[Vex.Net MOTD] Regarding GMail and Vex.Net

[Tim Middleton]

There is a longstanding issue with the GMail failing to connect 
to the Vex.Net mail server. Many people trying to send messages 
from GMail to @vex.net accounts (and any virtual domains hosted 
by Vex.Net's DNS) are reporting that Google reports a DNS 
timeout failure trying to look up the domain to deliver to. This 
issue is still outstanding. We have attempted to contact Google 
several times via their contact/feedback system, as well sought 
information via the gmail Google group. Also several of our 
clients who have noticed the problem have reported the problem 
to Google. We have not heard of anyone getting any response from 
Google, despite many attempts. 
 
We can assure everyone that there is no problem with our mail 
server. We are receiving mail, as usual, from all other mail 
servers. We can only assume that the problem GMail has 
connecting to our DNS server is a problem with their 
infrastructure. Searching through the Google groups there are 
some reports of others having similar problems. We also have 
heard from a friend (as ridiculous as this sounds, it is sadly 
so far our best source of information) who knows someone who 
works at Google that it is a known problem and being worked on. 
None of this however is of much comfort to us, our our 
frustrated clients. 
 
Oddly, there are at least a few particular GMail users that have 
no problem sending mail to Vex.Net hosted accounts. I have one 
friend with a GMail account who has emailed me often recently 
with no problem; while everyone else I know with a GMail account 
(including tests I send myself) reports the mail bouncing after 
several days in (timeout) limbo. This seems to me more indirect 
evidence that it is a problem with GMail's infrastructure. 
 
This is an incredibly frustrating situation, especially because 
we can get absolutely no response from Google (whom one would 
have expected better from, considering their reputation for not 
being "evil"). 
 
We would love to know why this is happening, why particularly 
our DNS server or IP apparently disagrees with some/most of 
GMail's servers; but without communication from Google we are 
completely in the dark. We have made no changes to our server 
configurations or infrastructure around the time that situation 
came to our attention (more evidence that the problem did not 
originate with us). We have double checked everything we can 
think of since this started. 
 
If anyone out there can get any more information out of Google 
regarding this please let us know. We'd also encourage everyone 
who has experienced failures from mail being sent from GMail to 
report the problem to Google. 
 
Google's GMail bug report form: 
http://services.google.com/inquiry/gmail_bugs?referrer=bugflow 
 
Google's GMail Group: 
http://groups.google.com/group/Gmail-Help-Discussion 
 
-- 
Tim Middleton | Vex.Net    | There are a thousand hacking at the branches
x at veX.net     | VexTech.ca | of evil [but who] at the root. --Thoreau (W)