How to Find Out if My Email is Being Blacklisted?
I am about to set up a mailing list where several members have a btinternet.com address. I want to try and find out if the probem is that my email is being black listed.
I am using postfix to send email wit the following settings:
myhostname = li40-130.members.linode.com
mydestination = localhost, li40-130.members.linode.com, localhost.li40-130.members.linode.com
My domains have the following spf rrecord:
v=spf1 ip4:109.74.196.44/24 mx ?all
13 Replies
MXToolbox
@geekinthesticks:
v=spf1 ip4:109.74.196.44/24 mx ?all
Your linode isn't in that ip4 range, do your domains all use this linode as their MX?
–
Travis
@geekinthesticks:
v=spf1 ip4:109.74.196.44/24 mx ?all
In addition to issues that others have pointed out, it's a bit odd to put an entire /24 in your SPF record. There could be hundreds of other people in that subnet, and you never know which of them will get their email script hacked one day.
"?all" does nothing. A useful SPF record should end with "~all" (safer) or "-all" (more risky).
If you also host your domain on the same Linode, the easiest way to write a valid SPF is "a mx ~all".
As far as I can tell I am not listed in any blacklists.
I should alter my spf record to look something like:
109.74.196.44/32 v=spf1 mx ip4:109.74.196.44/32 ~all
My rDNS now resolves to mail.manor-farm.org, which is a valid domain. However, it's not the domain that I'll be using for lists.
> 109.74.196.44/32 v=spf1 mx ip4:109.74.196.44/32 ~all
It should be something like
v=spf1 mx a include:linode.com ~all
Just use an SPF Wizard like this one Unlock The Inbox SPF Wizard
After you get everything set up just send an email to "
@topcoder:
It should be something like
v=spf1 mx a include:linode.com ~all
No, it shouldn't. Including linode.com would only make sense if linode provided an outgoing smtp relay, which they don't.
For example there is something wrong with the following:
v=spf1 a mx mx:mail.manor-farm.org mx: ip4:109.74.196.44 ~all
mail.manor-farm has an MX record. The headers of the message show:
From li40-130.members.linode.com (mail.manor-farm.org [109.74.196.44]) by unlocktheinbox.com with SMTP; Thu, 2 Feb 2012 09:48:23 -0500
received from [192.168.0.183] (unknown [217.146.125.41]) (Authenticated sender: ian@wilkesley.net) by li40-130.members.linode.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id B57F93087E3 for <mailtest@unlocktheinbox.com>; Thu, 2 Feb 2012 14:48:22 +0000 (GMT)</mailtest@unlocktheinbox.com>
@geekinthesticks:
For example there is something wrong with the following:
v=spf1 a mx mx:mail.manor-farm.org mx: ip4:109.74.196.44 ~all
The dangling "mx:" is probably responsible for the error.
@geekinthesticks:
v=spf1 a mx mx:mail.manor-farm.org mx: ip4:109.74.196.44 ~all
mail.manor-farm has an MX record.
$ dig +short -t mx mail.manor-farm.org
$ dig +short -t mx manor-farm.org
10 mail.manor-farm.org.
There is no MX for mail.manor-farm.org, but there is one for manor-farm.org.
I think you are getting yourself all wrapped up in specifying the same IP in as many different ways as you can think of. The SPF record needs only one entry unless you are actually sending mail from multiple hosts. If you are sending all the mail from the same server, then just pick one method of specifying it's IP address. There is no benefit to specifying a, mx, and ip4 mechanisms if they ultimately all resolve to the same IP.
My standard SPF for a domain that I completely control is
v=spf1 mx -all
But don't use the -all unless you are absolutely certain you know what it means.
$ dig +short li40-130.members.linode.com
72.14.178.130
$ dig +short mail.manor-farm.org
109.74.196.44
$ dig +short -x 72.14.178.130
li40-130.members.linode.com.
$ dig +short -x 109.74.196.44
mail.manor-farm.org.
> v=spf1 a mx ~all