General SMTP/MTA Question

[Gaddis, Jeremy L.]

On 1/13/07, Evan Klitzke <eklitzke.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
> How resistant are most MTAs to this kind of failure? In other words, how
> realistic is it to expect that someone else's MTA trying to deliver mail
> to mine will hold it in its mail queue and retry sending long enough for
> it to get through? Will this actually happen, or would a typical MTA
> just drop the message from its mail queue if the domain wasn't reachable
> (or not accepting connections on port 25)? I am hoping some veteran
> sysadmins on the list will have enough experience to know what to
> expect.

MTAs queue up mail that they cannot immediately deliver.  It happens
all the time, you just don't see it.  How long will a remote mail
server queue mail for you before giving up?  That depends on the
values set by the sysadmin at that site.

-- 
Jeremy L. Gaddis, MCP, GCWN
http://www.linuxwiz.net/