smtp1.bethere.co.uk down

be smtp server down from at least 1500 to 1800. Is it the same for other users, and is this a common occurrence?

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:12:20 +0000, Graham. ate alphabet spaghetti and
shat out:

> be smtp server down from at least 1500 to 1800. Is it the same for other
> users, and is this a common occurrence?

That's great news for the anti-spam community. Let's hope it stays
down....


--
political correctness: The safety net protecting deaf blind disabled
ethnic minority gays & lesbians with odd religious beliefs from reality

"Spamtastic Spastic" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:hdkaa6$1a4$(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:12:20 +0000, Graham. ate alphabet spaghetti and
> shat out:
>
>> be smtp server down from at least 1500 to 1800. Is it the same for other
>> users, and is this a common occurrence?
>
> That's great news for the anti-spam community. Let's hope it stays
> down....
>

You appear to have an agenda on this topic; nevertheless, I will bite.
I raised a ticket and they sent me this reply
Thank you for contacting us. As far as we know, there was no issue with our smtp server. Please make sure that you have not exceeded
its limitation - up to 50 email messages to up to 25 recipients each hour. Also, its name is smtp1.bethere.co.uk , on port 25 with
no encryption and authentication. Kind Regards Beko Be*Team

It works for me some of the time
When it is not responding, Telneting into it does not even return the welcome
string.
I will disconnect my computers and the Wee console from the router for
a while to eliminate any undetected Trojan sending emails but I doubt
that is the cause

smtp.gmail.com with SSL on 995 works with no problem, but I bet
you will have an issue with that.

The other thing is that I am finding the BeThere DNS servers very flaky too
(not responding for long periods of time)
I have pointed DNS to OpenDNS so that's two work-arounds to get
a satisfactory service.

I'm not using the supplied router incidentally.

Any ideas?
--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

In article <hdm7qg$9b8$(E-Mail Removed)>, Graham.
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes

>When it is not responding, Telneting into it does not even return the welcome
>string.

Not good.

When it's playing silly buggers, can you ping it?

--
(\__/)
(='.'=) Bunny says Windows 7 is Vi$ta reloaded.
(")_(") http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/windows_7.png

"Mike Tomlinson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message newsN5jHxDy0r$(E-Mail Removed)...
> In article <hdm7qg$9b8$(E-Mail Removed)>, Graham.
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>
>>When it is not responding, Telneting into it does not even return the welcome
>>string.
>
> Not good.
>
> When it's playing silly buggers, can you ping it?
>

Actually I can't even ping it when it is working, but that in itself is not sinister of course.

When it's behaving I can telnet into it thus:
o smtp1.bethere.co.uk 25

And get one of these responses

220 april.london.02.net ESMTP Service ready

220 honeysuckle.london.02.net ESMTP Service ready

220 woodbine.london.02.net ESMTP Service ready



I have, as a matter of choice, got a dynamic IP address, and early indications

are when I change the IP the SMTP starts working again for a while.

Rather than leave my Netgear router disconnected for long enough to

clear the session to the extent that I am guaranteed a new IP,

I spoofed the WAN MAC address and fooled BE it into giving me a new one

on demand. Furthermore the MAC I am currently spoofing is that of

the Thompson box BE supplied in case that makes a difference.

So far so good, but it's not been long enough yet.


--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

In article <hdmj4t$s5c$(E-Mail Removed)>, Graham.
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes

>Actually I can't even ping it when it is working, but that in itself is not
>sinister of course.

No, but I can't understand anyone filtering icmp. It's so useful as a
diagnostic.

>I have, as a matter of choice, got a dynamic IP address, and early indications
>are when I change the IP the SMTP starts working again for a while.

Does rather sound like you're being blocked. Sure you haven't got a
spambot or a virus?

>I spoofed the WAN MAC address and fooled BE it into giving me a new one

MAC spoofing is evil.

>So far so good, but it's not been long enough yet.

Be interesting to hear how you get on.

--
(\__/)
(='.'=) Bunny says Windows 7 is Vi$ta reloaded.
(")_(") http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/windows_7.png

Mike Tomlinson wrote:
> In article <hdmj4t$s5c$(E-Mail Removed)>, Graham.
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>
>> Actually I can't even ping it when it is working, but that in itself is not
>> sinister of course.
>
> No, but I can't understand anyone filtering icmp. It's so useful as a
> diagnostic.
>

Its brilliant as a DOS weapon. WE tried it once on the company LAN.
rapid fire pings to broadacast address. Every machine in it responded!


After that we made some adjustments to our firewall..

On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:16:17 +0000, The Natural Philosopher ate alphabet
spaghetti and shat out:

> Mike Tomlinson wrote:
>> In article <hdmj4t$s5c$(E-Mail Removed)>, Graham.
>> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>>
>>> Actually I can't even ping it when it is working, but that in itself
>>> is not sinister of course.
>>
>> No, but I can't understand anyone filtering icmp. It's so useful as a
>> diagnostic.
>>
>>
> Its brilliant as a DOS weapon. WE tried it once on the company LAN.
> rapid fire pings to broadacast address. Every machine in it responded!
>
>
> After that we made some adjustments to our firewall..

This man talks out of his arse. Defending against the ping of death is
*trivial* and only a retard would struggle to do it. Next he will
probably trot out the 'ping the broadcast address' trollop. Rate
controlling firewalls have been around long enough. Even most home router/
firewall combo's offer it.

ICMP is far more important than just 'ping'. MTU Path discovery being a
pretty important function that is killed by disabling ICMP - but that is
to digress.

Back on topic, this is what I would do;

If you find yourself totally unable to telnet smtp1.bethere.co.uk on port
25 (assuming that you are not out-bounding on some arbitrary higher port)
like this:

telnet smtp1.bethere.co.uk 25
Trying 87.194.255.156...
Connected to smtp1.bethere.co.uk.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 woodbine.london.02.net ESMTP Service ready
quit
221 woodbine.london.02.net QUIT

I would ask myself a couple of things.

First, check it's not DNS related and telnet to the IP:
telnet 87.194.255.156 25
Trying 87.194.255.156...
Connected to 87.194.255.156.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 woodbine.london.02.net ESMTP Service ready
quit
221 woodbine.london.02.net QUIT

If that fails - try someone else's server, {I'll pick messagelabs}

telnet cluster1.eu.messagelabs.com 25
Trying 193.109.254.67...
Connected to cluster1.eu.messagelabs.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 server-4.tower-56.messagelabs.com ESMTP
quit
221 server-4.tower-56.messagelabs.com
Connection closed by foreign host.

(this one will read your host back to you: telnet bn-scl-
sf01.barracuda.com 25}

This will either prove the issue is;
DNS, your ISP, your kit.

If it is intermittent and comes back to smtp1.bethere.co.uk, it *could*
be that bethere is rate controlling you for overuse. Now, if you know
that you are not over using the service, it may be worth considering if
you could have some viral spambot running. Lots of these are just dumb
direct to mx things that would not use your ISP's relay. However, there
are some that are *very* good, dig themselves in below the radar like a
rootkit, and will happily use your ISP's relay as much as it can, knowing
that it will not be listed with the major dnsbl providers and will have
the correct DNS records and hostname - which is a bonus for any spambot.
I stress this is the *outside* possibility.






--
political correctness: The safety net protecting deaf blind disabled
ethnic minority gays & lesbians with odd religious beliefs from reality