Problem with resolving G-Suite MX Record

r00k

r00k

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I have a client who recently transitioned to G-Suite (Google Apps for Non-Profits, specifically). Their registrar is bluehost.com

Since then, their email is only working spottily from what they can tell. I have many clients who have G-Suite, and so i checked their configuration against other clients. The configuration for this domain is generally correct. They have Google's 5 MX records. However, when i run a DNS report on them at dnsstuff.com, i get this (less relevant information omitted)

ns1.bluehost.com. | 162.88.60.37
ns2.bluehost.com. | 162.88.61.37


162.88.60.37 has aspmx.l.google.com. | 74.220.199.6 listed.
162.88.60.37 has alt1.aspmx.l.google.com. | 74.220.199.6 listed.
162.88.60.37 has alt2.aspmx.l.google.com. | 74.220.199.6 listed.
162.88.60.37 has alt3.aspmx.l.google.com. | 74.220.199.6 listed.
162.88.60.37 has alt4.aspmx.l.google.com. | 74.220.199.6 listed.
162.88.61.37 has aspmx.l.google.com. | 74.220.199.6 listed.
162.88.61.37 has alt1.aspmx.l.google.com. | 74.220.199.6 listed.
162.88.61.37 has alt2.aspmx.l.google.com. | 74.220.199.6 listed.
162.88.61.37 has alt3.aspmx.l.google.com. | 74.220.199.6 listed.
162.88.61.37 has alt4.aspmx.l.google.com. | 74.220.199.6 listed.

74.220.199.6 | failed message send with: failed cx open with: failed socket connect with: Operation now in progress
74.220.199.6 | failed message send with: failed cx open with: failed socket connect with: Operation now in progress
74.220.199.6 | failed message send with: failed cx open with: failed socket connect with: Operation now in progress
74.220.199.6 | failed message send with: failed cx open with: failed socket connect with: Operation now in progress
74.220.199.6 | failed message send with: failed cx open with: failed socket connect with: Operation now in progress


Bluehost's nameservers are spitting out the same bluehost park page for all google's mail exchange servers.

Another client using G-Suite gives the following:

ns03.domaincontrol.com. | 216.69.185.2
ns04.domaincontrol.com. | 208.109.255.2

216.69.185.2 has ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. | 64.233.168.26 listed.
216.69.185.2 has ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. | 64.233.185.26 listed.
216.69.185.2 has ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. | 173.194.68.26 listed.
216.69.185.2 has ALT3.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. | 173.194.210.26 listed.
216.69.185.2 has ALT4.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. | 64.233.190.27 listed.
208.109.255.2 has ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. | 64.233.168.26 listed.
208.109.255.2 has ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. | 64.233.185.26 listed.
208.109.255.2 has ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. | 173.194.68.26 listed.
208.109.255.2 has ALT3.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. | 173.194.210.26 listed.
208.109.255.2 has ALT4.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. | 64.233.190.27 listed.

These all give the expected result, which all other DNS servers resolve no sweat.

When i called bluehost, they said there was no problem, and that everything was resolving correctly, or that Google is the one who is responsible for the resolved ip's. i was hitting my head against a wall with them.

Setting my own workstation dns entry to just the bluehost nameserver, an nslookup confirms they resolve those mx records to the park page.


Am I wrong or missing something? What's the next step?
 
When you performed an NSLookup, did you specifically set the query type to "MX" ? If not then the default for NSLookup is to resolve the google records as "A" records rather than MX which would give you incorrect results. Try running the following : nslookup -q=mx customerdomain.com

Post the results here for review.
 
As far as their MX records are concerned,
SJConsultant said:
When you performed an NSLookup, did you specifically set the query type to "MX" ? If not then the default for NSLookup is to resolve the google records as "A" records rather than MX which would give you incorrect results. Try running the following : nslookup -q=mx customerdomain.com

Post the results here for review.
Click to expand...
I was going to mention this also. Also long as the MX records are pointing to Google's server, that should be all that covers mail flow, at least from the internet to GMail.
 
When at my workstation i'm using my own DNS servers, the command and results are this:

C:\Users\me.mydomain>nslookup -q=mx customerdomain.com
Server: UnKnown
Address: 10.3.13.1

Non-authoritative answer:
customerdomain.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = alt4.aspmx.l.google.com
customerdomain.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = alt3.aspmx.l.google.com
customerdomain.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
customerdomain.com MX preference = 1, mail exchanger = aspmx.l.google.com
customerdomain.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = alt2.aspmx.l.google.com

aspmx.l.google.com internet address = 74.125.70.27
aspmx.l.google.com AAAA IPv6 address = 2607:f8b0:4001:c01::1a
alt2.aspmx.l.google.com internet address = 64.233.190.26
alt2.aspmx.l.google.com AAAA IPv6 address = 2800:3f0:4003:c01::1b
alt4.aspmx.l.google.com internet address = 108.177.15.27
alt4.aspmx.l.google.com AAAA IPv6 address = 2a00:1450:400c:c0c::1b
alt3.aspmx.l.google.com internet address = 209.85.203.26
alt3.aspmx.l.google.com AAAA IPv6 address = 2a00:1450:400b:c03::1b
alt1.aspmx.l.google.com internet address = 173.194.212.26
alt1.aspmx.l.google.com AAAA IPv6 address = 2607:f8b0:400c:c11::1a


If i switch my machine to using bluehost nameserver, the output is:

C:\Users\me.mydomain>nslookup -q=mx customerdomain.com
Server: UnKnown
Address: 162.88.61.37

blackhawkhills.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
blackhawkhills.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
blackhawkhills.com MX preference = 1, mail exchanger = aspmx.l.google.com
blackhawkhills.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = alt4.aspmx.l.google.com
blackhawkhills.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = alt3.aspmx.l.google.com

And that's it.
 
From that output it appears bluehost is correctly resolving at least the MX records to Google however when DNSStuff then tries to resolve the google addresses using Bluehosts DNS servers, they resolve to the parked IP address. When I checked my own personal domains using DNSStuff, I see that DNSStuff is being provided the correct IP address information for my MX records even though DNSStuff is querying Dreamhosts DNS servers for Google's mail records.

At the moment it would seem that Bluehost has their DNS servers configured to be "authoritative" for all domains ("A" records specifically) .


Can you elaborate a bit more on their email working intermittently? I would imagine that your seeing issues with receiving emails..... If this is the case, find out who the sender's are hosted with as it seems likely that the sender's are either hosted with Bluehost or another possibility is someone has a Bluehost DNS server listed where they shouldn't.
 
Ahhhh, now that is something I hadn't considered. I'll get more info and bring it to the discussion tomorrow.

Thanks!
 
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