OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

Not strictly DIY but I know there are some knowledgeable people on
here that might be able to explain this in plain English so....

I've been trying to explain to the Mrs why emails that she sends or
receives sometimes seem to get delayed by hours, or even days. I've
always just accepted this, but in trying to explain why to her realise
that I don't really understand it.

Taking an example, she sends an email via a client (Thunderbird) on
her PC (in the UK), which uses POP/SMTP to connect to her email
provider Virginmedia, to a recipient in the UK who uses a client also
using POP/SMTP to connect to Hotmail. Her client is setup to send
emails immediately, the recipient has their client checking for new
emails every 30 mins.

What is the path that the email might take through the "internet
cloud" to the point that it arrives at the recipients PC, and what
might happen to cause delays in the email being received?

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:56:54 +0000, Davidm wrote:

Taking an example, she sends an email via a client (Thunderbird) on her
PC (in the UK), which uses POP/SMTP to connect to her email provider
Virginmedia, to a recipient in the UK who uses a client also using
POP/SMTP to connect to Hotmail. Her client is setup to send emails
immediately, the recipient has their client checking for new emails
every 30 mins.

What is the path that the email might take through the "internet cloud"
to the point that it arrives at the recipients PC

* Her client hands the email to one of VM's mail servers. You'll see that
happening at her end.
* It might well go through a couple of different servers inside VM, where
it'll get virus and spam filtered.
* VM's mail servers check DNS for the MX records telling it where the
mail servers are for the recipient domain. The various MX records have
priorities, telling the sending server which order to try them.
* VM's mail servers then try to hand the mail over to one of the the
highest priority. If it's unavailable, it'll try another. If it's
unavailable, it'll try another, and so on down the list. If none are
available, then the mail will be held and retried later.
* If the recipient email address is a personal domain that's then
forwarded on to the actual Hotmail box, then it'll get to the forwarding
server, which'll re-send it with the hotmail address wrapped around it.
* Once in Hotmail's systems, it'll be spam/virus filtered and passed on
internally to whichever server or cluster of servers hold that
recipient's mailbox. If it's a cluster, then it'll be replicated around
the individual servers.
* The recipient's client checks the Hotmail server(s), and new mail's
then delivered.

Have a read of the full headers for any mail she's received, and you'll
see the names and times of each step in the chain listed.

There's plenty of scope for delays and hiccups, especially if there's
that extra link involved. But, between large infrastructures like VM and
Hotmail, it _should_ be damn near instant.

and what might happen to cause delays in the email being received?

The most likely cause is the undeniable fact that Hotmail is run by
raging ****wits, tbh. Their spam filtering is a law unto itself, and
about as over-eager as a Spaniel puppy coming up to walkies time.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Wednesday 12 February 2014 10:56 Davidm wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Not strictly DIY but I know there are some knowledgeable people on
here that might be able to explain this in plain English so....

I've been trying to explain to the Mrs why emails that she sends or
receives sometimes seem to get delayed by hours, or even days. I've
always just accepted this, but in trying to explain why to her realise
that I don't really understand it.

Taking an example, she sends an email via a client (Thunderbird) on
her PC (in the UK), which uses POP/SMTP to connect to her email
provider Virginmedia, to a recipient in the UK who uses a client also
using POP/SMTP to connect to Hotmail. Her client is setup to send
emails immediately, the recipient has their client checking for new
emails every 30 mins.

What is the path that the email might take through the "internet
cloud" to the point that it arrives at the recipients PC, and what
might happen to cause delays in the email being received?

Usually because one or the other email provider is crap.

Very occasionally, there is a genuine fault in either the network
bewteen providers or with either end. Persistent delays suggests one or
the other parties should change their provider.

I run my own email server and on the whole, emails arrive within a few
seconds (eg place online order, see confirmation email seconds later).

The thing to do now is have your missus send some test emails to a gmail
account and see how long those take (gmail is generally pretty fast).

And I *strongly* recommend using IMAP, not POP.

POP is very deficient in features (folder support, multiple clients) and
efficiency (POP needs polling, IMAP can support IDLE/PUSH).

HTH

Tim
--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal
coverage

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 12/02/14 10:56, Davidm wrote:
Not strictly DIY but I know there are some knowledgeable people on
here that might be able to explain this in plain English so....

I've been trying to explain to the Mrs why emails that she sends or
receives sometimes seem to get delayed by hours, or even days. I've
always just accepted this, but in trying to explain why to her realise
that I don't really understand it.

Taking an example, she sends an email via a client (Thunderbird) on
her PC (in the UK), which uses POP/SMTP to connect to her email
provider Virginmedia, to a recipient in the UK who uses a client also
using POP/SMTP to connect to Hotmail. Her client is setup to send
emails immediately, the recipient has their client checking for new
emails every 30 mins.

What is the path that the email might take through the "internet
cloud" to the point that it arrives at the recipients PC, and what
might happen to cause delays in the email being received?

email is storte and forward technology.

usually the way it goes is
user-user ISP relay-recipient's ISP relay - recipient's ISP mail
storage-recipient.

The first stage is instantaneous, but issues can delay any of the
following stages.

If at any stage in the process the next hop is unavailable, or indeed if
the sender decides that its overloaded, the mail is held in a queue
which tends to be flushed on an hourly basis. Algorithms then are used
to that if its still undeliverable, it will get flushed at increasing
intervals until finally its sent back with an undeliverable note
attached after typically 48 hours.

Private email systems where he relays and receivers are not part of some
huge megalithic company like google or hotmail will in general always
deliver instantaneous responses.

Big email systems are targets for attacks and so busy that any glitch
can cause traffic to pile up.





--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

Well Virgin Media is run by the Google servers, so if there are any problems
in them a delay will occur.

Also of course it depends if greylisting is being used by one of the servers
in which case it might refuse the first attempt. This is often done to
thwart botted machines which basically send a huge torrent of emails once
and once only, hoping to avoide blaacklisting a server or getting detected.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Davidm" wrote in message
...
Not strictly DIY but I know there are some knowledgeable people on
here that might be able to explain this in plain English so....

I've been trying to explain to the Mrs why emails that she sends or
receives sometimes seem to get delayed by hours, or even days. I've
always just accepted this, but in trying to explain why to her realise
that I don't really understand it.

Taking an example, she sends an email via a client (Thunderbird) on
her PC (in the UK), which uses POP/SMTP to connect to her email
provider Virginmedia, to a recipient in the UK who uses a client also
using POP/SMTP to connect to Hotmail. Her client is setup to send
emails immediately, the recipient has their client checking for new
emails every 30 mins.

What is the path that the email might take through the "internet
cloud" to the point that it arrives at the recipients PC, and what
might happen to cause delays in the email being received?

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

x


And I *strongly* recommend using IMAP, not POP.



POP is very deficient in features (folder support, multiple clients) and

efficiency (POP needs polling, IMAP can support IDLE/PUSH).



HTH



Tim

--

Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/



http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal

coverage


Tim - could you expand on that please. I've seen it elsewhere but don't know how to implement it.

Rob

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Wednesday 12 February 2014 14:24 robgraham wrote in uk.d-i-y:

x


And I *strongly* recommend using IMAP, not POP.



POP is very deficient in features (folder support, multiple clients)
and

efficiency (POP needs polling, IMAP can support IDLE/PUSH).


Tim - could you expand on that please. I've seen it elsewhere but
don't know how to implement it.

Rob

You basically tell your mail client that the server is an IMAP server,
not a POP server. Depending on email provider, you may need to change
the server name from pop.somemail.blah to imap.somemail.blah

That's about it - there are a few twiddly details, but thunderbird as an
email client is *very* good at working those out for itself.

Here's a page (that's about as clear as mud, but does seem to mention an
important setting you may need to do on their website):

http://help.virginmedia.com/system/s...MER_TYPE=Cable

However this linked page should give you the exact settings you need for
Thunderbird:

http://help.virginmedia.com/system/s...MER_TYPE=Cable


The SMTP bit (for sending mail) remains the same.

Cheers

Tim

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal
coverage

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 12/02/2014 12:05, Tim Watts wrote:

And I *strongly* recommend using IMAP, not POP.

I have mixed feelings, there are pros and cons I find...

Sure IMAP has way more features, and is nice if you want shared access
to a mail folder - say a desktop and phone sharing a mailbox.

However:

Its slower and more bandwidth intensive. With high mail volumes, many
ISPs email servers can bork on large mailboxes, and effectively lock you
out of your email. You also need to consider that even sending email
typically requires the client to upload the message twice with IMAP -
once to deliver it to the SMTP server, and then again to place it in the
mailboxes IMAP Sent folder.

(clients like Thunderbird will let you configure local storage only of
sent messages - although then you won't see them from other clients)



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Wed, 12 Feb 2014 17:04:19 +0000, John Rumm wrote:

And I *strongly* recommend using IMAP, not POP.

I have mixed feelings, there are pros and cons I find...

Sure IMAP has way more features, and is nice if you want shared access
to a mail folder - say a desktop and phone sharing a mailbox.

However:

Its slower and more bandwidth intensive. With high mail volumes, many
ISPs email servers can bork on large mailboxes, and effectively lock you
out of your email. You also need to consider that even sending email
typically requires the client to upload the message twice with IMAP -
once to deliver it to the SMTP server, and then again to place it in the
mailboxes IMAP Sent folder.

Unlike POP, where the email reaches the sent folder on the server by...
Oh, wait a sec...

(clients like Thunderbird will let you configure local storage only of
sent messages - although then you won't see them from other clients)

Just like POP, then...?

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 12/02/2014 10:56, Davidm wrote:
Not strictly DIY but I know there are some knowledgeable people on
here that might be able to explain this in plain English so....

I've been trying to explain to the Mrs why emails that she sends or
receives sometimes seem to get delayed by hours, or even days. I've
always just accepted this, but in trying to explain why to her realise
that I don't really understand it.

Taking an example, she sends an email via a client (Thunderbird) on
her PC (in the UK), which uses POP/SMTP to connect to her email
provider Virginmedia, to a recipient in the UK who uses a client also
using POP/SMTP to connect to Hotmail. Her client is setup to send
emails immediately, the recipient has their client checking for new
emails every 30 mins.

What is the path that the email might take through the "internet
cloud" to the point that it arrives at the recipients PC, and what
might happen to cause delays in the email being received?



The header information in every email will contain information about all
servers it passed through and the times at which each server received it.

Example from one of my emails today

Received: from mwinf5c51 (mwinf5c51.me-wanadoo.net [10.223.111.101])
by mwinb3101 with LMTPA;
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:04:35 +0100

Received: from mta965.email.ebuyer.com ([8.30.201.57])
by mwinf5c51 with ME
id RS4a1n01v1EoLUw01S4bPE; Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:04:35 +0100




--
mailto:news{at}admac(dot}myzen{dot}co{dot}uk

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 12/02/2014 11:11, Adrian wrote:
On Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:56:54 +0000, Davidm wrote:
[...]
* Her client hands the email to one of VM's mail servers...

I've never understood why this step of relaying through an ISP's (or
other mail provider's) server is necessary. Why can't a mail client
just look up the MX record(s) of the destination domain and send the
mail straight there. Is it just to relieve the client of the bother of
handling failed deliveries and bounces etc., or is there some other reason?

--
Andy

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 12/02/2014 23:43, Andy Wade wrote:
On 12/02/2014 11:11, Adrian wrote:
On Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:56:54 +0000, Davidm wrote:
[...]
* Her client hands the email to one of VM's mail servers...

I've never understood why this step of relaying through an ISP's (or
other mail provider's) server is necessary. Why can't a mail client
just look up the MX record(s) of the destination domain and send the
mail straight there.

In many cases it could (at least where the ISP allows outgoing
connections on port 25 etc through its network)

(where "it" would more likely be a local email server rather than a
traditional email client)

Is it just to relieve the client of the bother of
handling failed deliveries and bounces etc., or is there some other reason?

I suspect that is largely the reason it evolved the way it did, in a
very less "always on" permanently connected world. Note the client would
have to handle not only the only failed deliveries, but also the
required length of retrying before deciding that the delivery has
actually failed rather than been delayed. So in that sense its not
typical end user client behaviour.



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

In article ,
Andy Wade wrote:
}I've never understood why this step of relaying through an ISP's (or
}other mail provider's) server is necessary. Why can't a mail client
}just look up the MX record(s) of the destination domain and send the
}mail straight there. Is it just to relieve the client of the bother of
}handling failed deliveries and bounces etc., or is there some other reason?

It's a fossilised behaviour which is now unnecessary and quite harmful.

The email protocols were designed to work with direct connections from
the sender to the recipient's system. That was in the days when a
computer that offered email was normally shared between many users,
always on, and always connected. So, to give an example of one type of
setup, when a sender triggered sending, their mail program invoked the
sendmail program to queue the message on their local machine. The
message would very quickly be taken off the queue, and the recipient's
machine would be looked-up (via their MX record) and contacted (via
SMTP). The message was sent across the SMTP connection, and when it
arrived on the recipient's machine it was appended to the mbox file in
their home directory. If the recipient happened to be logged in at
this time, they might have a program that notices that mbox has been
modifed and alerts them (e.g. biff).

However, some time later, the Internet became sufficiently popular
that people started getting dialup access. This obviously doesn't work
very well with the procedure just described. It would be rare for both
sender and recipient to be connected at the same time, so direct email
would be impractical. One essential step was to have the recipient get
their mail delivered to a server that was always connected - their
ISP's SMTP server. In many cases that's sufficent. The receipient now
has to use a program that fetches any new mail each time they connect,
which needs a new protocol - POP3. However, that doesn't really cover
all the cases to make email fully practical. If the recipient's mail
server is not instantly contactable, the sender has to stay dialled-in
until a retry succeeds. The simple solution to this is to have the
sender's dialup mail program send all email to the sender's ISP's mail
server over SMTP (since it has to be available always for incoming
mail, it's trivial for it to accept outgoing mail as well). There was
a time when many SMTP mail servers would accept email addressed to
anyone from anyone and pass it on. Spam has stopped that practice, so
such relaying nowadays is restricted to the ISP's customers.

Now that dialup has become rare again, and people have always-on
broadband, there's no good reason why email needs to be sent via the
sender's ISP. (Going via the recipient's ISP can be useful as it saves
the recipient having to leave their computer on all the time). Even
when retries are needed, it would be useful in many cases for the
sender to see that the message is still queued and being retried as it
lets them know that it definitely hasn't been sent yet.

One way this harms email is that if either of the relaying mail
servers cannot pass on the message, then the sender can only be
notified by sending them an email (i.e. a 'bounce'), which may itself
fail to get through. On a direct connection, the sender knows that the
message has been delivered, and even when sending to the receiver's
ISP, the destination address is typically checked before the message
is accepted, so a typo in the address can be rejected very quickly,
but the sender's ISP obviously cannot know which addresses are valid
at the receiver's ISP, so adding that extra intermediary necessarily
delays notification of failure.

However, the main harm done by this outdated architecture is that it
has greatly assisted in sending spam email. If senders connect
directly to recipients' ISP's mail servers, this makes it much easier
for the mail servers to notice that a sender is sending spam and block
them. When the senders go via an ISP, this means that the recipient
sees an incoming connection from the ISP for email sent by any of that
ISP's customers, making is really difficult to distinguish between one
customer who is spamming and should be blocked and all the other
customers who are innocent and should be handled normally. This is why
you occasionaly read of some major email hosting company either
getting mistakenly blacklisted or mistakenly blacklisting someone
else.

Of course having email go via two ISP's mail servers is very
convenient for spy agencies as it gives them more placed to intercept
messages.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 13/02/14 02:38, Charles Bryant wrote:
In ,
Andy wrote:
}I've never understood why this step of relaying through an ISP's (or
}other mail provider's) server is necessary. Why can't a mail client
}just look up the MX record(s) of the destination domain and send the
}mail straight there. Is it just to relieve the client of the bother of
}handling failed deliveries and bounces etc., or is there some other reason?



In the early days store and forward through possibly many machines most
of them not on the internet at all was the way things were done.

UUCP over direct modems was the order of the day: Unix machines sending
mail between each other at various times - usually cheap phone rates at
night.

Then came PCs. Well tat was OK because they could use POP3 to contact
the local unix server, and that would hold the mail and forward it as
per normal.

So the concept of the mail server/SMTP relay was born. But still store
and forwarding. Over modems.

Bit by bit the internet backbone started to grow. Howvver it was still
unreliable, consisting often of dial up links, X-25 links,. bits of wet
string and carrier pigeons. And servers were often down . Sop the
concept of a backup server was introduced: a place to send mail as an
alternate. That would be closer to the final target.

Then when the internet got better, we had spam. Spam and junk we didn't
want getting to the end user, so we kept the mail relays as places that
were identifiably maintained by someone responsible who would keep logs
and deal with abuse, and possibly filter out junk.

The ISPS started handling mega amounts of traffic, so they stated to
split the functions between machines. One relay to accept user mail from
their own customers ONLY. One main or two (or more, as shown by MX
records) high CPU capability high bandwidth but small disk receiver and
spam and virus filter, and one or more machines to handle the web mail
and pop downloads, and Imap. Less CPU but LOADS of storage.

It was unwise to allow anyone to send direct, because it was an open
invitation to spam, and most sendmail receivers will not accept mail
from arbitrary IP addresses within known 'domestic' IP ranges.

And it was unwise to allow them to receive direct, because it means that
they had to leave open connections to the internet ready to accept -
well any kind of crap that anyone shoved at them.

But it is perfectly possible to set up a domain with MX records pointing
at a domestic IP address, if you want.

Its is also possible to send direct, though not from most mail user
agents. Few targets will accept that mail from you though.

If you have a fixed IP address and you jump through a few hoops you MAY
get it accepted by the blacklisters.

But if you go for raw sending and receiving at your won mail server, you
step outside the spam and malware scanning that is done by the ISPS.
Your choice.

In all cases it is not worth using a secondary MX record though. Not
these days.

Largely the reason it still is the way it is, is because users simply
don't want to know how its done or lift a finger more than they have to
to have it done for them.




--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

En el artículo , Andy Wade spambucke
escribió:

I've never understood why this step of relaying through an ISP's (or
other mail provider's) server is necessary. Why can't a mail client
just look up the MX record(s) of the destination domain and send the
mail straight there.

Spammers.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

En el artículo , Davidm
escribió:

What is the path that the email might take through the "internet
cloud" to the point that it arrives at the recipients PC, and what
might happen to cause delays in the email being received?

Open up an email you have received, and find out how to display the full
headers. On some clients, it'll be "Message Properties", on others
"View Source"; the terminology varies. On Thunderbird, it's View -
Message Source, on Turnpike, press control-H.

When you have the full headers, which can initially look quite
intimidating, read them from the bottom up, starting at the first line
that starts with "Received:" and working upwards. That shows you the
path the message has taken to reach its destination. Each hop of the
transfer adds its own "Received:" line. By looking at the times at the
end of each Received line, you can work out where the delay(s) are.

Here's an excerpt from an example email sent from a Hotmail user to a
Plusnet user. I've separated the Received: lines to make them easier to
parse and deleted everything else.

Reading from the bottom up, the mail was sent by a Hotmail user at 06:07
-0800, so adding 8 hours to bring that to GMT makes it 14:07:50 UK time.

Next line up, hosts.co.uk received the message from Hotmail at 14:07:51

Next line up, Plusnet's incoming mail server receives the mail from
hosts.co.uk at 14:07:53

Last line, Plusnet's mail store receives the message at 14:07:53.

So the total time taken to transfer the message is 3 seconds.


Received: from [212.159.9.108] (helo=avasin04.plus.net)
by inmx04.plus.net with esmtp (PlusNet MXCore v2.00) id
1WDaTh-0000Jg-TS
for redacted; Wed, 12 Feb 2014 14:07:53 +0000

Received: from fwd2.hosts.co.uk ([85.233.160.24])
by avasin04.plus.net with Plusnet Cloudmark Gateway
id RS7r1n00B0XsxQd01S7tc2; Wed, 12 Feb 2014 14:07:53 +0000

Received: from [157.55.0.215] (helo=dub0-omc1-s16.dub0.hotmail.com)
by fwd2.hosts.co.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.72)
(envelope-from redacted)
id 1WDaTf-000325-Q6
for redacted; Wed, 12 Feb 2014 14:07:51 +0000

Received: from DUB114-W133 ([157.55.0.239]) by
dub0-omc1-s16.dub0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4675);
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 06:07:50 -0800




--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Thursday 13 February 2014 06:47 Mike Tomlinson wrote in uk.d-i-y:

En el artÃ*culo , Andy Wade
spambucke escribió:

I've never understood why this step of relaying through an ISP's (or
other mail provider's) server is necessary. Why can't a mail client
just look up the MX record(s) of the destination domain and send the
mail straight there.

Spammers.


Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).


--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal
coverage

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 12/02/2014 23:43, Andy Wade wrote:
On 12/02/2014 11:11, Adrian wrote:
On Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:56:54 +0000, Davidm wrote:
[...]
* Her client hands the email to one of VM's mail servers...

I've never understood why this step of relaying through an ISP's (or
other mail provider's) server is necessary. Why can't a mail client
just look up the MX record(s) of the destination domain and send the
mail straight there. Is it just to relieve the client of the bother of
handling failed deliveries and bounces etc., or is there some other reason?


It can, but, so many infected machines relay spam that many addresses
are routinely blocked by spam lists or just because they are dynamic.

My nas drives currently just send the mail without going through the ISP
but if they start blocking I will have to add a login for one of my
external mail providers.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

Charles Bryant wrote:
Now that dialup has become rare again, and people have always-on
broadband,

I don't know that that's true all over the world. And it's certainly not
true of my iPhone.

there's no good reason why email needs to be sent via the
sender's ISP.

--
Mike Barnes

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Thu, 13 Feb 2014 08:18:29 +0000, Tim Watts wrote:

I've never understood why this step of relaying through an ISP's (or
other mail provider's) server is necessary. Why can't a mail client
just look up the MX record(s) of the destination domain and send the
mail straight there.

Spammers.

Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).

It used to work.

Unfortunately, spammers and malware (especially spamming malware) used to
pump a ****load of their junk out directly to port 25 on anything that'd
listen. So now damn near every SMTP server will refuse to accept mail
from any dynamically allocated IP address.

Seriously, even on a lighter business-grade ADSL line, it's pointless
attempting to do anything but route outward-bound email through a fixed
smart relay at your ISP or A.N.Other mail provider. It WILL be rejected
by recipients.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 12/02/2014 11:11, Adrian wrote:

The most likely cause is the undeniable fact that Hotmail is run by
raging ****wits, tbh. Their spam filtering is a law unto itself, and
about as over-eager as a Spaniel puppy coming up to walkies time.


This.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 13/02/2014 09:06, Huge wrote:
On 2014-02-13, Charles Bryant wrote:

However, the main harm done by this outdated architecture is that it
has greatly assisted in sending spam email.

IMO, you have this back to front.


Yep. Millions of zombie PCs, all able to send mail directly? if you
weren't able to use RBL's for the user-space IP ranges, it's be a
nightmare. See also the fact that some ISPs are blocking SMTP out from
their customer addresses, unless it's directed to their SMTP server,
which you then have to authenticate to.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:56:54 +0000, Davidm
wrote:

Not strictly DIY but I know there are some knowledgeable people on
here that might be able to explain this in plain English so....

I've been trying to explain to the Mrs why emails that she sends or
receives sometimes seem to get delayed by hours, or even days. I've
always just accepted this, but in trying to explain why to her realise
that I don't really understand it.

Taking an example, she sends an email via a client (Thunderbird) on
her PC (in the UK), which uses POP/SMTP to connect to her email
provider Virginmedia, to a recipient in the UK who uses a client also
using POP/SMTP to connect to Hotmail. Her client is setup to send
emails immediately, the recipient has their client checking for new
emails every 30 mins.

What is the path that the email might take through the "internet
cloud" to the point that it arrives at the recipients PC, and what
might happen to cause delays in the email being received?

Thank you all for your replies, I now undestand a lot more than I did!

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

En el artículo , Tim Watts
escribió:

Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).

Yes, it'll work if the ISP permits outgoing port 25, but no self-
respecting ISP would allow that. As another poster pointed out, it
would leave the internet wide open to mass spamming by
infected/botnetted PCs.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 13/02/14 08:18, Tim Watts wrote:
On Thursday 13 February 2014 06:47 Mike Tomlinson wrote in uk.d-i-y:

En el artÃ*culo , Andy Wade
spambucke escribió:

I've never understood why this step of relaying through an ISP's (or
other mail provider's) server is necessary. Why can't a mail client
just look up the MX record(s) of the destination domain and send the
mail straight there.

Spammers.


Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).


and 'silliness' rejecting mail from arbitrary private senders.


--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 13/02/14 09:02, Adrian wrote:
On Thu, 13 Feb 2014 08:18:29 +0000, Tim Watts wrote:

I've never understood why this step of relaying through an ISP's (or
other mail provider's) server is necessary. Why can't a mail client
just look up the MX record(s) of the destination domain and send the
mail straight there.

Spammers.

Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).

It used to work.

Unfortunately, spammers and malware (especially spamming malware) used to
pump a ****load of their junk out directly to port 25 on anything that'd
listen. So now damn near every SMTP server will refuse to accept mail
from any dynamically allocated IP address.

Seriously, even on a lighter business-grade ADSL line, it's pointless
attempting to do anything but route outward-bound email through a fixed
smart relay at your ISP or A.N.Other mail provider. It WILL be rejected
by recipients.

however you can rent a VM and be that
a.n.other yourself.



--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 13/02/14 11:42, Mike Tomlinson wrote:
En el artÃ*culo , Tim Watts
escribió:

Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).

Yes, it'll work if the ISP permits outgoing port 25, but no self-
respecting ISP would allow that.

All of them do. Allow that.



As another poster pointed out, it
would leave the internet wide open to mass spamming by
infected/botnetted PCs.

It does, which is why most mail targets routinely reject any
conversation emanating from those iP addresses...


--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:00:18 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).

Yes, it'll work if the ISP permits outgoing port 25, but no self-
respecting ISP would allow that.

All of them do. Allow that.

No, quite a few do/did block 25 outgoing.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Thursday 13 February 2014 09:02 Adrian wrote in uk.d-i-y:

On Thu, 13 Feb 2014 08:18:29 +0000, Tim Watts wrote:

I've never understood why this step of relaying through an ISP's (or
other mail provider's) server is necessary. Why can't a mail client
just look up the MX record(s) of the destination domain and send the
mail straight there.

Spammers.

Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).

It used to work.

Unfortunately, spammers and malware (especially spamming malware) used
to pump a ****load of their junk out directly to port 25 on anything
that'd listen. So now damn near every SMTP server will refuse to
accept mail from any dynamically allocated IP address.

Seriously, even on a lighter business-grade ADSL line, it's pointless
attempting to do anything but route outward-bound email through a
fixed smart relay at your ISP or A.N.Other mail provider. It WILL be
rejected by recipients.

The latter is not actually true - I've been running a mail server forver
(until last year) off a server on ADSL.

Now that particular function is on a Linode server.

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal
coverage

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Thursday 13 February 2014 11:42 Mike Tomlinson wrote in uk.d-i-y:

En el artÃ*culo , Tim Watts
escribió:

Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).

Yes, it'll work if the ISP permits outgoing port 25, but no self-
respecting ISP would allow that. As another poster pointed out, it
would leave the internet wide open to mass spamming by
infected/botnetted PCs.


AA do.

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal
coverage

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 13/02/14 12:47, Adrian wrote:
On Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:00:18 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).

Yes, it'll work if the ISP permits outgoing port 25, but no self-
respecting ISP would allow that.

All of them do. Allow that.

No, quite a few do/did block 25 outgoing.

bit hard to use their mail relay then.


--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 13/02/14 12:54, Tim Watts wrote:
On Thursday 13 February 2014 09:02 Adrian wrote in uk.d-i-y:

On Thu, 13 Feb 2014 08:18:29 +0000, Tim Watts wrote:

I've never understood why this step of relaying through an ISP's (or
other mail provider's) server is necessary. Why can't a mail client
just look up the MX record(s) of the destination domain and send the
mail straight there.

Spammers.

Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).

It used to work.

Unfortunately, spammers and malware (especially spamming malware) used
to pump a ****load of their junk out directly to port 25 on anything
that'd listen. So now damn near every SMTP server will refuse to
accept mail from any dynamically allocated IP address.

Seriously, even on a lighter business-grade ADSL line, it's pointless
attempting to do anything but route outward-bound email through a
fixed smart relay at your ISP or A.N.Other mail provider. It WILL be
rejected by recipients.

The latter is not actually true - I've been running a mail server forver
(until last year) off a server on ADSL.


IF you have a static IP address with a proper reverse lookup on it, you
have a chance.



Now that particular function is on a Linode server.



--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Thursday 13 February 2014 13:25 The Natural Philosopher wrote in
uk.d-i-y:

The latter is not actually true - I've been running a mail server
forver (until last year) off a server on ADSL.


IF you have a static IP address with a proper reverse lookup on it,
you have a chance.

Indeed I do - and I do agree that is a reasonable prerequiste.

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal
coverage

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Thursday 13 February 2014 13:12 Huge wrote in uk.d-i-y:


I suspect that AA's customers are not run-of-the-mill Wintendo
drivers.

That's the other reason I like AA - my IP range is not mixed up in a
netblock full of retards...

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal
coverage

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

En el artículo , The Natural Philosopher
escribió:

bit hard to use their mail relay then.

port 25 from the ISP to the internet, dimwit.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Thursday 13 February 2014 13:41 Huge wrote in uk.d-i-y:

On 2014-02-13, Tim Watts wrote:
On Thursday 13 February 2014 13:12 Huge wrote in uk.d-i-y:


I suspect that AA's customers are not run-of-the-mill Wintendo
drivers.

That's the other reason I like AA - my IP range is not mixed up in a
netblock full of retards...

I'm on their website right now, ordering my service.



I'll be on their website ordering a VDSL upgrade in a couple of months
hopefully - the BT Openreach guy is outside my house wiring the new FTTC
cabinet (one of many that have appeared in Robertsbridge). Yes I did
give him a cuppa - and have a chat.

He reckons after all the FTTC has been done everywhere (which is a
government pushed initiative apparantly, because I thought it would be
30 years before we saw it!), the pressure will be on to do fibre to the
premises - even in places as unlikely as mine.

I suppose the "exchange" will become little more than a fibre routing
centre at this rate - as the "exchange" will effectively be in a little
green box near your house.

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal
coverage

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 13/02/14 13:36, Mike Tomlinson wrote:
En el artÃ*culo , The Natural Philosopher
escribió:

bit hard to use their mail relay then.

port 25 from the ISP to the internet, dimwit.



well block that and they can't send any relayed mail at all can they?

;-)



--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 13/02/2014 13:24, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 13/02/14 12:47, Adrian wrote:
On Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:00:18 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).

Yes, it'll work if the ISP permits outgoing port 25, but no self-
respecting ISP would allow that.

All of them do. Allow that.

No, quite a few do/did block 25 outgoing.

bit hard to use their mail relay then.


The point being they allow it *only* to their mail relay.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On 13/02/14 14:27, Chris Bartram wrote:
On 13/02/2014 13:24, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 13/02/14 12:47, Adrian wrote:
On Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:00:18 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Except the PP's proposal *would* work (bar any sillyness blocking
outgoing TCP/25 by the ISP).

Yes, it'll work if the ISP permits outgoing port 25, but no self-
respecting ISP would allow that.

All of them do. Allow that.

No, quite a few do/did block 25 outgoing.

bit hard to use their mail relay then.


The point being they allow it *only* to their mail relay.

But not from?


--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

OT Sending and Receiving Emails
 

On Thu, 13 Feb 2014 10:23:01 +0000, Davidm
wrote:

On Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:56:54 +0000, Davidm
wrote:

Not strictly DIY but I know there are some knowledgeable people on
here that might be able to explain this in plain English so....

I've been trying to explain to the Mrs why emails that she sends or
receives sometimes seem to get delayed by hours, or even days. I've
always just accepted this, but in trying to explain why to her realise
that I don't really understand it.

Taking an example, she sends an email via a client (Thunderbird) on
her PC (in the UK), which uses POP/SMTP to connect to her email
provider Virginmedia, to a recipient in the UK who uses a client also
using POP/SMTP to connect to Hotmail. Her client is setup to send
emails immediately, the recipient has their client checking for new
emails every 30 mins.

What is the path that the email might take through the "internet
cloud" to the point that it arrives at the recipients PC, and what
might happen to cause delays in the email being received?

Thank you all for your replies, I now undestand a lot more than I did!

Nice of you to be so polite instead of saying:

" I now undestand a lot more than I wanted to know!" :-)
--
Regards, J B Good