Cannot send email with VPN on

I am currently using Evolution for my emails. I set up a VPN a couple of days ago, and now I cannot send emails. If I disconnect the VPN, emails will send. I tried sending through Thunderbird as well with the same issue.

What is it that I am doing wrong with this?

Thanks for helping.

Hey @scubarth,
Which VPN type are you using? WireGuard or OpenVPN?

I am using Open VPN. Followed your tutorial and step by step instructions.

Then there could be the case that your emails hit on the port blocks issued by your VPS provider. You will need to open up a ticket and ask them to remove the email port block so that your emails can go through. If you’re sending via SSL or TSL, then those ports are:

587/tcp
465/tcp

Please, let me know how that goes.

However, before you do contact your provider, login to your VPS and type in:

sudo su
ufw allow 587/tcp
ufw allow 465/tcp

Since your firewall might be blocking the incoming email.

I was using PureVPN and was having this problem all the time on my bank sites and email, I had to shut off the VPN to use them and different programs. I just stopped using it, not worth the trouble.

One thing I discovered today is the following:
Some VPS providers have external firewalls, which block all incoming connections - which would be outgoing for you. IONOS, for example, has that - and we had to open up a port on it just to get through the VPN. Could it be that your own VPS is firewall-ed on the outside?

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I’ve run into this too. Certain websites will not pull up with my VPN on, or will pull up very slowly.

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FWIW I experience similar problems at times with SurfShark VPN on both Windows 10 and iPhone.

I was able to get the emails to send. I contacted Linode, and they opened the ports.

All is now good.

Thank you Vasileios for your help. Much appreciated.

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