550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable or not local

Hi all,

Have set up a small website for a client however contact form submissions are not getting through to their email address. They have website hosted on one server and email on another although website and emails share the same domain.

The bounce back has this message attached:

550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable or not local

It sends without issue to my email address and others but can't get to any on their domain.

Client's IT guy is a bit clueless so I'm unsure how he's configured the mail server?

Any suggestions? I can find out more info if it would help also.

Thanks!

From serverfault timothyclifford

• It generally means one of two things.

  1. Their mail is broken.
  2. You're not sending mail to the right spot.

  To verify you're going to the right spot, check their MX record and see if that's where you're sending mail

  nslookup -query=mx domain.com
  

  From sysadmin1138

• I am having the same issue. Please post if you find the answer. http://serverfault.com/questions/186999/550-requested-action-not-taken-mailbox-unavailable

  From Porch

• I am having the same problem

  http://serverfault.com/questions/186119/550-requested-action-not-taken-mailbox-unavailable-or-not-local

  but I do not have any answer yet. Please could you add more details (e.g. what mail servers you are running? On which of them does the 'sent to' address exist?) so we can eliminate potential suspects or get clues. Feel free to contact me directly if you wish.

  Regards

  Geoff

  Geoff Kelsall : Also I would like to ask 'sysadmin' above how I can send mail to the IP address in a particular MX record as perhaps that is the nub of the problem for me. In other words in my case presumably the sending server thinks the email address I am trying to send to is local. How I can send mail to the IP address in a particular MX record i.e. a particular mail server on the same domain?

  Geoff Kelsall : @sysadmin - I used nslookup to check the mx records for the domain from my PC and they look correct but what does that prove given the mail is not being sent from my PC?
  From Geoff Kelsall

• Hi guys,

  Managed to resolve my issue, not sure if it will fix yours Geoff but give it a go.

  Basically, the DNS entries for the website were managed externally. This included DNS for the website and email.

  Problem arose because my web server also contained DNS entries so when sending emails, tried sending to its own mail server rather than external, email address' didn't exist and hence got this message.

  Hope this helps anyone in same position.

  From timothyclifford