Q. What is a 421 unexpected failure?
A: If the user is trying to send emails and it gets a message like 421, response: Unexpected failure, Please try later; it could be a temporary issue. If the message says “No action is required on its part. Delivery attempts will continue for some time, and this warning may repeat at intervals if the message remains undelivered. Eventually the mail delivery software will give up, and when that happens, the message will be returned to the user”; then the receiving email may have problems.
* If the user experiences this error every time, the user needs to contact HostGator so they can test its email and POP client settings.
* 451 errors while writing spool file: This message indicates that the email is not configured properly. Please double check that the correct outgoing SMTP settings are used. If the users are still having problems, the user has to contact them via phone or live chat.
* 535 Incorrect authentication data: If the user has a Linux dedicated server, the user can fix this problem. In root WHM, go to Email > Repair Mailbox permissions.
* If the user does not have Linux dedicated, then the user may contact them via phone or live chat.
* 550 error: this error indicates an inability to send emails. There are many reasons for a 550 error.
* 550 DICTIONARY ATTACK
* The user must stop sending emails, and pause to its mailing lists. Then wait one hour. If the user was using Outlook, during the wait the user can try using webmail to send messages.
* 550 SMTP Error: Perhaps the user has not logged into the pop/imap 550-server in the last 30 minutes or does not have SMTP Authentication turned on 550 in its email client.
When the user gets this or other 550 errors, it is time to contact HostGator via phone or chat for help.
Q. Does the user able to receive emails but cannot send?
A: If the user is not able to send emails, usually this means that the internet provider is blocking the user from using anybody else outgoing mail servers but their own. Many major ISPs are blocking outgoing emails to prevent their internet connection from use for spam. In order to work around this issue, they have opened Port 26. Just change the outgoing mail (SMTP) from the default Port 25 to Port 26.
If the user uses the Outlook Express for e-mail, then it needs to be sure to select the option for “Outgoing SMTP Server Requires Authentication”. This is required by their server security.
Q. Is the user able to send emails but cannot receive?
A: Either the domain of the user is over quota, or the e-mail address itself is over quota. The user will need to increase the amount of disk space to receive mail again. It needs to Sign in into cPanel and look in the left menu for Disk Space Available. It should make sure that it is a positive number. Next, it needs to click on the Email Accounts icon. It should check the column that says Usage, and make sure it should not be higher than the Quota. The last message may have been large, or the quota may have been decreased while the email account was at its current size. If the user still has problems, please contact HostGator via phone or live chat.
Q. What is BoxTrapper?
A: Box Trapper returns a confirmation email to senders, who must reply before their email delivered (to the user). Any email user can sign into webmail, and just before it selects the mail program, it will see an icon for BoxTrapper. The user can enable and disable the trapper, edit the white list and blacklist, and can review the mail logs to see what emails not delivered. The user can set how many days BoxTrapper will keep the mail logs on the server:
1. Click on “BoxTrapper Spam Trap” under Email Management,
2. Click “Manage” next to the email address the user wants to adjust.
3. Click “Configure Settings”
4. Type in a new number into the third text field “How many days should logs and messages in queue, must be kept” and click “Save”.
It must be done for each user, as each user’s settings are independent of the other users on the account. BoxTrapper returns a message to any senders who have not completed the verification steps.
Q. Can the user get a copy of the Email Logs?
A: The HostGator can provide the email logs as per the domain name. the user has to contact HostGator via phone, live chat, or email support@hostgator.com with the request for it.
Q. Can the user get a dedicated IP to avoid server blacklisting?
A: With shared and reseller hosting, there are other people using its mail server. This means that one spammer can get everyone on that IP address blocked by a blacklist. A dedicated IP does not help with emails blacklisted. Email always uses the shared IP, even if the user buys a dedicated IP. The only way to get a dedicated IP for emails is to buy a dedicated server or VPS plan.
Q. What is cgiemail?
A: Cgiemail is a CGI program written in C for UNIX. It takes input from website forms and converts it to an email format of its choice. Using it requires slightly more work than forms-to-email programs with less flexibility in e-mail format. Nevertheless, users with no programming experience can follow the simple systematic instructions in the cgiemail user guide.
Custom form mail: — FormMail is a very popular method of emailing the contents of a form to a user. It is relatively easy to set up and does its job well. However, spammers have found security holes in previous versions and this allows them to send mail through whatever server the account is set up.
Since HostGator has a very strict anti-spam policy, it cannot allow the users to use their own FormMail scripts. The HostGator asks if the user uses the server-wide FormMail script, instead. This way, if there are any exploits found on this version of FormMail, the user cannot be held accountable. If the users have a need for a customized mail script, and they have one available, they can contact support@hostgator.com, so that they can insure that their mail program version does not contain any exploits.
One drawback of using the server side FormMail script is that the user must send the contents of the form to an address that is on user domain name. If the user needs the mail sent to an off-site email address, it can set up an E-Mail Forwarder to forward any mail from the email address on the domain to the off-site email address.
Default Address, Catchall: — It is a catchall mailbox, receives all emails written to a non-existing name @ user domain. The HostGator disables the Default Address because if the user does not know how to use it, it can cause the account to flood with email. To enable it, the user should contact HostGator via phone or live chat and ask for “catchall email to enable.” After enabling it, the user should go through the drop down and make sure every domain’s Current Setting is “: fail: No Such User Here”. If the settings are wrong, or the user is not sure, it can follow these steps.
1. Select the first domain name in the drop-down.
2. Choose “Discard with error to sender (at SMTP time)”.
3. Set the “Failure Message (seen by sender):” to No such person at this address.
4. Click the Change button.
5. Repeat for every name in the drop-down.
This will prevent the account from filling up with unnoticed spam.
Q. Does HostGator use exim or maildir?
A: Exim is a mail transfer agent used on Unix-like operating systems. It is freely available under the GNU GPL and it aims to be a general and flexible mailer with extensive facilities for checking incoming e-mail. They do not use Qmail.
Maildir is a widely used format for storing e-mail that does not require application-level file locking to maintain message integrity as messages added, moved and deleted. Each message kept in a separate file with a unique name. All changes made using atomic file system operations so that the file system handles file locking concurrency issues. A Maildir is a directory (often-named Mail) with three subdirectories named tmp, new, and cur.
HostGator does not use mbox. If the user has mbox, it can create the email accounts in cPanel and then email support@hostgator.com and ask the HostGator to convert the mbox to maildir.