Loading the support system
SMTP host: ssrs.reachmail.net
SMTP port: 25, 2525, 587, or 465 (SMTPS)
Supported SSL versions: SSLv3 or TLSv1
Username format: AccountKey\Username
Supported authentication mechanisms: PLAIN or LOGIN
Errors such as connection refused or cannot connect to a remote host are usually related to an ISP blocking traffic on port 25. Port 25 blocking is often the default for many ISPs and should be avoided whenever possible. The preferred port for message submission is port 587.
Port 25 networking can be tested using telnet. Telnet is readily available on Linux, Mac, and Windows. Some newer versions of MacOS no longer have telnet available, so the nc command can be used instead.
To test your connection, begin by opening a command-line terminal. At the command prompt, type telnet ssrs.reachmail.net 25 (or nc ssrs.reachmail.net 25). If you see a message like 220 ssrs.reachmail.net easysmtp 2.1.2 b35eab8573 you’ve successfully connected. Type ‘quit,’ and telnet will terminate the connection.
netbsd13$ telnet ssrs.reachmail.net 587 Trying 66.102.109.166... Connected to ssrs.reachmail.net. Escape character is '^]'. 220 ssrs.reachmail.net v3.2.17.0 ESMTP ready quit 221 bye Connection closed by foreign host.
mymac$ nc -c ssrs.reachmail.net 25
220 ssrs.reachmail.net v3.2.17.0 ESMTP ready
quit
221 bye
If the connection was not complete or, a connection refused error was received, your ISP is likely blocking port 25. You should use the preferred SMTP service on port 587 or the SMTPS service on port 465 or contact your ISP to activate port 25 networking.
Failed authentication will return error code 535 and a brief explanation of the problem. Further details on the explanations are found below.
TrialExpired – Trial account has expired, please contact support@reachmail.com for assistance.
TooManyFailedLoginAttempts – 3 consecutive login attempts have failed, try again in 20 minutes.
AccountDisabled – Account has been deactivated, contact support@reachmail.com for more information.
InvalidUsernameOrPassword – Invalid user or password was submitted.
BadAUTHEncoding – The base64 encoding of the authorization parameters could not be decoded. Check to make sure your account key, username and password are correct. Note that the username submitted to Easy-SMTP is your account key and username joined with a backslash, e.g. ACME\admin
UnspecifiedError – Please contact support@reachmail.com for assistance
AccountBlocked – Account has been blocked, contact support@reachmail.com
OverSendingLimit – Account has exceeded the monthly sending limit. Contact support@reachmail.com to upgrade or defer all mails until midnight on the first of the next month.
NoValidPayment – A credit card must be entered to secure the account. Login to the account dashboard at https://ui.reachmail.net to submit a credit card.
NoComplianceData – All accounts must have CAN-SPAM compliance address data. Login to the account dashboard at https://ui.reachmail.net and go to Account > Addresses.
UserBlocked – The authenticated use is blocked from sending.
The BadAUTHEncoding error is often the result of an incorrectly formed username. Your Easy-SMTP username is your account key, and user name joined with a backslash, e.g. ACME\admin. Note that depending on how your programming language or MTA deals with special characters in authorization strings, you may need to add a second backslash, e.g., ACME\\admin. Additionally, you may also need to escape special characters in your password with a backslash depending on your environment, though this is less likely.
Using an unsupported authentication method will result in a 535 error, e.g., using CRAM-MD5 will return 535 error: invalid auth method CRAM-MD5. The supported authentication methods are PLAIN and LOGIN. Most programming languages will use PLAIN, while MTAs may attempt a preferred method and fall back to others.
Ensure that your connecting client supports PLAIN or LOGIN methods; you may need to change the preferred method in your MTA config or enable the PLAIN or LOGIN methods if they’re not supported by default.
If a 501 syntax error is received, Easy-SMTP can’t understand the command as received; please contact support@reachmail.com for further assistance.
If your client doesn’t support SMTP authentication, you may set up IP based authentication. Doing so will treat all connections from your IP as authenticating to your account. Remember that you will be responsible for all messages sent through your account, so this is not the best option for shared resources.
To set up IP authentication, log in to your account dashboard at https://ui.reachmail.net and click the ‘Edit’ button in the Account Settings section. Enter your public IP address in the IP address field and click Save in the pop-up. Allow 5 minutes for the access control lists to update and connect again. Click on the Map Marker button to auto-detect your current IPv4 IP address.
Except for connections authenticated by IP that do not transmit a password, all connections must use SSL. Connections on port 25 will need to issue the STARTTLS command before sending the AUTH command; connections to port 465 should be prepared to secure the connection immediately. SSL version 3 and TLS version 1 are supported; SSLv2 is not supported.
If your system or connection client does not support SSL, the only connection option is to use IP authentication over port 25 or 2525. See the Using IP Authentication section in this document.
SSL is best tested using the openssl client. Openssl is readily available for Mac and Linux.
To test Easy-SMTP SMTPS
openssl s_client -connect ssrs.reachmail.net:465 -crlf -no_ssl3 |
To test Easy-SMTP STARTTLS
openssl s_client -connect ssrs.reachmail.net:587 -crlf -no_ssl3 -starttls smtp |
For windows, you may need to change directories to issue the command above or add the OpenSSL directory to your PATH.
If successful, those commands should yield an open connection under a banner like 220 ssrs.reachmail.net easysmtp 2.1.2 b35eab8573
If openssl connects without issue, but your connection client is still failing with a trust error, e.g., cannot verify issuing authority, try one of the following:
Adjust the verification depth
Update the CA packs used by your client
Turn off verification
If openssl cannot connect, try adding the -debug option to get more information and contact support@reachmail.com for additional assistance.
You may need to update your server's CA or Certificate Authority Bundles in some cases. CA bundles allow your machine to verify the signature on the ReachMail SSL Certificate before you connect. If your CA bundles are outdated, you may see a TLS or SSL handshake-related error in your logs.
Easy-SMTP will respond to commands using standard SMTP response ranges, including:
2xx – Command accepted
4xx – Temporary error
5xx – Permanent error
55x – Permanent error, terminates the connection
In addition to the standard SMTP errors, Easy-SMTP may respond to a command with one of the following.
421 error: too many errors
Too many invalid commands were received; the current connection has been terminated to free up resources.
451 error: Message rate limit exceeded
Messages are limited to 25 per connection; exceeding this rate will result in this error. Note that if you’re using an MTA, this will likely be interpreted as a temporary deferral, and the message will be tried again later.
451 error: Monthly message limit reached
If you are using the Easy-SMTP free account plan, a limit of 10,000 messages per month is imposed on your account. This counter is reset at midnight on the first of the month. Note that this error will be interpreted are using an MTA as a temporary deferral if yo. Depending on the MTA’s message timeout value, these messages may be sent after the volume counter resets. This error will not occur for paid accounts.
451 error: RCPT limit reached
Each message is limited to 100 recipients, i.e., 100 RCPT commands. Using the RSET command will clear the counter.
554 <ip address> please wait for acl update
Only for accounts using IP authentication. This error indicates a connection made before the IP access control lists have been updated. Please try again in 5 minutes
554 <authorization error>
Only for accounts using IP authentication. This error indicates that some authorization condition is preventing your account from authenticating. The authorization error string will match one of the authentication errors defined elsewhere in this document, e.g., 554 OverSendingLimit.
554 transaction failed
This is an exceptional error; please contact support@reachmail.com for assistance.
Are your HTML messages coming out jumbled? You may be missing the Content-Type header.
By default, Easy-SMTP will treat all incoming messages a plain text unless HTML is specified in the Content-Type header. If you are sending HTML messages but are seeing the HTML code in the message body when viewing the message in a mail user agent, your sending mechanism is likely omitting the Content-Type header.
Insert Content-Type: text/html in the message headers to correct the problem.
Subject: New forum posting Content-Type: text/html
