From SJA

Contents 1 Overview 2 Causes 3 Troubleshooting Procedure 3.1 Reception Problems 3.2 Sending Problems

Overview

With the explosion of viruses, spam, worms, and other malicious software, e-mail reliability has been seriously eroded over the past few years.

Causes

Unfortunately, there are literally an infinite number of reasons why an e-mail message may not be delivered:

• Incorrectly typed e-mail addresses
• Some e-mail programs hide the actual address from the user, replacing it with the person’s name. Often a user can have an incorrectly spelled address and not even see it.
• Some programs have “auto-complete” functionality, where it remembers what a user typed in so next time they don’t have to re-type the whole address. Unfortunately, incorrectly typed addresses are remembered and auto-completed as well!
• The message looks like SPAM, at least to an automated filter
• Some users like to use HTML emails (big letters, different fonts, colours, etc, pictures in their signatures, etc.) or words (“special deal” or “Viagra”) that can make a legitimate message look like SPAM to filtering software. For this reason, it is best to use only plain text, and to avoid over-using words that appear in spammed messages. (Also remember that many mobile devices such as Blackberries and Treos have difficulty with HTML e-mail messages; for this reason you are always best to use plain text!)
• A sending e-mail server is misconfigured
• It is very important that a sending e-mail server is properly configured. This includes a proper hostname with matching forward and reverse DNS entries, and is not configured as an open relay. As well, misconfigured mail servers can end up on a blacklist.
• A sending e-mail server has a history of being used by spammers
• If an e-mail server is used to send spam, it may end up being added to a blacklist. Any mail server that subscribes to this blacklist will then block any e-mail messages sent by the blacklisted server. This is a very common anti-spam method, so it is very important to ensure that no one uses your mail server to send anything that might be considered SPAM.

These are only the most common errors – however, there are literally an infinite number of reasons as to why an e-mail message does not get delivered properly.

Troubleshooting Procedure

Reception Problems

• First, read the above common causes, and discuss them with the person trying to send you the message. The “incorrectly spelled address” cause is the most common reason.
• Second, if the address is correctly spelled, and the mail still does not get through, get the user to send you (maybe by fax if the e-mail doesn’t work!) the source code of their e-mail message that they sent, the time date, and e-mail addresses in question (to and from) as well as any bounce messages that they may have received. Note that bounce messages are not always produced, depending on the cause of the problem. Send the source code of the sent message and any bounce messages to network@stjohn.ab.ca, or a hard copy to the Manager of Technical Services (fax: 780-452-2835) so we can find out why the message was not delivered. The only way for us to troubleshoot e-mail messages that are not being sent or received properly is to have this information.

Sending Problems

As well, if you are sending or expecting an important message, it is always a good idea to follow up with a phone call, a fax message, or a hard copy, whenever possible.