How to check mail address is exists or not?

Question

I am sending email through Java using com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.

I am successful to send the email, but SMTPTransport not giving any error if I send the mail to invalid email address.

Is there a way to check that given mail address is exists or not?

I dont mean to check the mail address as client side, I need to check as server side.

I found many questions like this on many forums but I am not getting any proper solutions.

My Code is -

String email = "[email protected]";  Properties props = new Properties(); props.put("mail.smtps.host", "mail.myDomain.com"); props.put("mail.smtps.auth", "true"); Session session = Session.getInstance(props, null);  MimeMessage msg = new MimeMessage(session); msg.setFrom(new InternetAddress("Mail Demo <[email protected]>")); msg.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO, email); msg.setSubject("Mail Example"); msg.setSentDate(new Date(System.currentTimeMillis()));  String txt = "Message Body";  msg.setText(txt); SMTPTransport st = (SMTPTransport)session.getTransport("smtps"); st.connect("mail.myDomain.com","[email protected]","password"); st.sendMessage(msg, msg.getAllRecipients());  System.out.println("ServerResponse : " + st.getLastServerResponse()); 

It gives output for both valid and invalid email_address :- 250 OK id=1TbWgN-0007oY-8r

Please help me to resolve the problem. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Thank you all for your responses.

I am able to solve my problem through MX Record checking .

I used this Link to resolve the problem. May this also be useful for someone.

Hashtable env = new Hashtable(); env.put("java.naming.factory.initial",              "com.sun.jndi.dns.DnsContextFactory"); DirContext ictx = new InitialDirContext( env ); Attributes attrs = ictx.getAttributes                        ( hostName, new String[] { "MX" }); Attribute attr = attrs.get( "MX" ); if (( attr == null ) || ( attr.size() == 0 )) {    attrs = ictx.getAttributes( hostName, new String[] { "A" });    attr = attrs.get( "A" );    if( attr == null )          throw new NamingException                   ( "No match for name '" + hostName + "'" ); } 

Thank you.

Answer 2

The only way to confirm an email address is to send an email to it and require the user to follow a (unique) link in the email back to your website.