need help with mail()

[knichel]

I have a website that manages my students grades etc... Parts of the site use the mail() function. Some mail servers are rejecting my emails or putting them into spam folder. I have postfix installed on my web server so I can send mail from the site, but I do not receive email for this domain. So I set the Return-Path and from etc. to my work email address. I am guessing that this may be the reason my email is getting blocked?

Here is a copy of the message header...

From AIT Web Admin Wed Oct 10 03:14:17 2007
Return-Path: <[e-mail]>
Authentication-Results: mta214.mail.re3.yahoo.com  from=; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received: from IP.OF.MY.SERVER  (EHLO mail.myDomain.org) (IP.OF.MY.SERVER)
  by mta214.mail.re3.yahoo.com with SMTP; Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:15:34 -0700
Received: by mail.myDomain.org (Postfix, from userid 33)
	id B460B4C0CD5; Wed, 10 Oct 2007 06:14:17 -0400 (EDT)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Password Changed.
MIME-Version: 1.0
From: Admin <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: Admin <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 06:14:17 -0400 (EDT)
Content-Length: 606

The php code that handles this is...

$subject = "Password Changed.";
$from = $_CONF['admin_email'];
$headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";
$headers .= "From: Admin <".$from.">\r\n";
$headers .= "Reply-To: Admin <".$from.">\r\n";
$headers .= "Return-Path: <".$from.">\n";


mail($email, $subject, $email_body, $headers);

NOTE: $email, $subject and $email_body are defined or passed to this function...

Is it possible to fool the receiving mail servers to think that the mail is coming from a different server so it doesn't get caught or do I need to modify my headers to match the domain name the mail is really being sent from?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to help me.
Mike

[mikell]

1. Read the bounce messages. Sometimes an error code or a link will be provided that will give you some hints as to why your mail was rejected (blocked). That might be a good starting point.
   *You can also contact someone at the domain you're being blocked by and ask them whats up.

2. Some mail servers will block you if you don't have an SPF record: http://www.openspf.org/

3. See if your server is on a blacklist. http://www.mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx

4. Some mail servers block dynamic ip addresses. If your server has one, that could be a reason you're being blocked.

5. Check your log files for anything suspicious. Just between us, I rolled a teacher's house once...(I was such a rebel) Had I the skills to get him blacklisted by sending thousands of emails through his mail server, I would not have hesitated.

I don't think changing the return address is going to make a difference, but give it a shot. If it works then you can set the mail account on the server to forward to your work account.

Also, I doubt the content of the mail is getting you blocked (could be the reason for being tagged as junk), but you should try sending a very simple, plain text email to a server that normally blocks you and see if it gets through. (Some servers will block emails with certain urls in them...such as aol)

And don't bother trying to "fool" anyone, because you will not succeed. 😉

[knichel]

mikell wrote:

1. Read the bounce messages.

I am not receiving a bounce message. It seems to be just getting held on the other end.

mikell wrote:

2. Some mail servers will block you if you don't have an SPF record: http://www.openspf.org/

I will look into the spf record...

mikell wrote:

3. See if your server is on a blacklist. http://www.mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx

Not on a black list (Positive.)

mikell wrote:

4. Some mail servers block dynamic ip addresses. If your server has one, that could be a reason you're being blocked.

I am using a static IP address.

mikell wrote:

5. Check your log files for anything suspicious. Just between us, I rolled a teacher's house once...(I was such a rebel) Had I the skills to get him blacklisted by sending thousands of emails through his mail server, I would not have hesitated.

You bad bad boy.... 😉

mikell wrote:

If it works then you can set the mail account on the server to forward to your work account.

I only want to send mail from this server, not receive any.

mikell wrote:

Also, I doubt the content of the mail is getting you blocked (could be the reason for being tagged as junk), but you should try sending a very simple, plain text email to a server that normally blocks you and see if it gets through. (Some servers will block emails with certain urls in them...such as aol)

There is nothing in the contents of the email to cause it to be filtered, I promise.

Bottom line is that when I take attendance (for example) an email is sent to the attendance officer of the schools my students are from ( I teach a vo-tech program and service 8 school districts, so my students are from many schools). Some of the attendance officers are receiving my emails fine and others are not. I suspect that the ones that are not have more strict email policies. That is why I was leaning towards the mail headers as a clue. I was thinking that since the Reply-to and From were different from the Return-Path and Received, the server was refusing it?

Return-Path: <[e-mail]>
Received: from IP.OF.MY.SERVER (EHLO mail.myDomain.org) (IP.OF.MY.SERVER)
by mta214.mail.re3.yahoo.com with SMTP; Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:15:34 -0700
Received: by mail.myDomain.org (Postfix, from userid 33)
id B460B4C0CD5; Wed, 10 Oct 2007 06:14:17 -0400 (EDT)
To: [e-mail]
From: Admin <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: Admin <[e-mail]>

Maybe I should just change the From and Return-Path in my headers to match and leave the Reply-To as my work address?

Thanks again for your assistance.
Mike

[troybtj]

on the command line, does

host <youripaddress>

match

host <machinename.domain.com>

?

That is one of the anti-spam checks, to look up and make sure your reverse-DNS is set up. So your network admin needs to add a forward and reverse lookup entry for the machine in bind/nameservice to point to mail.mydomain.com to your static IP and vice-versa.

If they don't match, some mail will go out, the rest will be rejected, usually with an email back to you letting you know this.

[mikell]

The return path is where bounces are supposed to be sent, right? If your mail server isn't set up to receive mail for [e-mail], or you just aren't checking that account for mail, then I think that's why you aren't receiving any bounces. Go ahead and set the return path to [e-mail] and try sending a few emails...see if you get any bounces then. If you do, read them and you'll probably figure this whole thing out.