Server and System Status

Email delivery issues: Zamtel and iWayAfrica

1 July 2011 19:24:14 +0000

For the last couple of days we’ve been seeing email to zamtel.zm addresses queued on our mail servers. Not sure what’s happening on their end, but our systems are working fine and mail to other destinations is being delivered normally.

Also, the delivery issues with iwayafrica.com addresses that we’ve been seeing for several months now — in fact, the better part of a year — continue. Email sent to these addresses is usually not delivered for several days, if at all. Again, this issue is with the destination mail servers, and is not under our control.

Tags: email delivery, mail relay
Categories: Email, NC018, NC023
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Relay server back online

5 January 2011 23:03:37 +0000

The spam has been removed from the relay server’s mail queue and it has been restarted. We’re working to resolve this issue with the client in question, and will do our best to ensure that this situation does not happen again.

Tags: email delivery, mail relay, spam
Categories: Email, Incidents, NC023
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Relay server once again being cleaned up

5 January 2011 22:22:29 +0000

Although the client mail server that had been relaying spam had apparently been cleaned up, it has been compromised again and has been blocked from accessing the relay server. The relay server has been stopped again while we clean up the mess. We’ll post an update here when it’s back up, and the offending server will remain blocked until we have an assurance from the client that it is no longer compromised.

We apologise for the inconvenience that this is causing.

Tags: email delivery, mail relay, spam
Categories: Email, Incidents, NC023
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Spam investigation completed

5 January 2011 12:18:38 +0000

This spam outbreak has been fully investigated, and the client’s mail server that was affected is being tended to. At this point the relay server’s IP address is no longer in any blacklist that we are aware of. All mail from all other clients that is routed through the relay server is flowing normally.

If you have any questions or concerns about this incident, please contact NinerNet support. Thank-you.

Tags: email delivery, mail relay, spam
Categories: Email, Incidents, NC023
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Spam issue on relay server cleaned up

5 January 2011 10:54:52 +0000

The issue with spam on the relay server has been cleaned up and mail delivery has resumed. However, we’re still investigating the issue and working with the affected client. There will be further updates.

Tags: email delivery, mail relay, spam
Categories: Email, Incidents, NC023
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Relay server in several blacklists

5 January 2011 09:12:38 +0000

It has come to our attention that the relay server’s IP address has appeared in several blacklists. We are investigating this issue. In the meantime, we may need to stop and start the mail server intermittently, but we will try and keep these disruptions to a minimum.

Further updates will be posted here.

Tags: email delivery, mail relay, spam
Categories: Email, Incidents, NC023
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Old relay server deactivated

19 December 2010 00:13:47 +0000

The old relay server has now been deactivated. Please ensure that you are using the new relay server (relay.niner.net) with port 587. Please see Configure your Email Account to Use the Relay Server for configuration details, and contact us should you have any difficulties. Thanks.

Tags: mail relay
Categories: Email, Maintenance, NC020, NC023
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Relay server move complete

11 December 2010 19:59:35 +0000

The relay server has now effectively been moved from the United States (server NC020) to the United Kingdom (server NC023). The new relay server is processing email normally. The old relay server will continue processing email still in its queue until it is clear, and will then be disabled.

Please remember that the new relay server only accepts mail submitted on port 587, sometimes called the “submission port”. Attempts to submit outgoing email to the relay server on the default SMTP port (25) will be rejected. This is an anti-spam and anti-virus measure which will ensure that your network doesn’t inadvertently send spam or viruses through the relay server (thereby needlessly consuming your bandwidth), and will ensure that the IP address of the mail server doesn’t end up in blacklists, thereby delaying the delivery of legitimate email.

Configuration instructions for your email program are available at Configure your Email Account to Use the Relay Server. Please remember that these instructions only apply if you are already authorised to use the relay server. Otherwise normal email configuration instructions apply.

Tags: mail relay
Categories: Email, Maintenance, NC020, NC023
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Relay server move and change of IP address

8 December 2010 13:28:29 +0000

The relay server will move from the United States to the United Kingdom on 11 December at 19:00 UTC. This will move it closer to most of the clients who use it, making it faster to access.

There are three important points to note:

Due to new anti-spam and -virus measures on the new relay server, email must be submitted to port 587. Submissions to port 25 (the default SMTP port) will be blocked. Please see Configure your Email Account to Use the Relay Server for instructions on reconfiguring your email account on and after Saturday.
The address of the relay server (relay.niner.net) will remain the same.
Some people using firewalls may need to allow the new IP address, which is 178.79.145.43. We suggest that you allow both the old and new IP addresses effective immediately until about 21 December to ensure a smooth transition back to the old IP address in the event of any problems with the new server.

If you have any questions, please contact NinerNet support. Thank-you.

Tags: mail relay
Categories: Email, Maintenance, NC020, NC023
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Email to Realtime and iWay Africa delayed

7 November 2010 22:33:07 +0000

We’re seeing a fair bit of email queued on the mail servers for email addresses on Realtime domains, and domains hosted by Realtime. Some of this email has been undeliverable for several days, and will be returned to the senders unless the Realtime mail servers come back up soon.

Email to the iwayafrica.com domain continues to be delayed in transit. For several months now we have noticed that email to this domain sits on our mail servers for days before it is delivered.

As always, if you refer people hosted with these companies to NinerNet for reliable and timely delivery of email, we’ll happily credit your account with referral fees! Contact us for details.

Tags: email delivery
Categories: Email
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System	Status	Ping
NC023	Internal	Up?
NC028	Internal	Up?
NC031	Internal	Up?
NC033	Operational	Up?
NC034	Internal	Up?
NC035	Operational	Up?
NC036	Operational	Up?
NC040	Internal	Up?
NC041	Operational	Up?
NC042	Operational	Up?