Relay of own email domain names

[pure-skill]

It appears to be a known issue that as of yesterday, those of us who host our own email servers are no longer able to relay emails from our own domain names through VM smtp servers.

This appears to be since authentication was enabled.

I'll use example.com as my own domain for example purposes:

myemail@example.com > Self hosted email server > smtp.blueyonder.co.uk:25 > recipient gives:

530 5.1.0 Authentication Required (VM401)

Jun 26 13:47:49 un64u postfix/smtp[1282963]: 1A13FBC03AB: to=<person@iwanttoemail.com>, relay=smtp.blueyonder.co.uk[84.116.6.21]:25, delay=1.2, delays=0.07/0.03/0.07/1.1, dsn=5.1.0, status=bounced (host smtp.blueyonder.co.uk[84.116.6.21] said: 530 5.1.0 Authentication Required (VM401) (in reply to MAIL FROM command))

smtp,virginmedia.com the same thing

So I enabled authentication using my old ntlworld.com user account, and generated an email app password.

Authentication succeeds, but because I am not sending email from a @ntlworld.com or @virginmedia.com email address, but rather from me@example.com I now get:

550 5.1.8 Sender Domain Invalid (VM420)

Jun 27 01:16:03 un64u postfix/smtp[1318568]: 5031EBC0552: to=<person@iwanttoemail.com>, relay=smtp.virginmedia.com[84.116.6.19]:587, delay=1.2, delays=0.03/0.02/0.19/0.95, dsn=5.1.8, status=bounced (host smtp.virginmedia.com[84.116.6.19] said: 550 5.1.8 Sender Domain Invalid (VM420) (in reply to MAIL FROM command))

I've been self hosting my own mail servers for 22 years since 2002 first with NTL and then Virgin Media.

How do we relay our own email?

FYI it is not just me - someone has the same issue with the same timing here:

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/Virgin-Media-outgoing-SMTP-mail-server-error/td-p/5537167...

[sjk31]

I presume you have the appropriate SPF record set?

[用心棒]

Following maybe of help, Sending email using your own domain - Virgin Media Community - 3716147

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[pure-skill]

Hello both.  

Yes to DMARC and SPF.  Though those are more likely to be a factor at the recipients mail server, as opposed to VMs SMTP servers I'm using as a relay (as they are not the destination)

And things have been fine for 22 years since 2002, though relay via VM was only needed for part of that.

Also it was all fine until last few days, when authentication was enabled.

530 5.1.0 Authentication Required (VM401)

Once that happened, even after relaying with authentication, relay (of own domain) is denied.

550 5.1.8 Sender Domain Invalid (VM420)

[pure-skill]

FYI I called tech support, and they indicated "Virgin Media does not support sending of third party email addresses".

He stated this was stopped a week ago, though I was sending them until Tuesday so that's not quite right.

Assuming he understood what I was talking about, and this was related to SENDING email, not RECEIVING it, then looks like this won't work anymore.

[asim18]

I would just switch to a proper hosting provider.

I'm currently using eukhost. Their most basic shared package is around £60 per year for 10GB and email delay is about ~25 seconds.

Or you can use another relay service most offer 100-300 emails per day on their free tiers.

[pure-skill]

Looking into Amazon SES or outbound SMTP relay services now.  Not looking for them to actually host anything - and the inbound SMTP to me is fine as it is.

[legacy1]

I just tested my virginmedia.com Email as a relay it works here.

SPF

smtp.virginmedia.com port 465

[pure-skill]

I assume you are sending using a FROM address ending in a VM domain name.

Not your own domain name - e.g. Alessandro@Volta.com

[pure-skill]

I am looking at outbound SMTP relay - do you have any recommendations with that level of free tier?