telnet to mail server from outside does not get 220, telnet from inside works

[Wojciech Puchar]

> Trying ::1...
> Connected to localhost.xxxxxxxxx.com.
> Escape character is '^]'.
> 220 email.xxxxxxxxx.com ESMTP Sendmail 8.13.8/8.13.8; Mon, 12 May 2008 10:01:39 -0400 (EDT)
>
>
>
> But if I try the same thing from 'outside' the firewall I get:
>
> %telnet email.xxxxxxxxxxxx.com 25
> Trying 67.x.x.x...
> Connected to email.xxxxxxxxxxx.com.
> Escape character is '^]'.
> Connection closed by foreign host.
>
>
sendmail try to connect to port auth of remote machine. your firewall 
probably blocks it just by dropping packets, so it tries until timeout

telnet from outside, wait few minutes and you will get a prompt.

change your firewall rules to fix it