E-mail troubleshooting

The Email system only gives back an error message when a message could not be delivered. If you do not receive such a message, you can assume your message was delivered properly.

There are several types of messages that you can get back in response to an Email message you sent.

Invalid user

You have specified a username that is invalid. You will get a message back that looks like this:

Unable to deliver message because: 

      xyz@anest4.anest.ufl.edu : Problems with this Address
      xyz@anest4 : Unknown User

Returned Text follows

Check the address and re-send the message. Please note that the case of the username is important on some systems.

Hostname invalid

You have entered a hostname that is not correct.

nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu unable to deliver following mail to recipient(s):
    <xyz@ANEST6.ANEST.UFL.EDU>
550 Host 'ANEST6.ANEST.UFL.EDU' Unknown

           ** Text of Mail follows **

Check the address (the part after the @ sign) and re-send the message.

Connection troubles

Sometimes the Email software is unable to connect to the host computer that you are sending Email to. This can be caused by a temporary network problem or because the host computer is down. The Email system will usually try to send the message for a total of three days. After three days you will receive a message like this:

nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu unable to deliver following mail to recipient(s):
    <xyz@jjv.anest.ufl.edu>
nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu unable to connect for 3 days to recipient host.

Do not re-send the message until you receive a message that says that no more attempts are being made (usually after 3 days). If you do not receive a message again after the 2nd day you can assume that the Email was delivered.

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