to findout why the DNS doesn't reflect the changes I made to it.

Thanks for your help in correcting the hosts and resolv.conf files.

Will let you know how it ends

[ecobrazim]

The error was clearly a DNS problem and it was clearly my fault

I'd completely messed up the MX entry.

I had:
mail.domainB.be 1.2.3.4

rather than
domainB.be mail.domainB.be

Thanks for your help!