Overview
If you believe your email is not functioning as it should, DreamHost support needs specific information in order to assist. This article provides you with a checklist of items that support must have in order to troubleshoot your issue. The following types of email issues are covered in this article:
Once the information that is described in the following is gathered, proceed to the Contact Support page to submit your support request.
Sending/receiving/connectivity issues
- Error message – Describe the exact error you see in the client, including any error codes. Paste the error you see into your support request.
- Email address – The address you’re using when the issue occurs.
- Source IP (i.e., customer's IP) – You can get this at whatismyipaddress.com.
- Provider – The ISP you are using such as Verizon or Comcast.
- Email client (name and version number) – Examples include Webmail, Outlook 2021, Thunderbird 78.10.1, and Mac Mail version 14.0.
- OS and version number – What operating system (and version number) or device are you using?
- Port # – What are the ports that you are using? View the Email Client Configuration article for details.
- SSL – Are you using secure ports for incoming and outgoing connections?
- Protocol – Are you using IMAP or POP3 for incoming mail? View the POP3 vs IMAP article for further details.
- Authentication – Are you using password authentication for outgoing mail?
- Time – Time of the error including your timezone (or, timenow).
- Traceroute – Perform a Traceroute to your mail server. You can identify which mail server you are on by visiting the Data Center page.
- Server name – View the following article for instructions on how to locate your mail servername.
Delay issues
DreamHost support needs the following:
- Full email headers – View the Viewing email headers article for instructions on how to obtain these.
- Time – The time the email was sent and received including timezone (or, timenow).
- Addresses – Sending address and receiving address
- Where was the email sent from? – Was the email sent from the web server using phpmail/sendmail and so on or via email client?
- Mail server – Which mail server are you on? You can identify which mail server you are on by visiting the Data Center page.
If mail was not received
- Addresses – The email address that sent the email and address to which the email was sent.
- Time – The date and time the email address was sent including timezone (or, timenow).
DreamHost mail logs only go back a few days, so you must provide recent examples.