Some mail handler questions -not specifically linux

[deadpoint]

terra.ptroc.rpa.net is a mail exchange for the domain rpa.net, which 
handles email for bluefrog.biz. from the terminal type nslookup, from 
within nslookups's "shell" do set type=MX, then enter a domain name, 
bluefrog.biz it should com back with a bunch or Mail Exchangers, 
terra.ptroc.rpa.net will be one of them. you are allow to have multiple 
MX records for redundancy.

message travel faster for a number of reasons, the path it takes to the 
ISP, how the ISP has there mail system configured, etc. i see the same 
thing happen when messages are sent to my adelphia account, which makes 
me wonder how they have things configured, from all accounts they have 
things configured poorly.

if you'd like to see the possible path's that an email may take to reach 
a certain server from a terminal do traceroute www.nflug.org. each hop 
is a router that you pass through for that session. messages bounce 
around the net in the same manner. i once sent a message to myself from 
a place i use to work at, i didn't recieve the message to 5 to 6 months. 
i'd like to have that one explained.

darin

green_man wrote:

> Why do some messages travel "faster'" than others ?
> I have noticed this phenomenon before in the LUG list , usually when 
> an answer from Dege arrives before the question, but I just attributed 
> it to linux guru nirvana. What made me think of it again and ask is:  
> I received the re: Apple Newton  reply _BEFORE_  the Apple Newton 
> question, so it was obviously somewhere to be read.
>
> Is terra.ptroc.rpa.net an actual "place", or is it just the name given 
> to the address resolution part of a mail handling program ? Every 
> "Mail Undeliverable" message I have ever gotten from four different 
> ISPs has come from there.
>