Troubleshooting

General:

ISMail is not working. What should I do?

If you are having trouble sending mail, see Troubleshooting (sending mail).

If you are having trouble receiving mail, see Troubleshooting (receiving mail).

If you are having trouble both sending and receiving mail, first see Troubleshooting (sending mail) and then see Troubleshooting (receiving mail).

For additional information, see the ISMail FAQ on the instantservers.com website.

If you continue to have problems either sending or receiving mail, please contact Technical Support

ISMail displays a 'Missing .dll' message. What should I do?

ISMail requires some network support that is not installed on all machines (e.g. modem files). Visit the Microsoft website and search for 'DLL Help Database' to find out which product or service pack you need.

Troubleshooting (problems sending mail):

Instructions for finding and fixing problems:
  1. Run the ISMail Basic Access Test (from the machine running ISMail)
    • The ISMail Basic Access Test checks that the mail servers are running and can be accessed from the internet.
  2. Check Internet Access to Domain used for mail
    • Again from the machine running ISMail, run the ISMail Basic Access Test (with your domain name) as follows:
      http://instantservers.com/ur_perl/bat_ism.pl?domain=mydomain.com
      where 'mydomain.com' is your domain name. This will cause the Basic Access Test to also check the domain DNS configuration (including both IP address and MX records) for mail access.
  3. If your email client program displays an error when you try to send mail:
    • enable SMTP Authentication (LOGIN, NTLM, CRAM-MD5) on the ISMail Manager 'Access' tab,
    • enable SMTP Authentication in your email client program (see Accounts: Client for examples)
  4. If your email client program does not display an error when you try to send mail:
    • check the Primary and Secondary DNS Servers on the ISMail Manager 'DNS' tab. If you do not know your DNS Servers, click 'Don't Know DNS Servers' and then 'Apply'. Do not use the DNS Servers of your Domain Name Registrar.
    • check that port 25 is not blocked for outgoing connections by opening a DOS window and entering: 'telnet instantservers.com 25'. If you see a line with '220 instantservers.com ESMTP...' displayed, type 'quit'. This means that port 25 is not blocked for outgoing connections. If, however, the connection fails, then port 25 is probably blocked. In this case, you will need to set a 'Smarthost' on the ISMail Manager 'Connections' tab to the name or IP of your ISP's SMTP mail server.
    • check the Log files for additional error messages

Troubleshooting (problems receiving mail):

Instructions for finding and fixing problems:

  1. Run the ISMail Basic Access Test (from the machine running ISMail)
    • The ISMail Basic Access Test checks that the mail servers are running and can be accessed from the internet.
  2. Check Internet Access to Domain used for mail
    • Again from the machine running ISMail, run the ISMail Basic Access Test with your domain name as follows:
      http://instantservers.com/ur_perl/bat_ism.pl?domain=mydomain.com
      where 'mydomain.com' is your domain name. This will cause the Basic Access Test to also check the domain DNS configuration for mail access.
  3. If your email client program displays an error when you try to receive mail:
    • check that the mail account exists for your domain on the ISMail Manager 'Account' tab
    • check that both the username and the domain name are specified for the account in the email client program (see Accounts: Client for examples)
    • check that your router is not blocking access to your server (from the server machine) by opening a DOS window and entering: 'telnet mydomain.com 110' where 'mydomain.com' is your domain name. If you see a line with '+OK POP3 ...' displayed, type 'quit'. This means that your router is not blocking access to your server (from the server machine) . If, however, the connection fails, enter 'telnet 127.0.0.1 110'. If you see a line with '+OK POP3...' displayed, type 'quit'. This means that your POP3 server is running, but that you will need to access it by IP address from your email client program (see Accounts: Client for examples). If, however, the connection fails, then your POP3 server is not running.
  4. If your email client program does not display an error when you try to receive mail:
    • check that the correct domain name apperas on the ISMail Manager 'Domain' tab. If your domain name is 'mydomain.com', then use 'mydomain.com'. Do not use 'www.mydomain.com', or 'mail.mydomain.com', or 'smtp.mydomain.com'.
    • check that port 25 is not blocked for incoming connections:
      • double-check that the SMTP server is running by opening a DOS window and entering 'telnet 127.0.0.1 25'. If you see a line with '220 mydomain.com ESMTP...' displayed, type 'quit'. This means the SMTP server is running. If, however, the connection fails, then the SMTP server is not running. Start it and re-try this 'telnet' command.
      • double-check that your domain is being resolved to the correct IP address by opeing a DOS window and entering 'ping mydomain.com' where 'mydomain.com is your domain name. If the IP displayed is the external IP of your router (or internet IP), then you domain is being correctly resolved. If no IP address is displayed, then there is a problem with the IP resolution of your domain name. Check with your Domain Name Registrar and/or DNS Service.
      • using a computer that is not on your LAN, open a DOS window and enter: 'telnet mydomain.com 25' where 'mydomain.com' is your domain name. If you see a line with '220 mydomain.com ESMTP...' displayed, type 'quit'. This means that port 25 is not blocked for incoming connections. If, however, the connection fails, then the:
        • SMTP server is not running (see above)
        • domain is not being resolved to the correct IP address (see above)
        • router or firewall software is blocking port 25 (see router or firewall documentation to 'open' port 25), or
        • ISP is blocking port 25 (you can not run a mail server)
    • check the Log files for additional error messages