Trouble setting up smarthhost at SMTP.COM
I joined SMTP.COM yesterday. I think I have set up everything correctly, but my server does not seem like its using them as a relay
Its a Cpanel server running Exim 4.99. I set up the server this way:
smarthost support: * send.smtp.com:587
Smarthost requires SMTP authentication: ON
Smarthost username: support@xxxxxxxxx.com
password: xxxxxxxxxxxx
Autodiscovery SPF include hosts from the smarthost route list : ON
I restart the mail server but it does not seem to login and relay through them.
I emailed their support, but no reply so far. Can anyone help provide guidance or troubleshooting so I can get this working ?
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Hey there! Our help may be a bit limited since you're pointing things to a third party tool, but we should still be able to get you pointed in the right direction.
When you send an email, what do you see in the main email log at /var/log/exim_mainlog? This will show the entire mail transaction, including what server it is trying to connect to and any error messages that may appear. That's the first place to look for any email delivery issues.
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I'll attach 2 attempts. Both are from our cpanel server. One is going to gmail. The other is going to a domain hosted on dynadot.
2026-07-13 09:18:12 SMTP connection from [66.135.22.101]:58362 (TCP/IP connection count = 3)2026-07-13 09:18:13 1wjGY1-00000000s5d-0bX8 <= JimToro@LIWebTech.com H=([172.27.232.73]) [66.135.22.101]:58362 P=esmtp S=604 id=82c08476-20b3-40c7-8f4f-dc55fc8e04da@LIWebTech.com T="test111111" for liwebtech@gmail.com
2026-07-13 09:18:13 cwd=/var/spool/exim 3 args: /usr/sbin/exim -Mc 1wjGY1-00000000s5d-0bX8
2026-07-13 09:18:13 1wjGY1-00000000s5d-0bX8 SMTP connection identification H= A=66.135.22.101 P=58362 M=1wjGY1-00000000s5d-0bX8 U=liwt ID=1007 S=jimtoro@liwebtech.com B=recent_authed_mail_ips_domain
2026-07-13 09:18:13 1wjGY1-00000000s5d-0bX8 Sender identification U=liwt D=liwebtech.com S=jimtoro@liwebtech.com
2026-07-13 09:18:13 1wjGY1-00000000s5d-0bX8 SMTP connection outbound 1783948693 1wjGY1-00000000s5d-0bX8 liwebtech.com liwebtech@gmail.com2026-07-13 09:18:45 SMTP connection from [66.135.22.101]:58365 (TCP/IP connection count = 4)
2026-07-13 09:18:45 1wjGYX-00000000s7a-2fBM <= JimToro@LIWebTech.com H=([172.27.232.73]) [66.135.22.101]:58365 P=esmtp S=631 id=5564c150-f491-4956-93aa-58a78b1137f2@LIWebTech.com T="test 222222" for support@presenceinnovations.com
2026-07-13 09:18:45 cwd=/var/spool/exim 3 args: /usr/sbin/exim -Mc 1wjGYX-00000000s7a-2fBM
2026-07-13 09:18:45 1wjGYX-00000000s7a-2fBM SMTP connection identification H= A=66.135.22.101 P=58365 M=1wjGYX-00000000s7a-2fBM U=liwt ID=1007 S=jimtoro@liwebtech.com B=recent_authed_mail_ips_domain
2026-07-13 09:18:45 1wjGYX-00000000s7a-2fBM Sender identification U=liwt D=liwebtech.com S=jimtoro@liwebtech.com
2026-07-13 09:18:45 1wjGYX-00000000s7a-2fBM SMTP connection outbound 1783948725 1wjGYX-00000000s7a-2fBM liwebtech.com support@presenceinnovations.com0 -
Some screen grabs of the deliverability reports for the gmail one
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That first screenshot indicates that *something* is blocking the connection to the send.smtp.com server, although we wouldn't really know what.
Are you able to connect to port 587 on that system? You can check that with the following command run from your server:
nc send.smtp.com 587
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I seem to connect. If I hit enter a few times it produces a syntax error
[root@delta ~]# nc send.smtp.com 587
220 s0-aws-app-mta-in-2 ESMTP500 5.5.2 Error: bad syntax
500 5.5.2 Error: bad syntax
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That does look good - I'd recommend waiting to hear back from them to see what they recommend as data seems to be reaching their server properly from what you're showing.
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Ok, thank you.
If anypne else has any ideas or has dealt with SMTP.com, please let me know how your setup works.
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Important follow up:
The tech support at SMTP.com is horrible. The relay service isnt much better.
There is no real help from the techs. They seem to be reading a script. There is no ticket system so its just email back and forth with tiny snippets of help. I;m still waiting for a follow up for 8 hours..
So I switched to SMTP2Go.com
They have an app just for Cpanel, The website has a lot of controls and it works. I now have 160 domains routing through them in just a couple of hours.
If you need a smarthost with a lot of flexibility in customization and easy to configure software, I REALLY recommend them.
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Sorry to hear about the initial drama, but glad you found something better!
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