can't send emails to users having Bell Canada as host

[wasskun]

hello,

I'm having an issue sending emails to anyone having an emails hosted at bell canada.

Everytime I try to send an email to those users i get an return mail saying:
subject : Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

support@bellcanadahosting.com
SMTP error from remote mail server after RCPT TO:<support@bellcanadahosting.com>:
host mx1c9.bellcanadahosting.com [69.156.240.34]:
550 5.7.1 <support@bellcanadahosting.com>... H:RPBL [70.38.107.83] Connection refused due to abuse. Please contact your E-mail provider.

------ This is a copy of the message, including all the headers. ------

Return-path: <wmehanna@wmhebergement.com>
Received: from bas7-montreal28-1177913894.dsl.bell.ca ([70.53.138.38] helo=[192.168.1.103])
by wmhebergement with esmtpsa (TLSv1:AES128-SHA:128)
(Exim 4.67)
(envelope-from <wmehanna@wmhebergement.com>)
id 1N8k6N-0006Dt-Ja
for support@bellcanadahosting.com; Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:33:23 -0500
Message-Id: <03BCADE1-B1F6-4010-BD3C-35524054EAA6@wmhebergement.com>
From: Wassim Mehanna <wmehanna@wmhebergement.com>
To: "support@bellcanadahosting.com" <support@bellcanadahosting.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset=us-ascii;
format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Mailer: iPhone Mail (7D11)
Mime-Version: 1.0 (iPhone Mail 7D11)
Subject: Test
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:30:11 -0500

Test


I have spoke with an agent to discuss this matter, and according to him, I need to correct the "the Return Path Sender Score".
He has then sent me this email :


The ticket # 2388872 that was submitted for wmhebergement.com, regarding
your inability to receive/send emails, has returned from our
investigation. The issue has been resolved and it has been determined
that mail from this server has been blocked because the sending IP is
listed on the Return Path Sender Score Block list.
http://sendersupport.senderscore.net/blocked.php The administrators of
this server must correct the issue and communicate with Return Path to
remove the block.
The ticket is now closed. If you require further assistance, please do
not hesitate to contact us and we will be glad to assist you further.

What should I do to correct this issue ? Any help with this would be appreciated. Thank you!

[nobaloney]

These problems are always very frustrating. Two years ago we got a Class-C allocation of 256 IP#s and it took a month before we got them cleaned off all the blocklits they were on. The problem was that the previous user of the IP#s was spamming with them.

We were lucky to be able to get them cleaned; sometimes some blocklisters won't remove the IP#s and you'll have to get a new set of IP#s from your upstream.

Our contracts with providers always state that if we get dirty IP#s they'll replace them.

We really can't help you get your IP#s cleaned because why don't know why you're on the list.

You need to be in touch with the people at Return Path, which is exactly what Bell Canada told you.

You should also check your IP#s against other blocklists. And of course if your server is sending spam you need to fix that first; generally the blocklisters will only accept that you've gotten rid of the offenders' accounts.

Jeff

[wasskun]

Hi jlasman,
thank you for your reply.

I got an email from Return Path,


rDNS classifies this IP as a nameserver, which should not be delivering mail. If this IP is designated for mail delivery, rDNS should reflect that.

I'd suggest contacting your provider and asking to have rDNS updated, if this server is in fact designated for mail delivery.


Note: All closed tickets are automatically reopened upon receipt of a response.

Thanks!

Chaz Ginest
Manager, Sender Score Customer Service

What is said in their email is true, wmhebergement.com is used for nameserver (ns1.wmhebergement.com and ns2.wmhebergement.com) wich points to the same IP and it is used to be the mailserver.

Now i'm really not a network guru, if I need to upfate my reverse DNS as they said, will this affect any currently working service? (mail, directadmin etc..)

If not, how do I apply the change for the rdns ?
my IP server : 70.53.138.38

thank you!

[nobaloney]

The IP# you wrote in your last post, 70.53.138.38, is not listed in rDNS as a nameserver. Please check that you posted the right IP#, and please tell post your server hostname as well.

Second, any block system that blocks based on rDNS with what looks like a nameservername is hopelessly braindead. Why? Because there's NO definition in RFCs for how to name a nameserver. ns1, ns2, ns3, ad-nauseum can be the reverse DNS on a mail server, and mail.example.com, can certainly be the name of a nameserver.

And in fact, a huge number of hosts that do send email are named with ns1, ns2, ns3, etc. So they're blocking the wrong people for all the wrong reasons.

Nevertheless, brain-dead or not, you want to send mail to them.

So I suggest you make sure your hostname doesn't start with nsX (X being any number).

Your rDNS entry is created by your own upstream provider. Have them set it to match your hostname.

Changing it won't affect anything that runs according to the rules (Bell Canada does NOT run according to the rules) because the rules (they're called RFCs only require that rDNS exist, not that it even refers to anything on your server.

HOWEVER ...

What they might have meant to tell you is that your rDNS resolves to a generic entry: ip-70-38-107-83.static.privatedns.com.

It's likely that BELL SOUTH doesn't accept mail from IP#s with rDNS to a generic entry, though that, too, is in violation of the rules.

But it's their network; they can do what they want.

So get your rDNS set to your hostname and that should resolve the problem.

Jeff

[wasskun]

Hi again,

You were right, I posted my own IP, my mistake.

My server's IP is : 70.38.107.83

SO I understand that my rdns "ip-70-38-107-83.static.privatedns.com" doesn't match their rules but this rule only belong to their network. That's sad, i hope that if I change the rdns to match my hostname it wont makes that IP being blocked by other network because it might brake other network's rules...

Anyway, my hostname on my server as set on Directadmin (http://wmhebergement.com:2222/CMD_ADMIN_SETTINGS) is set as server.wmhebergement.com but when I ssh i get :
[root@wmhebergement:~]$ hostname
wmhebergement

is this normal?

thanks

[nobaloney]

This is dependent on your OS distribution. Most distributions use a version of hostname which allow you to set the hostname easily; simply run:

# hostname server.wmhebergement.com
(Don't type the # mark; it's there to show you that you need to do this as root.

Then have your upstream fix your rDNS.

No, it won't break anyone else's rules, at least not for any server you'd want to be able to exchange email with; this is correct practice and is what most of us (including I, for many servers) do.

Jeff