Hoping someone can help me here...

I have setup postfix on my Linode (Ubuntu 12.04 LTS) and I am able to send messages via PHP and vis the sendmail command. Logs say that the message was sent but it never arrives in the receiver's inbox...

Anyone have any ideas whats happening here?

Here is the log:

Apr  2 13:16:13 antman postfix/pickup[4078]: 5410F1690E: uid=1000 from=<bullantmm>
Apr  2 13:16:13 antman postfix/cleanup[4373]: 5410F1690E: message-id=<20130402021613.5410F1690E@antman.bullantmultimedia.com.au>
Apr  2 13:16:13 antman postfix/qmgr[2385]: 5410F1690E: from=<bullantmm@antman.bullantmultimedia.com.au>, size=345, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Apr  2 13:16:14 antman postfix/smtp[4378]: 5410F1690E: to=<jonesy_666@hotmail.com>, relay=mx2.hotmail.com[65.55.92.168]:25, delay=13, delays=12/0.01/0.45/0.69, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (250  <20130402021613.5410F1690E@antman.bullantmult$
Apr  2 13:16:14 antman postfix/qmgr[2385]: 5410F1690E: removed

Bump. Anyone got any ideas here? I am struggling to find a solution and would really like to have it working ASAP

There are infinite reasons why hotmail might not deliver your message, especially for a new server. Take a look at http://mail.live.com/mail/postmaster.aspx

Most obvious is you don't have an SPF record for the sending domain. Because you are using the subdomain "antman" the SPF record for bullantmultimedia doesn't apply.

Hotmail have been known to delete mail that fails their filtering instead of marking it as spam. How they rate mail is only known to them but I would guess that if enough users mark your mail as spam you are basically screwed.


Setup SPF and check your reverse DNS and HELO name. It might help, it might not.


Also - advise everyone you know not to use hotmail.

I have also tried to send this to an ISP's email (ozemail.com.au) but I will try the above and see how it goes

So I have removed Postfix and installed exim4, I also setup the SPF record. The emails now come through but are junk (at least I can see them)...

No disrespect to exim but removing postfix would not have fixed this issue, setting up SPF would have.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Trying to set up your own outgoing mail server is just asking for punishment. If you care about consistent delivery at all, use a third party (Amazon SES is fast and cheap).

Just as an example, I set up everything you could imagine on my server for email delivery -- reverse DNS, SPF records, DomainKeys/DKIM, etc etc. Emails were delivered everywhere but would not go to Yahoo! accounts.

I finally contacted Yahoo! and they told me they essentially only deliver mail from "whitelisted" domains. Mine was not one. They gave me a checklist to go through to get on their whitelist. I spent many hours going through and making sure all the boxes were checked and applied for whitelist status.

"Nope, sorry"
"Why not?"
"I can't tell you that information."
"But .... huh?"
"Sorry"

Finally switched to SES and all emails are delivered without problems. Of course it costs money, but if delivery matters it's pretty cheap (10 cents / thousand emails).

Some of us like the punishment, that's why we work in IT.

If yahoo want to act like jerks then that's their look-out. Those scumbags blew a Microsoft buy out that would have valued their irrelevant company at many times its true value. They clearly don't have a clue what they are doing.

Agree completely, but unfortunately with mission-critical emails I need to ensure delivery. It sucks to spend money on email, but DIY leaves one at the whims of overzealous ISPs / IT admins.

Don't blame those guys - it's the 995 out of 1000 email spammer scum that has wrecked it for everyone.

That and half assed IT Admin's that just don't care.

_________________
Either provide enough details for people to help, or sit back and listen to the crickets chirp.
Security thru obscurity is a myth - and really really annoying.

Maybe, but I believe whitelisting is just the lazy (and wrong) way to address the issue.

Mission-critical to whom? If they're mission-critical to those using Yahoo!, then they need to alert Yahoo! that this situation is not tolerable, and back it up by becoming ex-Yahoo! users if it is not fixed. If they're mission-critical to someone with no connection to Yahoo!, then it's understandable (though certainly annoying and perhaps stupid) for Yahoo! to say "not my problem."