1. Authentication Failed
You do need to authenticate before you can relay mail. This means you will need to use either SMTP Authentication (if your client supports it) or POP before Send (where you simply check your mail before sending).

Try checking your email prior to sending out email. If you are not using SMTP-Auth you must have checked your email within the 15 minutes prior to sending email so that the server can authenticate you as a valid user.

2. ISP is Blocking Port 25
If your ISP is blocking port 25, you may not be able to send email using your PLESK account. Some ISP's do this so that you are forced to use their email servers to send email, and in an attempt to prevent spam. Known ISPs that do this are MindSpring, MSN and AT&T.

In order to test that the SMTP (outgoing) mail server is functioning properly, you will need to use telnet. If you are using Windows, click on Start --> Run. Type in "telnet" without the quotes and click 'Ok'. The Windows telnet client should launch.

Next, click on 'Terminal' and then "Preferences". This will bring up a dialog box.

Make sure the following options are checked:

code:

Local Echo Block Cursor VT-100/ANSI

Click on "Ok".

Now click on "Connect" and then "Remote System" and fill in the following:

code:

Host Name: yourdomain.com Port: 25 Term Type: vt100

Make sure not to leave the port set to "telnet", the default. For SMTP, it needs to be port 25. Click on "ok".

If you are not using Windows or are using a different Telnet client, the above steps may be different. The important thing is that your port is set to 25, and the remote host is set to your domain name or IP address.

You should now see:

code:

220 server.dinsol.net ESMTP.

Where server is the server your site is on. If you see any other prompt (such as login, you are probably using the wrong port. Double check your port settings.

If you cannot connect, your ISP is most likely blocking this port. Usually when this is the case you will get a timeout error after a while, or your telnet program will simply appear to hang. Sometimes you may be told that the connection was refused. In either case, contact your ISP and see if they will unblock port 25 for you - some ISPs will do this upon request.

If you are not seeing Dinsol.net in the message, or if you see something like 13548.proxy.aol.com, your ISP may be intercepting connections on this port. This is similar to blocking the port, but instead of refusing the connection, your ISPs servers will jump in and act as your SMTP server.

Using this method, your ISP can monitor all of your outgoing mail, without you even knowing that this is happening. Their servers essentially pretend to be your SMTP server, transparently intercepting (and possibly logging) your mail connections. If this is the case, you might want to contact your ISP and see if they can remove this "feature", making sure to have this tutorial as well as your Telnet session handy, for reference. You might instead simply want to find an ISP that does not interfere with your ability to use your own mail server.

If everything is normal and you are seeing Dinsol.net within the response, you may proceed to the next step.

What we are going to do in the steps below is exactly what your email program does when you send an email.

At this point I should let you know that pressing the backspace key does not do what it appears to do on the screen - it will not send the backspace, and although the command you have typed looks correct to you, it will not be sent properly. So type carefully!

Also, make sure to press "Enter" after each command.

If you see this response:

code:

502 unimplemented (#5.5.1)

This is the same as saying "bash: command not found", or "Bad command or filename". In other words, a typo. If you receive this, simply retype the command, being sure to type it exactly as it appears and without using the backspace key.

Type in "ehlo dude" without the quotes. You should receive the following response:

code:

250-server.dinsol.net 250-PIPELINING 250 8BITMIME

Now type the following:

code:

mail

You should get the following response:

code:

250 ok

Now type the following, replacing hello@myemail.com with an email address that you can check, preferably something NOT at your domain:

code:

rcpt

You should get a "250 ok" again. Now type:

code:

data

Now you will see "354 go ahead". You can now type in a message to send - this will be in the email sent to the address specified above.

quote:

This is a test mailing. If you are reading this, then everything went ok .

Make sure to end the mail with a period by itself on a line, pressing "Enter" after words. You should now see:

code:

250 ok 924979692 qp 26895

The numbers will vary of course, but the "250 ok" is the part we are looking for.

Now check your mail at the address you specified above. This is exactly how your email client program communicates with the mail server.

If you are able to send mail using this method, but are unable to send using your mail program, the problem is most likely on your end. Always double-check the following:

• Make sure your password is correct
  
• Make sure your email address is set to something@yourdomain.com
  
• Be sure that your outgoing and incoming mail server names are both set to yourdomain.com
  
• Be sure incoming is set as POP3 and outgoing is set as SMTP