Is a message from "mail-daemon@domain.com" my server or theirs? Or neither?

Tim K

New Email
HI, I had client send me emails and he was getting a message that said:

"> This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.
>
>
>Delivery to the following recipients is still underway after 0 second(s):
>
> * xxx@xxxxxxxxxx.com
>
>Will keep trying and contact you if the message can't be delivered
>permanently.

(Email was not xx@xx... obviously). First of all, I did receive the messages immediately. Also, notice it says "after 0 second(s):"

He was claiming it was my server, but I was receiving his emails fine as well as others. Also, had others test and none of them received this Delivery Status Notification.

Finally, I don't recognize "domain.com" at all (not from my ISP or my hosting, etc.). Is this just some generic thing inserted by whichever server was having the problem? But what I really want to know is, who's side was having the problem? Can you tell from the info provided?

Thanks very much!

-Tim
 

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
Hi Tim,

With more information I can answer this question for you.

Specially, I need the full email headers from both the email you received and the bounce message the sender received.

I started a private conversation for you so you can share these without needing to post them in public.
 

Tim K

New Email
Replied privately (thanks!), but wanted to post here too that unfortunately I do not have the nor can I get access to the email headers for the bounceback message they received. Also, just think it is weird it stated "0 seconds" and delivered the email to me, but sent that message after waiting less than 1 second.
 

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
Hi Tim,

Without the specifics it's impossible for me to say with any certainty what was going on where.

I can speculate with several ideas including:
  • a mail server that isn't closing connections properly
  • a mail server that has a queue lifetime of 0 to try and keep it fast
  • a mail server with a archiving system keeping a copy of all emails that is broken
  • a bcc on the senders config that is going to a bad address
 

Tim K

New Email
Thanks! That is good info. Can I assume the following ... 2 and 4 would be the sender's side only, and 1 and 3 could be either? Is that a fair assumption?
 

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
Hi Tim,

Yes, that's fair

You might be able to narrow it down a bit based on what mail server sent the delivery notification in your original post

Also, please double check your settings and verify that someone didn't add a forwarding or other message rule that is duplicating your email to a 3rd party email address
 
Top