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Emails sent from Plesk server are stuck in mail queue: deferred, Connection timed out

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Leonid Gukhman
Updated
Plesk for Linux kb: technical ABT: Group B

Applicable to:

  • Plesk for Linux

Symptoms

  • There are a lot of emails stuck in the mail queue shown in Plesk in Tools & Settings > Mail Server Settings > Mail queue.

  • All stuck emails were sent to a certain domain example.com.

  • Both automatic connection by the mail server and the manual connection to the receiving mail server fails:

    • Automatic connection by the mail server - the following error is found in the file /var/log/maillog:

      CONFIG_TEXT: hostname postfix/qmgr[7584]: 0CEFF7E685: removed
      hostname postfix/qmgr[7584]: 99B1A7E666: from=jdoe@example.net, size=705, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
      hostname postfix/qmgr[7584]: C9B817E66C: from=jdoe@example.net, size=1219, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
      hostname postfix/smtp[12133]: connect to mail.example.com[203.0.113.2]:25: Connection timed out
      hostname postfix/smtp[12133]: 99B1A7E666: to=john@example.com, relay=none, delay=137241, delays=137121/0.01/120/0, dsn=4.4.1, status=deferred (connect to mail.example.com[203.0.113.2]:25: Connection timed out)

    • Manual connection:

      # telnet mail.example.com 25
      Trying 203.0.113.2...
      telnet: connect to address 203.0.113.2: Connection timed out

Cause

Firewall configuration on the recipient mail server blocks connections from the Plesk server.

MX records list for the recipient domain contains outdated record(s).

Resolution

Contact the owners of the recipient domain example.com so they revise the MX records list to contain correct IP addresses and allow connections over port 25 on the firewalls of their mail servers.

Comments

3 comments

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  • Avatar
    Brian Struzik

    The issue is similar but it has nothing to do with the receivers firewall  There are multiple receivers and none of their emails have had any prior issues receiving or sending emails.  The server restarted and now 500+ emails stuck in the que. We have tried accessing via SSH and command line to force emails from the que to be delivered however nothing works. 

    2
  • Avatar
    Georgios Papadopoulos

    Hello, 
    Brian Struzik

    Did you find a solution to your problem. 

    I have the exact same problem.

     

    0
  • Avatar
    Georgios Papadopoulos

    A solution you might try is, go to:

    Home > Tools & Settings > Server-wide mail settings > Settings

    Limitations on outgoing email messages

    The following limits are default. They can be overridden in each service plan and subscription. The limits do not work server-wide, but act as a template for the plans and subscriptions for which no custom limits were specified. Note that switching on the limitation of outgoing email messages can affect the mail server performance. Learn more about limiting outgoing mail

    Disable this: Turn on limitations on outgoing email messages

     

    0

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