Currently email to Yahoo domains is getting through. We are closely monitoring this situation, but only expect to provide major updates from this point forwards.
Thank-you again for your patience with this issue.
Server and System Status
Yahoo delivery working
31 March 2016 07:29:23 +0000Yahoo delivery update
31 March 2016 04:42:03 +0000Yahoo finally replied to our request for information about why they are blocking us by providing a canned response which didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already read on their website. But they did apologise: “I want to apologize for any inconvenience this issue has caused you.”
Shortly after 01:30 UTC on 31 March we did see all emails still queued on our server for addresses on Yahoo and Yahoo-hosted domains clear — i.e., they were delivered. However, a few hours after that the block at Yahoo based on “user complaints” seems to have been reinstated, and so we are back to square one.
We have again written to Yahoo and are continuing to research possible workarounds … while we wait another day or two for their possible response.
In addition to researching workarounds, we’re taking some of Yahoo’s reasonable advice from their canned email and moving up certain changes to mail server configuration policies that they suggest. However, these cannot be implemented overnight across all clients’ domains without causing even more problems for our clients, so they will be introduced gradually.
We sincerely apologise for this inconvenience, but we cannot take responsibility for Draconian policies implemented at a very large email provider that has drastic effects on small hosting companies like NinerNet and our clients, and that are seemingly out of step with comparable large email providers like Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, etc. We’ve been in business for two decades — only two years less than Yahoo — and are not an upstart spamming operation that opened business last night and will be gone by next week. Clearly this kind of information is not being taken into account by Yahoo.
This is yet another example of why — on a network that requires cooperation between disparate entities, which is the very definition of the Internet — we shouldn’t do business with massive companies that can steamroll their way over the ability of smaller entities to participate. Signing up for a service from Yahoo (free or paid) or the parent companies of any of the other corporations mentioned in this post might be quick and easy (and probably even “free” of monetary cost), but there is always a price to be paid down the road. We and you are paying it today.
The workaround we’re working on may solve this issue, but there is still the risk that Yahoo will notice what we’ve done and block that avenue too. If you’re forwarding email from your domain to a Yahoo account, we strongly suggest that you stop doing that. If you’re doing that or using personal, free accounts for business use on Yahoo or other free email providers, we also strongly suggest you stop doing that. If you need help achieving — with your own domain and the hosting services you’re already paying for — what you’re currently doing with free email accounts with third-party providers, talk to us and we’ll help you do it a better way.
Further updates will continue to be posted here as they become available.
Delivery issues to Yahoo domains
27 March 2016 12:11:55 +0000We have become aware of the fact that Yahoo is either delaying or, in come cases, outright refusing email from our primary mail server. This seems very odd, as our mail server’s IP address is not in any of the major anti-spam blacklists, and other major email providers (e.g., AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, Apple, etc.) are not blocking us.
We have been unsuccessful in trying to contact Yahoo about this as, like most massive companies, they put up massive barriers to communication from small companies or individuals.
An obvious exception to this that we have happily dealt with before to solve similar issues is AOL, who provide an excellent website where companies like NinerNet can look up the “reputation” of their mail servers’ IP addresses, and initiate communication with people who are willing and able to help address issues. Interestingly, this is AOL’s current report on the reputation of the mail server that Yahoo is blocking:
212.71.255.195 [nc027.ninernet.net] Reputation is Good
What does a good reputation mean?
The IP address has a good reputation. This means AOL has enough data to determine that the IP address is a known mail sender with a good reputation. You should not be experiencing bounce or reject errors when sending mail from this IP.
Reputation of NinerNet mail server IP address with AOL.
We will monitor this situation and make further attempts to contact Yahoo and have them explain or remove this block. In the meantime, this serves as yet another example of why using “free” email on monolithic systems run by massive companies is a bad idea.
London network restored
27 December 2015 10:17:45 +0000The data centre informs us that connectivity on their network was restored at 09:24 UTC.
We have been able to confirm this by accessing all of our servers in this data centre:
- Incoming mail is once again being processed immediately by server NC027, although any incoming mail sent during the disruption may be delayed a little longer until the sending mail servers try again. This is not under our control.
- Server NC023 is also processing email immediately.
We apologise for this interruption. Denial of service attacks (especially distributed denial of service attacks) are extremely difficult and expensive to fight. We have confidence that the data centre did everything they could as quickly as they could to combat this attack.
London data centre DDoS update
27 December 2015 08:30:17 +0000We have been updated that the denial of service attack against the London data centre is actually a large distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, and it is still underway. Efforts are being made at multiple levels on the network to combat this attack, and we are seeing some movement of email through server NC027, although it took an hour and forty-seven minutes for a test message to get through. This indicates, as mentioned earlier, that the server is up and processing email, but that other servers (and our clients, obviously) are having problems connecting to the server.
We apologise for these problems, but this is affecting a wide range and large number of companies hosted at this data centre, not just NinerNet.
Updates will continue to be posted here as we learn more.
Connectivity issue at London data centre
27 December 2015 06:52:18 +0000The London data centre has been suffering from the effects of a couple of denial of service (DoS) attacks over the last 12 or so hours. The attack late yesterday (26 December) lasted about an hour and a half. Today’s attack started at 05:37 UTC and is currently ongoing. The data centre staff assure us that they have identified the problem and are implementing a fix for it.
This affects server NC023 (the relay server) and server NC027 (the main mail server), as well as virtual private servers hosted in London. As far as we know, the servers themselves are up and connected to the network, but the attack is causing them to be inaccessible.
We’ll update here as soon as we know more.
NC027: Access issue update
18 September 2015 19:43:54 +0000After spending some time on this issue yesterday and today — and receiving a complaint from only one client who later informed us that the issue no longer existed — we’re closing this matter and considering it a transient network issue, probably closer to the client’s ISP than to server NC027.
Apologies for the false alarm, but we do take your complaints seriously.
If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know by contacting NinerNet support. Thank-you.
NC027: Access issues
17 September 2015 20:49:50 +0000We are aware of an issue with server NC027, where most client email is hosted. However, we have not yet determined exactly what the problem is. Some services on the server are accessible, while some are not.
We are currently working with the data centre to determine the issue, and will post further updates here.
Email migration: Update 11
31 August 2015 07:22:31 +0000Unless you have been advised otherwise, all domains with mixed-case user names have now been migrated to server NC027.
Again, using Bob@example.com as an example:
- People can still send email to Bob@example.com and you can still use it as a return email address.
- However, when logging into your account on server NC027, you must log in as bob@example.com, not Bob@example.com.
Passwords have remained the same.
Please also remember to update your email program’s configuration per the instructions at docs.niner.net/email.
Email migration: Update 10
26 August 2015 10:38:59 +0000The mail migration is, for the most part, finally complete. As mentioned in our previous post, you will know that your domain has been migrated if you can no longer access email accounts on the old server. If that is the case, please start using the settings for the new server.
The only domains left to migrate are those that have user names with mixed- or upper-case letters, and domains that are changing — i.e., where an old primary domain is being replaced by what was once a secondary domain. We will take the opportunity to migrate the remaining domains outside of the business hours of the clients affected, which differ according to the time zones in which they are located, over the next two days.
There are a few additional notes to be aware of or to emphasise, in addition to those contained in Email migration: Update 1:
- Email addresses with mixed- or upper-case user names have been migrated with their user names changed to lower-case letters. This only affects logging in, and not delivery of email. If you used to have a user name with mixed- or upper-case letters, please change your log-in information to use all lower-case letters — e.g., AB@example.com changes to ab@example.com, and BobSmith@example.com changes to bobsmith@example.com. It is generally best practice to create email addresses in all lower-case letters. Your password has not changed, so please do not edit the password saved by your email program.
- Auto-responders are now managed through the webmail; they are no longer managed through the control panel. As such they have not been recreated on the new server. If you had an auto-responder in place on the old server, you will need to recreate it.
- As mentioned previously, accounts that were already over quota on the old server were not migrated. The accounts have been created on the new server, but the contents have not been transferred.
- If you had what the control panel on the old server referred to as a “redirect” in place, please check to ensure that it has been properly created to your requirements on the new server.
In addition to that last specific issue, please check over your accounts yourself to ensure that all is set up and working as it should be. If you need assistance with anything that you cannot address yourself through the control panel, please contact support and we will be happy to help you.
Thank-you again for your patience during this migration, and our apologies again for the fact that it took longer than we had planned.
