Help configuring mail servers

[Gadget Wizard]

I'm having trouble configuring the mail servers.

This is what I have tried so far for each server.

Incoming: mydomain.com

When I try to receive mail, it asks for password for user@mydomain.com which looks correct. When I enter the eMail password I get username/password mismatch but I know the password is correct, I can access it through webmail with no problem.

outgoing: mail.mydomain.com

When I try to send mail, it says smtp server failed: mail.mydomain.com. Please verify your smtp server setting is correct or contact administrator.

Any idea what I'm missing? I've searched this forums and couldn't find any related posts that helped. Is there some trick I've missed?

btw - I'm using Netscape 7.1 eMail client

Thanks!!

[Skky]

Setting up email can be tricky sometimes and dathorn has a quirky way of handling email accounts, becuase of the name-based hosting scheme it uses.

I personally use "mail.domainname.com" for both incoming and outgoing mail, but I don't think it makes a difference.

For the SMTP (outgoing), it is possible that your ISP may be blocking it. Some ISPs make their clients use a specific server, hosted by them, to send mail. The reason they do this is to reduce spam. If this is the case for you, webmail would still work since it is the webserver sending it instead of you (thus bypassing your ISP).

As for outgoing, the username format varies. If you are using the main email account created automatically by cpanel, then you shouldn't indude the "@mydomain.com" part. However, If it is one you created in cpanel, then you must use the full email address as the username (ex: user@domain.com).

Alternatively, you can subsitute the @ symbol for a +. (ex: user+domain.com)

Remember also that passwords are case-sensitive. (check that capslock key)

Of course, your email will also not work properly if your domain name hasn't propagated yet. So if you just signed up for the dathorn account within the last 24 hours, it won't work.

I have only used the Mozilla Thunderbird email client with Dathorn, so I don't know if others are problematic or not.

[Gadget Wizard]

Thanks for the suggestions skyy.

I did get the incoming issue resolved. I do have to use the FULL address as the username. I thought I tried this already but guess not... This worked:

incoming: mail.domainname.com or domainname.com
User: user@domainname.com

Still no luck with the outgoing messages. I know it's not an ISP issue because I use other SMTP servers. I have had trouble in the past with Netscape though.

If anyone else has had success using NS to send outgoing messages let me know. I'll post back when(and if) I find the problem...

Thanks again !!

[Gadget Wizard]

Well, Looks like my new ISP does block port 25. The other outgoing mail server I have uses SSL and a different port.. So that explains it.

Oh well, chalk up another reason to outlaw spam!!

[Skky]

Yeah, they only block port 25.

Generally, they will provide you with a SMTP address (such as smtp.yourISP.com or mail.yourISP.com) you can use instead of mail.yourdomain.com.

Andrew also talks about this topic in the FAQ here: http://forums.dathorn.com/showthread.php?t=18

Andrew's test for seeing if it is your ISP blocking is good advice. Perhaps those in charge of keeping the FAQ up to date might want to add some of the above tips to it (like having to use the full email address for the username with user-created email accounts).

[-Oz-]

I added another faq, this work? http://forums.dathorn.com/showthread.php?p=4803

[Skky]

Yeah, that will work. However, I did some testing and discovered that the "user+domain.com" format doesn't work for the main email account (the account automatically made when you add a domain in WHM). In those cases, you must use only the username. You may want to add something to that regard. Perhaps you can explain it better.

BTW, thank you to all those who have contributed to the FAQ. I have personally found them very helpful.

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Bug report (rare email problem)

I've noticed a bug when using "main" email accounts under certain circumstances, so you might not to use them at all if you use a setup similiar to mine. This will only happen if you install squirrelmail on your own domain and then allow your clients (with email addresses on other domains) to use it. Any replies to mail they send out with the webmail will end up going to you as: their_username@yourdomain.com. Not sure if there is a quick fix for this, but this doesn't happen with non-main accounts.