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Thread: Email Delay

  1. #1

    Email Delay

    I need some education here in header analysis.

    Client reports that she received an email a day or two late, so she wants to know why it took so long for the email to arrive. Is there anything I can derive from examining the headers of the message?

    Code:
    Microsoft Mail Internet Headers Version 2.0
    Received: from server.domain.com ([xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx]) by mailserverdomail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6872);
      Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:59:36 -0500
    Received: from server.senderdomain.com ([yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy]) by server.domain.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.1830);
      Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:59:36 -0500
    In-Reply-To: <B1C0CC3F39A0B24981F7BB705C9D3C4502CC680F@email.domain.com>
    To: "Recepient" <recepient@domain.com>
    Subject: RE: blah blah blah blah
    MIME-Version: 1.0
    X-Mailer: Lotus Notes Release 6.5.4 March 27, 2005
    Message-ID: <OF9C271313.A7A69423-ON86257141.007182C7-86257141.00719784@senderdomain.com>
    From:sender@networks.nera.no
    Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 14:40:43 -0600
    X-MIMETrack: Serialize by Router on NOTES308/USTEL/NERA(Release 6.5.1|January 21, 2004) at
     04/03/2006 10:04:12 AM,
     Serialize complete at 04/03/2006 10:04:12 AM
    Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="=_alternative 0071978086257141_="
    Return-Path: sender@networks.nera.no
    X-OriginalArrivalTime: 03 Apr 2006 14:59:36.0588 (UTC) FILETIME=[3977F4C0:01C6572F]
     
    --=_alternative 0071978086257141_=
    Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
     
    --=_alternative 0071978086257141_=
    Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"
     
    
    --=_alternative 0071978086257141_=--

  2. #2
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hard to tell without a bit more information. I would say that the mail seems to have been sent on a thursday (30 March) afternoon and arrived monday morning? (3 April)

    Maybe someone was doing server maintenance. As you say "client" I am suspecting that we are talking business people here, rather than a home user who might be around at the week-end?


  3. #3
    AO Ancient: Team Leader
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    Headers won't help you here... You need the logs... The headers don't change because of delays...
    Don\'t SYN us.... We\'ll SYN you.....
    \"A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools.\" - Thucydides

  4. #4
    AO's Resident Redneck The Texan's Avatar
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    You should have the client check his/her email time zone settings in their account, I fixed a simular problem that way. his time zone was eastern and it was set to pacific.
    Git R Dun - Ty
    A tribe is wanted

  5. #5
    Just Another Geek
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    Client reports that she received an email a day or two late,{..}
    Sigh... People expect email to arrive almost instantly as soon as they hit the send button.. There's no garantee though.. Email can take up to 5 days to get delivered and it would still be "on time"..
    Oliver's Law:
    Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

  6. #6
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    All fair comments, although the header does actually indicate a delay?

    I took another look and saw this:

    X-Mailer: Lotus Notes Release 6.5.4 March 27, 2005

    I haven't used Notes much, that recently (I can get the Wife to check this) but it did have a sort of "mail priority" setting. To begin with it didn't do anything except set a logo next to the mail to indicate the degree of urgency. Maybe there is an actual prioritisation mechanism now?

    That would mean that the "sent date" is actually the "submitted" date rather than the "handled" date, which is what I think Tiger~ was getting at?


  7. #7
    AO Ancient: Team Leader
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    Ahhh... OK... Pedantics...

    Yes, the headers do indicate the delay insofar as the received from and the next received from will indicate the "time in transit". But it won't say in the header "Mail delivery delayed" or anything. You need to look in the mail logs of the sending server to get a clue as to why the delivery did not occur and even then they may not show much.
    Don\'t SYN us.... We\'ll SYN you.....
    \"A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools.\" - Thucydides

  8. #8
    Thanks guys, that's exactly the answer I was looking for!

    I have no way of checking the sender's mail server (the recepient is our client, not the sender), so I have no way of investigating that further, but at least I know it's not a problem with our client's mail server, which is good news.

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