Well, this I just experienced a few minutes ago, and I think I should blog it. After queuing a mail on 127.0.0.1 smtp server in evening, I found that it was still not delivered. On tailing /var/log/maillog I found that smtp port of smtp.gmail.com is unreachable. I tried to telnet smtp.gmail.com on smtps port, there I got connected. So, I thought Gmail might have dropped support for relaying mails via smtp port, only smtps port. So then I asked one of my friend Edwin, who is fortunately online from non-Indian (or to be more precise, non-Airtel) network, to connect to smtp port of smtp.gmail.com. He told me that he is able to connect. Now, the next thought that came in my mind, Gmail has blocked smtp port of a specific box (though chances of that is very low, as these companies are running cluster of servers for load balancing, and anyways I never worked on clustered network :( ). So I tried another IPv4 address of smtp.gmail.com, still same problem. Then I thought to try connecting to another SMTP server’s smtp, so this time I tried MX of microsoft.com, still same problem, so then I checked my box’s and my ADSL modem’s iptables, but no such rule found. So then I called Gautam to know if he is already experiencing this problem. So he also confirmed me the same. Then Edwin suggested me that I should try tcptraceroute to see where packets were being dropped. Following is the stuff which I did:
[wahjava@chatteau ~]$ sudo tcptraceroute smtp.gmail.com -p 25 Password: traceroute to smtp.gmail.com (72.14.215.109), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 1 172.16.0.1 (172.16.0.1) 1.503 ms 2.419 ms 3.376 ms 2 rasBTNLDel-static-135.215.56.202.mantraonline.com (202.56.215.135) 366.339 ms 367.289 ms 368.254 ms 3 rasBTNLDel-static-230.215.56.202.mantraonline.com (202.56.215.230) 378.217 ms 380.183 ms 384.148 ms 4 * * * 5 * * * 6 * * * 7 * * * 8 rasBTNLDel-static-162.215.56.202.mantraonline.com (202.56.215.162) 3340.447 ms !X * * [wahjava@chatteau ~]$ sudo tcptraceroute smtp.gmail.com -p 995 traceroute to smtp.gmail.com (209.85.133.111), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 1 172.16.0.1 (172.16.0.1) 1.479 ms 2.408 ms 3.352 ms 2 rasBTNLDel-static-135.215.56.202.mantraonline.com (202.56.215.135) 20.312 ms 22.271 ms 23.240 ms 3 rasBTNLDel-static-230.215.56.202.mantraonline.com (202.56.215.230) 33.203 ms 34.168 ms 36.131 ms 4 rasBTNLDel-static-162.215.56.202.mantraonline.com (202.56.215.162) 48.099 ms 50.066 ms 51.032 ms 5 203.101.95.181 (203.101.95.181) 52.985 ms 53.949 ms 60.921 ms 6 203.101.100.29 (203.101.100.29) 84.881 ms 61.776 ms 65.554 ms 7 203.101.100.237 (203.101.100.237) 99.229 ms 101.843 ms 107.750 ms 8 202.56.223.29 (202.56.223.29) 103.664 ms 108.346 ms 3062.296 ms 9 203.208.147.45 (203.208.147.45) 3303.216 ms 303.740 ms 298.521 ms 10 203.208.149.57 (203.208.149.57) 321.219 ms 296.750 ms 297.529 ms 11 * * * 12 209.85.130.6 (209.85.130.6) 337.195 ms 295.753 ms 296.539 ms 13 66.249.95.212 (66.249.95.212) 362.315 ms 352.741 ms 354.526 ms 14 72.14.238.155 (72.14.238.155) 375.188 ms 72.14.239.19 (72.14.239.19) 378.140 ms 386.085 ms 15 216.239.43.13 (216.239.43.13) 379.977 ms 216.239.49.22 (216.239.49.22) 401.926 ms 402.796 ms 16 209.85.133.111 (209.85.133.111) 1969.214 ms 1969.046 ms 1969.025 ms [wahjava@chatteau ~]$ sudo tcptraceroute smtp.ncr.airtelbroadband.in -p 25 traceroute to smtp.ncr.airtelbroadband.in (202.56.230.30), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 1 172.16.0.1 (172.16.0.1) 1.593 ms 2.507 ms 3.457 ms 2 rasBTNLDel-static-135.215.56.202.mantraonline.com (202.56.215.135) 398.424 ms 399.378 ms 403.343 ms 3 rasBTNLDel-static-230.215.56.202.mantraonline.com (202.56.215.230) 404.307 ms 406.274 ms 408.237 ms 4 rasBTNLDel-static-162.215.56.202.mantraonline.com (202.56.215.162) 414.203 ms 416.167 ms 435.135 ms 5 203.101.95.181 (203.101.95.181) 433.101 ms 434.066 ms 439.032 ms 6 * * * 7 smtp.airtelbroadband.in (202.56.230.30) 5374.574 ms 5374.184 ms 5374.113 ms [wahjava@chatteau ~]$ dig +short smtp.ncr.airtelbroadband.in 202.56.230.27 202.56.230.30 [wahjava@chatteau ~]$ telnet smtp.ncr.airtelbroadband.in smtp Trying 202.56.230.27... Connected to smtp.ncr.airtelbroadband.in (202.56.230.27). Escape character is '^]'. 220 **************************************************************** ^] telnet> quit Connection closed. [wahjava@chatteau ~]$ sudo tcptraceroute smtp.ncr.airtelbroadband.in -p 25 Password: traceroute to smtp.ncr.airtelbroadband.in (202.56.230.27), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 1 172.16.0.1 (172.16.0.1) 1.434 ms 2.346 ms 3.297 ms 2 rasBTNLDel-static-135.215.56.202.mantraonline.com (202.56.215.135) 263.255 ms 268.210 ms 271.172 ms 3 rasBTNLDel-static-230.215.56.202.mantraonline.com (202.56.215.230) 270.139 ms 274.102 ms 276.069 ms 4 rasBTNLDel-static-162.215.56.202.mantraonline.com (202.56.215.162) 280.034 ms 280.991 ms 285.953 ms 5 203.101.95.181 (203.101.95.181) 287.920 ms 288.886 ms 290.852 ms 6 203.101.100.198 (203.101.100.198) 291.817 ms 321.753 ms 322.518 ms 7 smtpout.airtelbroadband.in (202.56.230.27) 973.533 ms 973.181 ms 973.111 ms
As clear from the above dump, that outgoing TCP packets to smtp port are dropped at 202.56.215.162, but 202.56.215.162 allows packets to smtp.ncr.airtelbroadband.in. So, what do you conclude from this ? Anyways, I reported this to their customer care, but customer care representative told me that they’re currently having some problem with some 3rd party websites. And he told me that issue will be resolved tomorrow. Let’s hope it get resolved soon.
Thanks for quoting tcptraceroute as ‘my’ suggestion! I’m flattered! hehe!
I often wonder, about how I should reciprocate these random acts of altruism you have
shown to me, regardless of how I’ve been to you. I must say that, you have proved yourselves
to be a better christian than these “christians by birth” themselves are… [chuckles :) ]
Comment by Edwin Jose Palathinkal — 20061209 @ 1758
If I want credit for what I did, then I should give credit to others for what they did :).
BtW, thanks you told me about a new utility. :)
Comment by आशीष शुक्ल — 20061209 @ 1809
Hi,
Having same problem… but finaly my bg brother suggest me try incredimail’ and everythings working just fine… But still outlook/window mail not able to send any mail but can download easily…..
Comment by Akhil — 20080413 @ 2201
Hey even I’m facing the same problem. Does it work for you now?
Comment by Emmanuel — 20080418 @ 1228
The problem was there only for few hours. However you can trying doing tcptraceroute to see if you’ve the same problem ? In my case I was able to access Airtel’s SMTP servers but not others, is this also happening with you, hmm..? I think you should report the issue to some technical person at Airtel Customer Care.
Comment by आशीष शुक्ल — 20080418 @ 1305
same problem for me also , look at this
sivaji@dappyboy:~/Desktop$ sudo tcptraceroute smtp.gmail.com -p 25
Selected device eth0, address 192.168.1.2, port 25 for outgoing packets
Tracing the path to smtp.gmail.com (209.85.147.111) on TCP port 80 (www), 30 hops max
1 192.168.1.1 1.795 ms 0.763 ms 0.644 ms
2 ABTS-TN-dynamic-001.48.164.122.airtelbroadband.in (122.164.48.1) 30.483 ms 33.425 ms 29.665 ms
3 61.246.253.225 28.807 ms 32.974 ms 29.932 ms
4 61.95.240.129 29.074 ms 28.998 ms 29.673 ms
5 125.21.167.29 30.549 ms 31.171 ms 29.877 ms
6 sl-gw39-nyc-10-1.sprintlink.net (160.81.228.73) 251.121 ms 254.199 ms 250.508 ms
7 sl-bb24-nyc-5-0-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.13.63) 255.950 ms 255.200 ms 255.122 ms
8 sl-crs2-nyc-0-0-0-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.13.180) 253.033 ms 253.995 ms 250.491 ms
9 sl-crs1-pen-0-4-5-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.20.142) 257.604 ms 256.976 ms 254.633 ms
10 sl-bb24-rly-4-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.20.210) 308.911 ms 340.375 ms 414.357 ms
11 sl-st22-ash-5-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.20.155) 262.331 ms 262.348 ms 259.538 ms
12 144.223.154.126 271.256 ms 275.056 ms 273.456 ms
13 209.85.130.18 274.713 ms 275.575 ms 346.772 ms
14 216.239.46.224 287.571 ms 279.305 ms 280.997 ms
15 72.14.233.116 321.341 ms 322.798 ms 340.142 ms
16 72.14.239.12 326.941 ms 327.988 ms 330.723 ms
17 72.14.233.37 332.323 ms 333.659 ms 329.777 ms
18 64.233.174.121 329.190 ms 330.348 ms 329.487 ms
19 209.85.251.166 338.522 ms 341.561 ms 342.873 ms
20 74.125.28.134 338.999 ms 336.562 ms 339.706 ms
21 * * *
22 * * *
23 * * *
24 * * *
25 * * *
26 * * *
27 * * *
28 * * *
29 * * *
30 * * *
Destination not reached
Comment by sivaji — 20080607 @ 0115
abbe [~] chateau% tcptraceroute -n smtp.gmail.com 25
Selected device rl0, address 172.16.0.2, port 58087 for outgoing packets
Tracing the path to smtp.gmail.com (209.85.147.109) on TCP port 25
(smtp), 30 hops max
1 172.16.0.3 0.161 ms 0.121 ms 0.112 ms
2 * * *
3 122.160.220.246 32.099 ms 29.503 ms 30.511 ms
4 122.160.220.170 29.041 ms 29.988 ms 30.254 ms
5 125.19.22.145 29.566 ms 29.751 ms 29.774 ms
6 125.21.167.29 80.126 ms 79.708 ms 80.538 ms
7 160.81.228.73 295.363 ms 295.086 ms 296.613 ms
8 144.232.13.57 296.137 ms 294.570 ms 297.141 ms
9 144.232.7.102 305.400 ms 399.623 ms 306.985 ms
10 144.232.7.107 295.332 ms 294.612 ms 297.372 ms
11 144.232.20.123 302.761 ms 304.229 ms 305.503 ms
12 144.232.20.210 297.825 ms * *
13 144.232.20.155 304.614 ms 306.871 ms 305.288 ms
14 160.81.98.34 307.899 ms 310.173 ms 311.633 ms
15 209.85.130.18 415.064 ms 319.779 ms 447.346 ms
16 216.239.46.224 345.952 ms 346.332 ms 345.355 ms
17 72.14.232.96 372.318 ms 372.163 ms 374.930 ms
18 66.249.95.210 398.413 ms 396.335 ms 394.614 ms
19 216.239.48.34 399.632 ms 399.772 ms 399.866 ms
20 216.239.48.132 384.074 ms 385.710 ms 387.285 ms
21 216.239.48.137 393.675 ms 394.310 ms 397.167 ms
22 209.85.251.158 400.379 ms 398.582 ms 395.631 ms
23 74.125.28.2 389.982 ms 395.841 ms 397.665 ms
24 209.85.147.109 [open] 392.153 ms 396.338 ms 396.131 ms
In your case some 74.125.28.134 is dropping packets probably, did you
tried a telnet to smtp.gmail.com:25, hmm…? Or probably a router is not
interested in forwarding TTL exceeded ICMP packets. But Airtel is not
responsible for this :P .
Comment by आशीष शुक्ल — 20080609 @ 0249
Subject :**Urgent** request My Airtlel Broadband Cannection is immieadly Droping this date.
Comment by s.p.singh — 20090204 @ 1445
Subject :Urgent request My Airtlel Broadband Cannection is immieadly Droping in this date.
regar
s.p.singh
4072815
lko
Comment by s.p.singh — 20090204 @ 1446
Sir,
My Airtel Broadband connection is urgent drop in this date. my transfer is gorakhpur. urgent immedate this connection is drop.
In this date not pay other bill. plz disconnet/drop my net connection. urgent.
Comment by s.p.singh — 20090204 @ 1449