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I’m running a server on DigitalOcean with WHM and Exim as my mail transport agent, but I’m facing an issue where my emails aren’t being delivered to external servers like Gmail or Hotmail.

Details:

• When I send emails, Exim logs show the messages as “accepted”, but they are being delivered to localhost (127.0.0.1) instead of external email providers like Gmail or Hotmail. • I’ve verified that my SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are all correctly configured. My IP isn’t blocked either. • I tried using telnet to test the connection to Gmail’s and Hotmail’s SMTP servers: • telnet gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com 25 — Doesn’t connect. • I also tried ports 465 and 587, but no success.

• On the other hand, when I run an nslookup on gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com, it resolves correctly, meaning DNS seems fine. The same issue happens with Hotmail. • I also have another server on GoDaddy that works fine, automatically routing through dedrelay.secureserver.net, but I’m unsure why I can’t establish a connection with external SMTP servers from the DigitalOcean setup.

What I’ve Tried:

• Testing different ports (25, 465, 587) via telnet, but no connection. • DNS is resolving Gmail and Hotmail MX records correctly with nslookup.

What I Need:

• Any advice on how to resolve the telnet connection issue to Gmail/Hotmail SMTP servers from my DigitalOcean server. • Is there a specific WHM/Exim setting I should adjust to allow outgoing email to external services? • Any other troubleshooting tips or configurations that might resolve this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any help!

Thaer
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1 Answers1

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Large VPS providers, like DO, block outgoing port 25 (and 465, 587 possibly) by default. You can try using smaller ones or contact DO to request (I'm not sure that this works).

phantrinh
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