how to check mail server html is working with AOL

Manual Telnet Test

There are a number of ways to manually perform a mail transaction through telnet. The following procedure should work under a variety of operating systems, including Windows, UNIX and Linux.

This section describes how to manually perform a mail transaction through telnet. If you do not receive the replies shown, copy the entire transaction and save it so that you can report the error you received. In order for this test to be useful, it must be run from directly from the mail server.

Generally OK codes start with 2nn and Error codes start with 5nn. An example of an error code would be if you connect to us and receive 554 RTR:SC .... A 5nn error code could indicate a number of problems, for example a syntax error or AOL systems blocking your incoming connections due to lack of RDNS or excessive user complaints.

To manually perform a mail transaction through telnet, perform the following steps:

  1. From a Command prompt, Type:

    telnet mailin-01.mx.aol.com 25
    This specifies to telnet to port 25 on an AOL mail host.

    220
    The mail host identifies itself. This should be accompanied by several lines of introductory text.

  2. Type:

    HELO yourdomainname.com
    where yourdomainname.com
    specifies your domain.

    250 OK
    followed by the server you are connecting to.

  3. Type:

    MAIL FROM: <you@hostname.com>
    where you@hostname.com
    indicates the address the mail should appear to be from.
    Note: You must include the equality(< >) signs

    250 OK

  4. Type:

    RCPT TO: <postmaster@aol.com>
    Note: You must include the equality(< >) signs

    250 OK

  5. Type:

    DATA

    START MAIL INPUT, END WITH "." ON A LINE BY ITSELF

  6. Type:

    FROM: <you@hostname.com>
    7. where you@hostname.com
    indicates the address the mail should appear to be from.

  7. Type a brief message, followed by <Enter> . <Enter> (Type a period on a line by itself, then hit ENTER.)

    250 OK

The transaction should appear similar to the following: