Warning: Mail server host name in greeting

[elkabong]

Dear All,

I host several clients websites on a dedicated server with DA. I ran a dnsreport on my domain and got this message below. My question is how do I correct this issue?

WARNING: One or more of your mailservers is claiming to be a host other than what it really is (the SMTP greeting should be a 3-digit code, followed by a space or a dash, then the host name). This probably won't cause any harm, but is a technical violation of RFC821 4.3 (and RFC2821 4.3.1). Note that the hostname given in the SMTP greeting should have an A record pointing back to the same server.

mail.mydomain.com claims to be non-existent host server1.anotherdomain.net:
220 server1.anotherdomain.net ESMTP Exim 4.50 Mon, 15 Aug 2005 06:15:19 +0100

regards,

Errol

[nobaloney]

You're probably giving us intentionally incorrect information, since the two domains in your example are on different servers.

If the two domains you've given us were on the same server, and if the one given after the "220 " was the system hostname, then this would be normal.

And since all shared hosting companies are going to cause this warning, DNS Report really shouldn't report it as a problem.

But they do what they do.

Jeff

[elkabong]

Jeff,

I replaced the actual domains with "ficticious names" but they are both on the same box.

I have the name servers for mydomain.com as ns1.anotherdomain.net and ns1.anotherdomain.net with anotherdomin.net being the host box and mydomain.com being one of the shared sites.

My old shared server was running Ensim and it would seem that we didn't have that problem.

Thanks

Errol

[Wouter]

Is it possible that mail.domain.com is pointing to another IP than the standard IP and where your hostname is pointing to?

[elkabong]

Wouter,

mail.domain.com has a dedicated IP Address while the actual host of the box (server1.anotherdomain.net) has another IP.

Errol

[Wouter]

I think that's the "problem".
If you change the A record for mail in the DNS server to the first IP of the server you will see the warning will disapear in a couple of hours (just to test).

[bodhisattva]

i have seen this error on every DirectAdmin server i have.

[nhouse]

I know this is an older thread... but I would like some clarification from you old DNS pros out there. It seems this is a common issue as Jeff mentioned earlier. I am getting a new box setup right now and before I create / migrate any hosting accounts to it, I would like to get all the DNS stuff as correct as I can so I won't have to fool with it later. So.. if you would follow my train of thought below and comment please:

1. currently my main server account is "nhouse.com" with an IP of 74.228.247.208

2. when I setup a reseller, "nhousemedia.com" it asked me if the IP for the account should be "shared server" OR "assigned." I chose assigned... thinking that it might be good to have a separate IP address for this account... the IP is 74.228.247.210

This does indeed give the DNS Report Mail server host name in greeting Warning of... "mail.nhousemedia.com claims to be host webserver.nhouse.com but that host is at 74.228.247.208, not 74.228.247.210. " Even though this seems to be a common issue with sharded hosting, etc... can it cause issues with mail delivery for some picky systems... such as AOL, for example?

3. If I had setup that reseller account using the "shared server" option, would that have made the IP's match up thus causing the DNS Reports warning message go away?

If this would be the case, is there a disadvantage to using the server IP this way? I really appreciate your input!

PS: I have a Plesk Reloaded account that has the same issue... I am setting up this new box with DA because it seems MUCH more stable to me and reliability is what impresses me these days. ;)

[nobaloney]

Originally posted by nhouse
can it cause issues with mail delivery for some picky systems... such as AOL, for example?
It doesn't for AOL. It doesn't for any server we've ever tried to send mail to. Shared hosting of email works this way.

3. If I had setup that reseller account using the "shared server" option, would that have made the IP's match up thus causing the DNS Reports warning message go away?
It would have made this part of the warning:

mail.nhousemedia.com claims to be host webserver.nhouse.com [but that host is at 74.228.247.208, not 74.228.247.210].
go away, but not the warning itself.

If this would be the case, is there a disadvantage to using the server IP this way?
Not in our opinion.

I have a Plesk Reloaded account that has the same issue...
You'll see it with any shared hosting account and it's just part of shared-hosting life.

I am setting up this new box with DA because it seems MUCH more stable to me and reliability is what impresses me these days. ;)
Glad to hear it. I was a Plesk Gold Partner before we decided to go with DirectAdmin.

Jeff

[nhouse]

Thanks Jeff... I appreciate your insight. I suppose it may be close to impossible to get a "perfect score" from our friends at DNS Reports :) but I like to try.

[selfwebhosting]

I accidentally bumped to a way to make the "Mail server host name in greeting" warning give a green pass status when a domain uses an IP which is different from the server IP.

Say the server IP is 10.2.34.5 and another shared IP is 60.7.89.10. Also assume the server hostname is server1.defaultdomain.com (which is associated with IP 10.2.34.5).

In this case anydomain.com that is using the shared IP 60.7.89.10 will give a warning under ""Mail server host name in greeting" like this:


mail.anydomain.com claims to be host server1.defaultdomain.com [but that host is at 10.2.34.5, not 60.7.89.10].

HOWEVER, if an A record like this added to the DNS for anydomain.com:

mail A 10.2.34.5

then the warning will give a green pass status with these messages:


OK: All of your mailservers have their host name in the greeting:

mail.anydomain.com:
220 server1.defaultdomain.com ESMTP Exim 4.52 Tue, 18 Apr 2006 10:49:11 -0600

This means that, after adding the A record to the domain sharing the different IP, the DNS record will look like this:

mail A 60.7.89.10
mail A 10.2.34.5

It does solve the problem but I have three questions:

(1) Does this create another problem?

(2) I have to add the line to each domain hosted and that is a pain in the neck if I have to correct hundreds of domains. Is there a quicker and easier way doing this?

(3) If this method is acceptable, is there a way for all new domains to have this extra A record for their mail DNS?

[nhouse]

Hey... I appreciate the input on the subject. Maybe some of the good forum folks will address your questions in a bit.

[nobaloney]

If anyone actually uses mail.example.com then it could resolve for them to either domain.

You can create a script to automatically make changes after a site is created.

Jeff

[Orbserver]

Taking an interest in your post a month later...and curious about your final setup.


mail A 60.7.89.10
mail A 10.2.34.5


To satisfy dnsreport I use a single A record for ip-based mail hosts that points to the server's ip. I doubt 2 records helps but I doubt it hurts either. If I need to have 2 records I'm glad to know it. But mail transport and all its mechanisms works fine without it.

Do you setup your ip-based domains for reverse dns?

Good luck.