Making sure an email has never reached EFA

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dwmp
Posts: 54
Joined: 05 Feb 2016 13:42

Making sure an email has never reached EFA

Post by dwmp »

Hello,

we have sometimes the case, that incoming mails have been sent but never reach the EFA (or at least I don't see them). We need to be sure if the problem is on the senders' or the recipients' side. Can I be sure that the mail has never received the EFA if:
- the mail is not listed in the overview "Recent Messages"
- the mail is not in the "Waiting (greylist)"?

Or is there a case where a mail is NOT in one or both of these lists but has blocked anyway by EFA?

Thanks in advance!

BR
dwmp
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pdwalker
Posts: 1553
Joined: 18 Mar 2015 09:16

Re: Making sure an email has never reached EFA

Post by pdwalker »

First, you have to know what your mail flow is. Then, you need to check the logs of every system under your control to see if the mail actually arrived.

For example, my system is Internet -> Messagelabs -> EFA -> Exchange.

Since Messagelabs is the first point of contact, I check their logs for the message that should have been delivered. Maybe they rejected it, and if so, they'll tell me why.

If they've accepted it, then I check the EFA logs in /var/log/maillog. If EFA has rejected it, the logs will tell me why.

Finally, exchange has its own log tracing.

Are you sure the message has been sent? Make them cc: a different, external address so you can verify that the message was addressed correctly.

Did the sender get any errors or bounce backs? If so, have them send you the error so you can intrepret the message properly.

In the few cases where I had people complaining that a message wasn't delivered, it was because
1/ they used the wrong address
2/ delayed by sqlgrey, but got through later
3/ got marked as spam incorrectly, but I could find it in the messagelist
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pdwalker
Posts: 1553
Joined: 18 Mar 2015 09:16

Re: Making sure an email has never reached EFA

Post by pdwalker »

To better answer your question: is it possible for EFA to block a message and not record it? Yes, but that will be in the /var/log/maillog files. If it is not, then it never reached EFA at all.
dwmp
Posts: 54
Joined: 05 Feb 2016 13:42

Re: Making sure an email has never reached EFA

Post by dwmp »

Ok, in that case it was indeed a sender problem.
But thank you very much for your help and information!
Now I know how I can be sure if an email has reached the EFA or not!
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