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This is just a basic set of troubleshooting tips that can help you with any mail delivery issues (think of it as a check list from our experiences! ;-) )
General Mail troubleshooting:
- Is your domain registered? You'd be surprised that sometimes the domain in question is expired.
- Obvious to some, but does the e-mail account exist or what it created yet? Mostly applies to new account holders, but again, you'd be surprised!
- Out of space issues - don't forget that if you run out of space - many times people forget that e-mail can just stop working or not work right. Check via the web mail interface!
- Reduce the troubleshooting by just using the web mail interface. You remove your ISP, your computer out of the mix and it just makes life easier to see if it is your computer having problems. This has done wonders for people taking out two layers right away!
- Looping issues can occur if someone sets up an e-mail to forward (maybe even forgets it is forwarded out elsewhere!) and that email is set to forward back. That can be a problem! People have done this and pretty much render the e-mail account useless.
- "Bounce back wars" can be created when one has an auto-responder and an outside e-mail account has one that does not stop the moment you contact them. This is true of auto-vacation responders. (Ours typically stops) but if the other ends keeps going, it can fill up your e-mail account fast. That goes back to e-mail storage being the problem....but also you can help stop it by not really using auto-responders. It's too last decade... we strongly believe people shouldn't use them anymore but its there for the stragglers from the old e-mail users of the 90s to early 2000s mostly...LOL! We realize some still want to have autoresponders galore, but you risk bounce back problems no matter what you think! That's the truth. One day all it takes is to encounter this problem and you'll agree.
- Messed up MX records due to modifying DNS information - this is something you take full responsibility for. If you decide to use third party mail systems that end up misconfigured - you really have to troubleshoot that without us. We'd love to be able to help, but we don't control things outside of Parcom. Try to find someone responsible for the mail server to help you if you need proper MX settings or updates on what should be in DNS on this end. Anyone messing with MX records, better know what they are doing - if not, go back to using our systems until you find someone who does.
- Domain aliases or forwarding loops. Similar to the looping one described above. Just be careful not to point accounts or aliases back and forward and around the world into your account in question. Make it easy for yourself, start over or test a new account to make sure you did not create a loop between aliases/forwarding domains.
Client troubleshooting:
- Make sure your client software is set up correctly. Sometimes a password reset can do wonders btw!
- Web mail is your friend. Test the web mail interface to and from outside e-mail addresses - that can help you a lot! If it works on web mail, something is not right on your computer. Misconfigured mail settings is common, so make sure you have the right user name, password, and follow what is presented to you in cPanel.
- Firewall - sometimes your own firewall is blocking you. A work place firewall is something we cannot control naturally. Be sure to contact your system administrator if you can check mail from home, but not at work. We cannot "fix" those issues of course! Web mail is your next best bet, unless your work is so strict they don't allow you to surf at many places - again, that's something we won't get involved with. ;-)
- Keep it simple. Sometimes testing a new account is a good idea. You may have forgotten that you set up a forwarder on an account! A new one can reveal a lot to you if something else is wrong.
- Space, a big one... your users share space with your over all disk space you have with your package. Make sure you have enough room to grow!
- Delayed messages can occur if you have too small of a package to accommodate your users queue! If you have more than 1 user, and you need attachments, be sure to use the biggest package you can afford but if you hit delayed message errors, your account is too small to handle the volume both inbound and outbound mail. This does not affect most people, but generally it is when a customer has employees and signed up for the smallest package and is running out of cloud resources fast.
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