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Email server newsgroup?

Travis Pupkin

2005-01-25, 7:24 pm

Hi,

One of my clients is having terrible trouble with e-mails coming in
several hours to a few days after they were sent. They are using a
third-party email provider who isn't being much help.

I'm interested in finding out as much as I can about this problem, but
I'm having trouble finding a general e-mail server support newsgroup,
which is where I imagine I could find a good pool of knowledge about
issues like this (like, is it possible to backwards-trace an email and
find out what steps it took from A to Z and where the possible delay
occurred?)

I figure the more I know about what's happening the more leverage I have
with the email host.

Thanks.

Dave Patton

2005-01-25, 7:24 pm

Travis Pupkin <tpupkin@dorrk.com> wrote in
news:MPG.1c60622f48a3cb429897b7@news.individual.net:

> Hi,
>
> One of my clients is having terrible trouble with e-mails coming in
> several hours to a few days after they were sent. They are using a
> third-party email provider who isn't being much help.
>
> I'm interested in finding out as much as I can about this problem, but
> I'm having trouble finding a general e-mail server support newsgroup,
> which is where I imagine I could find a good pool of knowledge about
> issues like this (like, is it possible to backwards-trace an email and
> find out what steps it took from A to Z and where the possible delay
> occurred?)

Start by looking at the email headers. There will be
timestamps in the Received headers that will show you
which mailservers the email passed through. However,
seeing a delay between "server A" and "server B" won't
tell you "what's wrong". If A & B belong to the same
ISP, then you have a target for your questions ;-)
If they belong to two different ISPs, then ask A if
they are having problems forwarding email to B.

Do a Google search for 'decipher email headers'
(without the quotes).

--
Dave Patton
Canadian Coordinator, Degree Confluence Project
http://www.confluence.org/
My website: http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/

Toby Inkster

2005-01-25, 11:19 pm

Dave Patton wrote:

> Start by looking at the email headers.

And read them from the bottom to the top.

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
Contact Me ~ http://tobyinkster.co.uk/contact

Matt Probert

2005-01-26, 4:29 am

Once upon a time, far far away, the king summoned Travis Pupkin
<tpupkin@dorrk.com> who replied:

>Hi,
>
>One of my clients is having terrible trouble with e-mails coming in
>several hours to a few days after they were sent. They are using a
>third-party email provider who isn't being much help.

This is the joy of a "no-single point of failure network". You don't
know what route files will take, nor how long they will take to
arrive. It's not a fault, it's a feature.

Matt

--
Free, high quality content for web sites. See
http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/xcont.htm

Richard

2005-01-26, 4:29 am

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 06:32:22 GMT Matt Probert wrote:

> Once upon a time, far far away, the king summoned Travis Pupkin
> <tpupkin@dorrk.com> who replied:

[color=darkred]
[color=darkred]
> This is the joy of a "no-single point of failure network". You don't
> know what route files will take, nor how long they will take to
> arrive. It's not a fault, it's a feature.

Yep. Just like the US Postal Service.

On one particular day though back a few years ago, the entire system was so
screwed up and overloaded, posts to newsgroups showed up in the wrong
groups, in the wrong threads, and some just vanished into thin air.

Perhaps it's taking the Max Headroom approach of "Wonder where this wire
goes?"/

Blinky the Shark

2005-01-26, 4:29 am

Travis Pupkin wrote:
> Hi,

> One of my clients is having terrible trouble with e-mails coming in
> several hours to a few days after they were sent. They are using a
> third-party email provider who isn't being much help.

> I'm interested in finding out as much as I can about this problem, but
> I'm having trouble finding a general e-mail server support newsgroup,

Try comp.mail.misc .

--
Blinky Linux Registered User 297263

Upgrading From IE http://blinkynet.net/comp/upgrade.html
Mozilla Firefox http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Travis Pupkin

2005-01-28, 7:43 pm

In article <slrncvek9u.v2c.no.spam@thurston.blinkynet.net>,
no.spam@box.invalid says...
> Travis Pupkin wrote:
>
>
>
> Try comp.mail.misc .
>
>

Thanks.

Gerry for email use my name at dergal dt com

2005-01-30, 12:24 pm

Matt Probert wrote:
> Once upon a time, far far away, the king summoned Travis Pupkin
> <tpupkin@dorrk.com> who replied:
>
>
>
>
> This is the joy of a "no-single point of failure network". You don't
> know what route files will take, nor how long they will take to
> arrive. It's not a fault, it's a feature.
>
> Matt
>

It can be a fault, nowadays email is normally VERY fast (much faster
than it used to be) normally I get emails within seconds of them being
sent, it is probably worth investigating, or trying a different SMTP
server...

G