How hard is it to make an Email system that works

How hard is it to make an Email system that works at least most of the time?

Bob

With the right infrastructure, people etc, not very.

When you're running a really obscure system with really poor architecture a la plusnet, then very...

Out of interest what "obscure system" are Plusnet using?

No-one knows, it's too obscure.

At least we know that Plus.net use @mail as their webmail client..

<Quote>

PlusNet

Hosting over 100,000 broadband accounts, PlusNet is a large ISP in the UK, utilizing @Mail as the WebMail interface for POP3/IMAP accounts. PlusNet customized and rebranded the software to match the theme of their website and portal.

</Quote>

http://atmail.com/client_portfolio.php

Edit:

Yep, they use StorageTek solutions..

<Quote>

The situation was even further exacerbated because the server in question

Edited by caesar_salad (Sat 14-Oct-06 13:08:40)

I believe they use Exim as the mail server (or they used to).

Yes, Exim as indicated below - this is an odd thing I've been seeing today trying to post to a freebsd mailing list:

14/10/2006 14:48:36 220 relay.plus.net ESMTP Exim Sat, 14 Oct 2006 14:48:35 +0100
14/10/2006 14:48:37 EHLO mail.mydomain.uk ---> 250-ptb-relay01.plus.net Hello mail.mydomain.uk [81.174.xxx.yyy]
14/10/2006 14:48:37 EHLO mail.mydomain.uk ---> 250-SIZE 104857600
14/10/2006 14:48:37 EHLO mail.mydomain.uk ---> 250-PIPELINING
14/10/2006 14:48:37 EHLO mail.mydomain.uk ---> 250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN
14/10/2006 14:48:37 EHLO mail.mydomain.uk ---> 250 HELP
14/10/2006 14:48:38 AUTH LOGIN ---> 334 VXNlcm5hbWU6
14/10/2006 14:48:39 ZmVvZmZyZXk= ---> 334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6
14/10/2006 14:48:39 **** ---> 334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6
14/10/2006 14:48:39 Tagging message HPPY48AE06D9_1~relay_plus_net for failure/later retry

The thing is, I don't even understand why my mailsever was trying to send it out through PN, rather than direct. Looks like a bit of investigation is required...

Yes I think they are using Exim as an MTA, but the DNS/hostname setup leaves something to be desired. From one of my mailserver's logs:-

RCPT from pte-mxlast04.plus.net[212.159.7.114]: ................ proto=ESMTP helo=<ptn-mxlast02.plus.net>

Yes, 212.159.7.114 does resolve to pte-mxlast04.plus.net, so why a HELO of ptn-mxlast02.plus.net?

they do, with mysql backend. it used to be qmail.

"In the absence of a usable index for the data, PlusNet eventually decided it would be safer to retrieve the server from the data recovery experts, rather than risk further capacity issues."

...in other words it wasn't cost effective so they canned the recovery.

I left Plusnet and didnt follow up so this is the 1st i've heard of the outcome but i really do hope there were some scalps taken at Plusnet over this. It may have been human error but the decision makers and management who put the infrastructure and policies in place deserve to be strung up.

The most annoying thing is i've no doubt that after such a gargantuan balls up like this nothing will have changed.