Only alternate Knownhost IMAP servers are working consistent?

G

greenlizard812

New Member
Had an issue last week with my IMAP email servers going out sometimes. My IMAP emails from 2 different domains were showing errors connecting, so I would delete the account and add a new IMAP email account. It was causing my Domain/IP to be blocked at random times, saying my email passwords were wrong even though I had not changed any passwords. Knownhost was happy to unblock the IP when this was happening. Did extensive research and thought it was my email program Spark by SetApp I was using. I just recently installed SetApp version of Spark and went back to using the Mac App Store version thinking this was the issue. I opened Mac Mail to use instead and saw that Connection Doctor was showing failed server connections on all IMAP emails. This caused many hours of frustration on my end since I was afraid of not receiving emails from clients. This was happening on my Mac and iPhone. Knownhost gave me alternate email servers with the privatesystems.net domain and this works fine now for my 3 IMAP email accounts. I am hopeful not to experience this again. Very strange I still don't know why this happened since I don't use a VPN or firewall of any kind. I just want to know why this happened and if anyone has heard of this issue.

Machine: MacMini M1 2020, Sonoma 14.3.1, Spectrum Internet with Google Wifi
 
Could some device/app be pinging the mail server with incorrect login credentials perhaps, leading to your IP being blocked and your valid credentials failing?

I had a client who for months kept getting occasional "connection failed" warnings with his email account. We eventually determined this occurred because he was getting blocked at the firewall, and began after he changed his email password to set his account up on a new phone. He swore up and down he had no other apps or devices that might be trying to access his email account from his IP. Eventually, he discovered that an old iPad he had given his kids to play games had an email app that was using the old password to try to ping the mail server, failing the login, and getting his IP blocked.

The other thing you should know about is this method of unblocking yourself on shared/reseller servers. It won't work for permanent blocks, which still require KnownHost's intervention, but it will work on temporary blocks, and is handy to have.
 
Thank you @linux4metoo. I will double check all my devices again. I was thinking of also installing Little Snitch to see if that would show any outgoing IMAP connections, but not sure if that app does that.
 
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