Tommy Revival

[imfree]

Dear Sir,

 

Hi !

 

Thanks to Each and Every One of the HelioHost Team who have put in their grand efforts to revive and rejuvenate Tommy, as well as its fellow servers, and for inviting me to its resurrection. Invitation accepted.

Index page done.    

 

Gracias. Merci beaucoup.

 

Please guide me now step by step as to what I have to do.

1. My site data is not there. Do you upload it or do I?
2. If I have to upload the data would you please provide me with a backup of my earlier site and point out where to upload it on Tommy?
3. Do I have to redo the MX Records too all over again?   
4. How long will it take for the site to be active once the data is uploaded?  
5. Is this going to be like resetting my site on Tommy all over again as we did earlier? Or are there any shortcuts?

Please let me know. Your kind help will be very much appreciated.

 

Thanks and Regards,

imfree.  

 

 

[wolstech]

#1: You upload it.

 

#2: Backups of your old account are here. You'll need to download all of the files there and manually restore everything: https://heliohost.org/backup/ The file named username.tar.gz contains your home folder, and each additional archive will contain a single SQL database. The home folder files can be uploaded via FTP (you only need to upload the public_html files unless you have stuff outside of there you need). The databases can be restored using the MySQL restore option on the backup page of cPanel to upload the .sql files.

 

You'll need to recreate your database users and assign them to databases. Make sure their passwords match the config files for the software they go with.

 

#3: Yes.

 

#4: If you add new domains, the new domains can take a few minutes to start working. File uploads and software should work instantly once they're configured correctly. If it's not, you'll probably see something like a 500 error or a database error from the program.

 

#5: Basically. You're essentially rebuilding it using the data from your old account.

[imfree]

Please help resolve the following issues.

 

1. Mails sent from the contact form on my site are NOT going anywhere, while emails directly sent / received from/ to my G Suite account are reaching properly.

 

Please help.   

 

2. I have entered the DKIM Records, and on the emails it appears as ok, but in the cPanel’s Email Deliverability Section it says Problems Exist.

 

If I press the “Install the suggested Record’’ Button it says -  

 

Danger:

If you send email from another server, you must use this server’s DKIM key on the remote server.

What does that mean? Thoroughly confused me. What do I do?

 

3. The SPF Key has also changed. The new one is - v=spf1 +mx +a +ip4:65.19.143.6 ~all

 

While the old original G Suite one was - v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all

 

Why this difference? Which one do I use? Though I have just pressed “Install the suggested Record’ and the new one has been installed. And the cPanel says VALID. But the G Suite site still says to use the original one. Which one is better?   

 

4. What exactly is a PTR Record and what does it do, in simple English please?

 

The cPanel says PTR is VALID even though I didn’t touch it. It was not there earlier when Tommy came up in place of Stevie and when I had first entered the DKIM and SPF records.       

 

5. Earlier there used to be an Authentication link in the cPanel via which was auto - entered the G Suite’s original SPF Record. Where is it? It has disappeared. Is the Email Deliverability link in place of that?  

 

Please let me know. Your kind help will be very much appreciated.

 

Thanks and Regards,

Edited October 23, 2019 by imfree

[Krydos]

Please post the following information:

• Your cPanel username
  
• Your main domain
  
• The server that you are on
  

[imfree]

New Qs

 

Further to my earlier queries, I have recently clicked the “Install the suggested Record’’ and the new DKIM has been successfully installed. And the cPanel too says VALID. The DKIM shows up in my email as PASS.

 

But the SPF shows up in my email with the remark, SOFTFAIL with IP 209.85.220.41

While in the cPanel, all my DKIM SPF and PTR are VALID.

 

So what is the problem? Please check.

 

I have also again uploaded my Email files on to the server, but my problem no. 1 in the previous list remains as it is. Only no. 2 is partially resolved. The rest need to be still sorted. Please help me resolve nos. 3 - 5 too.  

 

Your kind help will be very much appreciated.

 

Thanks and Regards,

 

 

I am PM-ing you your required details. Please bear with me.  

[wolstech]

What is your account's username? I can't find you in the system at all, so I can't really research this.

 

Also, what's the domain portion of the "From" for the emails that aren't being delivered? 

[Byron]

 

#2: Backups of your old account are here. You'll need to download all of the files there and manually restore everything: https://heliohost.org/backup/ The file named username.tar.gz contains your home folder, and each additional archive will contain a single SQL database. The home folder files can be uploaded via FTP (you only need to upload the public_html files unless you have stuff outside of there you need). The databases can be restored using the MySQL restore option on the backup page of cPanel to upload the .sql files.

 

 If he has the username.tar.gz backup of his site, all he needs to do is upload it using the Backup Manager from cPanel and the Backup Manager will unpack his public_html files automatically. No need to use ftp to upload his site.

[imfree]

 

 

#2: Backups of your old account are here. You'll need to download all of the files there and manually restore everything: https://heliohost.org/backup/ The file named username.tar.gz contains your home folder, and each additional archive will contain a single SQL database. The home folder files can be uploaded via FTP (you only need to upload the public_html files unless you have stuff outside of there you need). The databases can be restored using the MySQL restore option on the backup page of cPanel to upload the .sql files.

 

 If he has the username.tar.gz backup of his site, all he needs to do is upload it using the Backup Manager from cPanel and the Backup Manager will unpack his public_html files automatically. No need to use ftp to upload his site.

 

 

I was not referring to this question no. 2 which has already been solved by Wolstech earlier. 

 

But EXTRA THANKS to Byron's Reply because this was what I was looking for while loading my backups, but never found out how to Unzip my zip files on Tommy, so I had to use the long route. This Reply will be a big help next time I load zip files.

 

Byron, you have solved one of my biggest headaches. Thanks again.

 

 

The Questions I was actually referring to are detailed below :

 

Please help resolve the following issues.

 

1. Mails sent from the contact form on my site are NOT going anywhere, while emails directly sent / received from/ to my G Suite account are reaching properly.

 

Please help.   

 

2. I have entered the DKIM Records, and on the emails it appears as ok, but in the cPanel’s Email Deliverability Section it says Problems Exist.

 

If I press the “Install the suggested Record’’ Button it says -  

 

Danger:

If you send email from another server, you must use this server’s DKIM key on the remote server.

What does that mean? Thoroughly confused me. What do I do?

 

3. The SPF Key has also changed. The new one is - v=spf1 +mx +a +ip4:65.19.143.6 ~all

 

While the old original G Suite one was - v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all

 

Why this difference? Which one do I use? Though I have just pressed “Install the suggested Record’ and the new one has been installed. And the cPanel says VALID. But the G Suite site still says to use the original one. Which one is better?   

 

4. What exactly is a PTR Record and what does it do, in simple English please?

 

The cPanel says PTR is VALID even though I didn’t touch it. It was not there earlier when Tommy came up in place of Stevie and when I had first entered the DKIM and SPF records.       

 

5. Earlier there used to be an Authentication link in the cPanel via which was auto - entered the G Suite’s original SPF Record. Where is it? It has disappeared. Is the Email Deliverability link in place of that?  

 

Please let me know. Your kind help will be very much appreciated.

 

Thanks and Regards,

 

Valid details have been ccd to Krydos, Wolstech and Byron.

[wolstech]

1. I suspect your contact form has a code issue of some sort. Assuming it's using something like mail() to send, the message should send regardless of the DNS records (though it may end up in a spam folder...). Also, keep in mind that some mail providers don't accept mail from us. You didn't say in your PM what email address the contact form is being sent to, but I can say that iCloud and GMX are not accepting mail from us at the moment.

 

2. For DKIM, you're seeing that error when you load Google's DKIM records because cPanel is expecting the DKIM records to be ours (ones that can verify the private key stored on your account). To fix this and allow both servers to send mail properly, you need to make Google use the same key as us. That way, both Google and Tommy will sign mail with a signature that verifies with our DKIM record. Set the DKIM records to the cPanel suggested ones, then download the required private key in Email Deliverability->Domain->Manage->View the Private Key. You'll need to check with Google for instructions on how to configure DKIM on Google's system to use that key.

 

If Google is unable to accept an outside key, you can ignore the warning and set Google's DKIM records here against cPanel's recommendation. Just be aware that mail that originates directly from Tommy (e.g. stuff sent via mail() and the like) will not pass DKIM checks in this configuration and will often end up marked as spam.

 

3. For the SPF, try this: v=spf1 +mx +a +ip4:65.19.143.6 include:_spf.google.com ~all (this basically means "SPF check will PASS if your domain has an MX or A record for the sending server, if the sending IP is 65.19.143.6, or if any of the conditions provided by _spf.google.com match, FAIL if anything else").

 

4. PTR is a Reverse DNS record. DNS takes names and translates them to IPs. Reverse DNS does the opposite (takes an IP and finds the domain name). Email systems sometimes use it as one method for reducing spam by comparing the PTR record of a server's IP to the name the server announces itself as. If a dubious server announces itself to another mail server as "tommy.heliohost.org", but a reverse DNS query for that dubious mail server's IP comes back as "imnottommy.com", there's a good chance the server at imnottommy.com is impersonating tommy.heliohost.org to send questionable mail.

 

If you notice in cPanel, you'll see a notice about an alternate HELO for the mail server that doesn't match your domain name. The mail server identifies itself as tommy.heliohost.org when it sends mail, because you're on a shared IP address. A reverse DNS query for the shared IP 65.19.143.6 will always resolve to "tommy.heliohost.org", so the mail server must announce itself as such in order to pass this check. This message is there just to inform you of what our mail server announces itself as. The PTR's value should always match what the server identifies as.

 

5. The Authentication button is no more. Email Deliverability did indeed replace it in the newer version of cPanel.

[imfree]

SPF and DKIM are both okay and PASS now.

 

The SPF code has automatically added a “+” before include. So the code now reads as

 

v=spf1 +mx +a +ip4:65.19.143.6 +include:_spf.google.com ~all

 

It is working. So I leave it at that.

 

But my site’s Contact Form is just not sending any mails, either to the sender or to the receiver, both of whom are on Gmail. Actually, I am sending a test mail from my G Suite account to myself, and both don’t come through.

 

But when I send and receive mails directly both show NO PROBLEMS.

 

The emails don’t even go to the spam folder, nor to the admin’s junk box. They all just disappear without a trace. As though my Contact Form is not connected to my email at all.

 

Please note that before and until Tommy crashed everything was ok.     

 

The Contact Form is not functioning properly only after the crash. I have restored the relevant files over and over again but cannot trace out the errors.

 

Please Check at your end.

 

By the way, what are iCloud and GMX?

 

Awaiting your kind reply.

[wolstech]

I am sending a test mail from my G Suite account to myself, and both don’t come through.

 

But when I send and receive mails directly both show NO PROBLEMS.

 

The emails don’t even go to the spam folder, nor to the admin’s junk box. They all just disappear without a trace. As though my Contact Form is not connected to my email at all.

 

Please note that before and until Tommy crashed everything was ok.     

 

The Contact Form is not functioning properly only after the crash. I have restored the relevant files over and over again but cannot trace out the errors.

 

Please Check at your end.

 

By the way, what are iCloud and GMX?

 

Awaiting your kind reply.

Tommy ran different software before the crash. Most notably, the default versions of PHP were different (it used to be 5.6 default, now it's one of the 7.x versions). PHP 5 and 7 are not backwards compatible with each other.

 

Another thing to consider: Gmail will not deliver a message if you spoof the From header to make it appear as being sent to from itself. If you use Tommy to send an email to your Gmail account, be sure you set the From to something that's NOT a Google account.

 

Have you tried writing a test PHP script that just mail()'s a test message to you? Try this script (edit the email address in the $to variable):

<?php
// the message
$msg = "First line of text\nSecond line of text";
$to = "someone@example.com";

// use wordwrap() if lines are longer than 70 characters
$msg = wordwrap($msg,70);

// send email
mail($to,"My subject",$msg,"From: noreply@tommy.heliohost.org");
?>

If this works, your software is just broken or incompatible with what we run now. I would start by changing the PHP version back to whatever you used before the crash (if you never set one before, try setting it to 5.6). You can do that in cPanel under MultiPHP Manager. If that doesn't help, you'll need to find new software for your contact form.

 

iCloud and GMX are email providers like Google or Yahoo. Both are known for refusing our emails entirely without delivering them.