CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

Hi,

I'm trying to configure CiviMail to use VERP. I'm generating email with the correct mail headers for Return-Path (eg: <return+b.156.12412.13743839a53a6954@mydomain.org). Everything seems OK with that aspect. Test mails get sent and delivered OK.

Our server config is as follows:

Web server hosts CiviCRM and sends all mails from the CRM. This web server hosts our primary domain (mydomain.org). Our MX records point to a managed mail server with Rackspace. All mail sent to mydomain.org goes to the Rackspace server. We have a catch-all address set up on the Rackspace account (return@mydomain.org). If I reply to an email sent by CiviMail it goes to the catch-all address OK.

The problem is that any mail that CiviMail sends to a non-existing email address (1q2w3e4rblah@gmail.com for example) is never bounced to the catch-all.

I'm confused as to why I can never get anything to bounce to the catch-all.

If it helps, here is a snippet from the mail logs (assume that mydomain.org and foofoo.com are real domains, but that steve1234@foofoo.com is invalid email address):

Sep 22 09:05:07 mydomain sm-mta[12056]: o8MF57Hc012056: from=<return+b.156.12412.13743839a53a6954@mydomain.org>, size=6408, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201009221505.o8MF57Hc012056@mydomain.org>, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA-v4, relay=localhost [127.0.0.1]
Sep 22 09:05:08 mydomain sm-mta[12058]: STARTTLS=client, relay=foofoo.com.s6a1.psmtp.com., version=TLSv1/SSLv3, verify=FAIL, cipher=AES256-SHA, bits=256/256
Sep 22 09:05:08 mydomain sm-mta[12058]: o8MF57Hc012056: to=<steve1234@foofoo.com>, ctladdr=<return+b.156.12412.13743839a53a6954@mydomain.org> (1002/1002), delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:01, mailer=esmtp, pri=126408, relay=foofoo.com.s6a1.psmtp.com. [64.18.5.10], dsn=5.1.1, stat=User unknown
Sep 22 09:05:10 mydomain sm-mta[12058]: o8MF57Hc012056: o8MF5AHc012058: DSN: User unknown
Sep 22 09:05:11 mydomain sm-mta[12058]: o8MF5AHc012058: to=<return+b.156.12412.13743839a53a6954@mydomain.org>, delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:01, mailer=local, pri=30000, relay=b.156.12412.13743839a53a6954, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent

Any clues/ideas please anyone?

Thanks!

Steve

Lobo,

Thanks. I know this already, but can you suggest a way to confirm that the bounces are/are not working. Is there an email address I could sent a test to that would generate a bounce message? Is there a public service that exists for this purpose I wonder?

I also note that in some cases (rackspace, godaddy hosted email) that their "show headers" command shows no "Return-Path" entry in the email headers. Is this something to be concerned about?

Thanks again,

Steve

Otherwise, you can use a gmail account, works well, but you have to remember to change the spam filter so the bounces aren't put in the spam folder