Apple server FUBAR?

X3 Skier

X3 Skier

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So I was trying to send some mail this morning from my iPad using the Apple Mail icon and I get a message "connection to Server apple.smtp.mail.yahoo.com failed".

It fetches mail fine but if I try and send something the gear spins and eventually the failure message shows up.

I can send fine using Safari and my Yahoo account but not using the mail icon.

Same thing with iPod and iPhone.

Since there are quite a few Apple geniuses in the community, perhaps one can tell me WTFIGO.:rolleyes2:

Cheers
 
"FUBAR...I can't find that in my dictionary" - Upham
 
Serious?

- F F^%(
- U Up
- B Beyond
- A All
- R Repair/Replacement/Recognition/.....


=======
As to Apple -- about time. They've spent too much time on a pedestal anyway
 
oldShar said:
Serious?

- F F^%(
- U Up
- B Beyond
- A All
- R Repair/Replacement/Recognition/.....


=======
As to Apple -- about time. They've spent too much time on a pedestal anyway
Click to expand...

Its a quote from Saving Private Ryan.
 
apple.smtp.mail.yahoo.com is yahoo's server for Apple users.

So Yahoo is having issues at the moment, not so much Apple.

Have you updated to the latest os on your phone/ipad that came out yesterday?
 
I pinged apple.smtp.mail.yahoo.com, and I get a response, so the server is up. I would just give it an hour or so, and try again.
 
Mafoo said:
apple.smtp.mail.yahoo.com is yahoo's server for Apple users.

So Yahoo is having issues at the moment, not so much Apple.

Have you updated to the latest os on your phone/ipad that came out yesterday?
Click to expand...

None of my iDevices are compatible, iPad 1, iPod, iPhone 3Gs. They are good enough for me so no need for iOS 6 devices. :wink2:

I suspected it was Yahoo but no clue why it can fetch but not send. :dunno:

Cheers
 
X3 Skier said:
I suspected it was Yahoo but no clue why it can fetch but not send. :dunno:
Click to expand...

a lot of times the servers are different. Even if the servers are the same, the application on that server that sends emails is not the same as the one receives them.

Also SMTP is SMTP. Not sure why they call out apple. I did a ping on just smtp.mail.yahoo.com and it resolves to:

smtp.mail.us.am0.yahoodns.net

And works find. The apple one resolves to:

smtp-mob.biz.mail.us.am0.yahoodns.net

So they look like different server pools. If it was me, I would go to my email settings in my iPad, and remove the "apple." from the address, and see what happens.
 
FUBAR was a military term (Navy for me - Fouled Up Beyond All Repair - g-rated version) that I believe well pre-dates any of those move/tv shows...
 
Mafoo said:
I pinged apple.smtp.mail.yahoo.com, and I get a response, so the server is up. I would just give it an hour or so, and try again.
Click to expand...
Pinging an SMTP server to see if it's online and capable of processing incoming mail is about the same as looking to see if the lights on the post office building are on. It doesn't mean that there is actually anyone there or that they are actually capable of delivering a package for you at that precise time.
 
The mail server is working fine:

[jlowe@adminhou0201 ~]$ telnet apple.smtp.mail.yahoo.com 25
Trying 98.136.185.223...
Connected to apple.smtp.mail.yahoo.com (98.136.185.223).
Escape character is '^]'.
 
jesse said:
Pinging an SMTP server to see if it's online and capable of processing incoming mail is about the same as looking to see if the lights on the post office building are on. It doesn't mean that there is actually anyone there or that they are actually capable of delivering a package for you at that precise time.
Click to expand...

I realize that the SMTP server listens on port 25 for incoming requests, however 90% of the time when mail is down, the server itself is unavailable.

Or, the user has the wrong server address.

I was just eliminating those two conditions, as if it's not one of those, it's most likely just something internal that Yahoo is working on. It's why I didn't say "your mail should be working" and said "give it some time."
 
Mafoo said:
I realize that the SMTP server listens on port 25 for incoming requests, however 90% of the time when mail is down, the server itself is unavailable.

Or, the user has the wrong server address.

I was just eliminating those two conditions, as if it's not one of those, it's most likely just something internal that Yahoo is working on. It's why I didn't say "your mail should be working" and said "give it some time."
Click to expand...

Well I suspect they have a very large cluster of servers and infrastructure that drive their e-mail and its quite possible an ICMP response from it may not have anything to do with that actual cluster on the back that is causing the problem.

No biggy, just as one that has designed/built/maintained large e-mail clusters it jumped out at me :)

As to the 90% rule -- my experience disagrees with that. It's very often an issue with an authentication or data layer that throws some SMTP error.
 
Last edited:
The OED pegs its origins to WWII-era military slang.
They use "Fouled" for the first word in the acronym.
They also reference SNAFU in the entry, another piece of WWII-era military slang.

Those of us old time UNIX guys also know it as foobar.
 
JLowe said:
The mail server is working fine:

[jlowe@adminhou0201 ~]$ telnet apple.smtp.mail.yahoo.com 25
Trying 98.136.185.223...
Connected to apple.smtp.mail.yahoo.com (98.136.185.223).
Escape character is '^]'.
Click to expand...

Answering on the port still doesn't mean it's fine. Just sayin'. BTDT, have multiple corporate polo shirts. ;)
 
denverpilot said:
Answering on the port still doesn't mean it's fine. Just sayin'. BTDT, have multiple corporate polo shirts. ;)
Click to expand...

Maybe... but the fact that it's accepting connections and replying quickly should mean it's functioning. SMTP isn't all that complicated, but I'm sure yahoo has found a way to fix that.

I work managing support teams so I'm going to stick by the "It's up and responding, sounds like you are doing something wrong" response. :lol:
 
JLowe said:
Maybe... but the fact that it's accepting connections and replying quickly should mean it's functioning. SMTP isn't all that complicated, but I'm sure yahoo has found a way to fix that.

I work managing support teams so I'm going to stick by the "It's up and responding, sounds like you are doing something wrong" response. :lol:
Click to expand...

Your test didn't provide the 220 response that should be there -- a mail server just hanging and not providing the 220 is a very common failure mode.
 
It's working fine now. I did nothing so Yahoo must have done something or as my wife says, "It needed a rest.".

FUBAR and SNAFU are time honored expressions from WWII. Generated by the enlisted force to describe "Orders from Headquarters." IIRC.

Cheers
 
jesse said:
Your test didn't provide the 220 response that should be there -- a mail server just hanging and not providing the 220 is a very common failure mode.
Click to expand...

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Very common in load-balanced environments.

The mail server isn't the device answering the initial TCP connection in an environment that big. The load balancer answers and then picks an internal server to connect to. If it's borked, you never get the 220. (Or anything else.)

It confuses the crap out of client software.

:)
 
It's even common in the simple single processor LINUX environment. The inetd accepted the connection but for whatever reason the spawned SMTP process never responded.
 
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