Why do I get relay access denied errors from other servers?

Problem reported by Jaime - 9/24/2014 at 6:13 PM

Resolved

Why would I get these errors when sending to some people outside our server?

We are not trying to relay from their server... Im a bit confused.

Our mails are being bounced.

[2014.09.24] 10:55:59 [91931] CMD: MAIL FROM:<abcd@mydomain.com> SIZE=315118
[2014.09.24] 10:55:59 [91931] RSP: 250 2.1.0 Ok
[2014.09.24] 10:55:59 [91931] CMD: RCPT TO:<recipient@hisdomain.com>
[2014.09.24] 10:55:59 [91931] RSP: 554 5.7.1 <recipient@hisdomain.com>: Relay access denied
[2014.09.24] 10:55:59 [91931] CMD: QUIT
[2014.09.24] 10:55:59 [91931] RSP: 221 2.0.0 Bye

Thanks in advance.

8 Replies

Reply to Thread

Bruce Barnes Replied

9/24/2014 at 6:49 PM

Are you forcing all of your users to SMTP AUTHENTICATE on your SmarterMail server?

This error is typical of what can happen when you do not enforce SMTP authentication and the receiving MX server is running antispam protection. There are also other reasons as well.

Make certain you have ALLOW RELAY on SMTP IN set to NOBODY:

Then, make certain you have ALLOW RELAY for authenticated users and ENABLE DOMAINS'S SMTP AUTH for LOCAL DELIVERIES checked (in the same tab):

You will also have to make certain you have REQUIRE SMTP AUTHENTICATION check in the DOMAIN EDIT ====> TECHNICAL tab on each hosted domain.

Require SMTP Authentication checked in DOMAIN EDIT TECHNICAL tab — Require SMTP Authentication checked in
DOMAIN EDIT TECHNICAL tab

Note that this will require all of the user's accounts to be set for SMTP AUTHENTICATION to SEND messages, but will ensure that you are not an open relay and are not blocked by other MX servers.

Bruce Barnes ChicagoNetTech Inc brucecnt@comcast.net Phonr: (773) 491-9019 Phone: (224) 444-0169 E-Mail and DNS Security Specialist Network Security Specialist Customer Service Portal: https://portal.chicagonettech.com Website: https://www.ChicagoNetTech.com Security Blog: http://networkbastion.blogspot.com/ Web and E-Mail Hosting, E-Mail Security and Consulting

Jaime Replied

9/24/2014 at 9:59 PM

Hi, Bruce
Thanks for your great response. I checked and I do have configured everything as you suggest. (I actually read all your document on mail server config)...

Any other ideas? I had never had this issues before, they just started about two weeks ago when upgraded to latest version... maybe its just a coincidence

Bruce Barnes Replied

9/24/2014 at 11:31 PM

Glad the mail server config document was helpful.

When you did the version upgrade, did you, by chance, also change to a different server? If so, did you change IP addresses?

Do you have any users who are using one e-mail account to receive and another to send? IE: Is anyone using a an AOL [or other account] to send and using the account on your server to receive?

When you did the upgrade, was it a major or minor version upgrade? From what version to what version? [Some major version upgrades may require additional setting changes in SmarterMail.]

If it was a major version upgrade, did you uninstall the prior version and then install the newest version?

If it was a minor version upgrade, did you stop both the SmarterMail service and the IIS service, do the upgrade and then restart the service?

Have you tried rebooting the server on which SmarterMail is installed?

If none of those items are the issue, you may have to open a ticket with SmarterTools or engage the services of a third-party to help you resolve this.

Jaime Replied

9/25/2014 at 11:24 AM

Hi, Bruce. It was a minor update and I did it as SM instructs.
I did not change IPs or server.

I do have set up that they have to authenticate with the same account that they send email, since we were getting a lot of spam coming from our server and it was difficult to understand what account the spammer was using. Now its pretty simple, since we can see the email that is coming (same one used to authenticate) from and we block it.

I have not tried to reboot the server, I guess that would be the next step.
I hope that solves it.