tracert to my server is over 30 hops??

sneakyimp

I bought my own little domain (jaith.net) some time ago so that I could always have the same email address and also host a few http resources. Lately, mail sent to my domain has been bouncing. Today the message was:

Your message cannot be delivered to the following recipients:

  Recipient address: [obscured for my protection]@jaith.net
  Reason: Illegal host/domain name found

I tried a tracert to my domain and it times out after 30 hops. What is the deal here? Is there something wrong with my DNS or something? Why is my domain so remote? I've done some tracert to the most obscure domains I can think of and it's never more than 16 hops.

Actually, if I trace the IP it's still 30+ hops to this is apparently not a DNS issue but just the internet ignoring my server or something?

Any input would be much appreciated.

halojoy

http://www.dnsstuff.com/
traceroute gives 17 hops for jaith.net
but 4 last were unsuccessfull
with following message

[Unknown - Firewall did not respond]
[4 hops with no response:
assuming we hit a firewall
that blocks pings]

bradgrafelman

sneakyimp wrote:
Actually, if I trace the IP it's still 30+ hops to this is apparently not a DNS issue but just the internet ignoring my server or something?

Why would the IP have any difference? There's no such thing as "phpbuilder.com" on the internet - only 63.236.73.209.

EDIT: I sure hope your DNS host doesn't offer any type of web design, because they sure need some help. :p

EDIT2: Also, note that we don't know how many hops it takes to get to your server; if there's a firewall (and there is) that is blocking pings, you lose the trace and most tools will give up after a certain number of failures.

sneakyimp

Lol brad no that's a different domain computER vs. computING. My DNS provider doesn't have a website for that domain.

I was initially under the impression that a dns problem might result in some incorrect ip being coughed up half the time which would result in a wild goose chase maybe. Admittedly, I wasn't thinking it through. As it turns out, DNS works and the IP is consistently delivered as 67.14.192.55.

I believe that this machine is configured to ignore pings. I wasn't aware that tracert depended on ping responses.

The genesis of this post is that mail sent to me is getting bounced with 'illegal domain' complaints. That's a real problem for me and some other domains on the same machine. Why might this be happening?

bradgrafelman

sneakyimp wrote:
Lol brad no that's a different domain computER vs. computING. My DNS provider doesn't have a website for that domain

Yes I did notice that, though I had assumed that was also the same company/entity.. my mistake.

sneakyimp wrote:
That's a real problem for me and some other domains on the same machine. Why might this be happening?

Who knows, to be honest. If you were consistently getting bounced while sending from a common source (e.g. Hotmail, corporate Exchange server, etc.), you might have some luck tracking down what criteria that particular MTA/service is checking for to trigger the error you're getting.

To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me if the problem was that "mail.jaith.net" doesn't respond to pings. You might try adding an SPF record, though.

EDIT: Speaking of the source of the issue, can you be a bit more detailed about that? Do you consistently get the bounce messages, or does it seem to be random which e-mails go through? What service/company/etc. were you using to send mail when your messages to the jaith.net domain got bounced?

sneakyimp

OK I just checked for the spf record using the kitterman tool:
http://www.kitterman.com/spf/validate.html

I now see, much to my chagrin, that there is no SPF record at all.

I'll talk to my hosting provider (a friend).

I know that not having an spf record results in outgoing mail getting spam filtered. Do you think that lack of an SPF record would cause trouble for incoming mail too?

bradgrafelman

sneakyimp wrote:
I know that not having an spf record results in outgoing mail getting spam filtered. Do you think that lack of an SPF record would cause trouble for incoming mail too?

TBH, no, I wouldn't think that an SPF record would be considered when sending a message.

Did you see my "EDIT:" on my last post above? Questions like those help narrow down the culprit.

Also, if you'd like, you can PM me your e-mail address at that domain and I can try sending you a message from a couple of different locations.