Incoming Gmail is Very Slow

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Incoming Gmail is Very Slow

I'm having an unusual problem with gmail. I am NOT a gmail user, I host my own mail on an Xserve running Snow Leopard Server. The problem is that when other gmail users email me, it takes 30-60 minutes for that mail to arrive on my server, in my inbox. From what I can tell, all other mail services arrive instantly. But for a couple of months now, Gmail has had this unusual delay.

I'm using 10.6's built in mail server, with nothing particularly special. I am using four realtime blacklists, but they're pretty mainstream lists, and I haven't made any changes to them lately:

cbl.abuseat.org

sbl.spamhaus.org

xbl.spamhaus.org

bl.spamcop.net

I'm not really sure where to even begin, troubleshooting a problem like this.

Xserve, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 8 x 3.0 GHz, 8 GB RAM, Early 2008

Posted on May 11, 2013 8:37 AM

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Answer 1

May 11, 2013 10:54 AM in response to l008com

Check your mail server logs, and see if there's anything relevent being logged there when the messages are in-bound.

Also check that your MX record is what you expect, and that its forward and reverse translations match.

To check that, launch Terminal.app from Applications > Utilities and enter the following diagnostic commands. (Stuff that can and will vary for your specific setup is shown in italics, stuff in the commands that doesn't vary uses plain text.)

dig @8.8.8.8 MX +short example.com

mail.example.net

That asks Google DNS server at IP address 8.8.8.8 to show your MX record for your mail server, and the output shown assumes that your public mail server name is mail.example.net host.

Now get the IP address...

dig @8.8.8.8 +short mail.example.net

10.20.30.40

That's your public IP address for your mail server.

Now get the name associated with the IP address that the previous dig command returned...

dig @8.8.8.8 +short 10.20.30.40

mail.example.net

Use the IP address that was returned by the previous dig command. If you don't get back your domain name for your MX server, then your public DNS is misconfigured.

I'm also assuming you have just one NIC connected on that Xserve system. If you have more than one NIC connected, there can be or are extra steps, and you'll need to have IP routing correct.

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