Hugo van der Kooij: EMAIL: STOP SPAM - Admins

NEDERLANDS | ENGLISH

SPAM is something every admin has to contend with. Here are some things that should be considered mandatory. If you do not take car of these issues then email will be rejected somewhere and it is your problem.

DNS and HOSTNAME

Make sure you get the hostname right. The hostname must be valid on the internet. Calling your server excahnge.company.lan is going to give you trouble. (We call this the FQDN or Full Qualified Domain Name.)

Make sure the name is know on the internet. So make sure the name points back to the proper IP address. (This is called your A record in the DNS.)

The other important thing is the reverse. Make sure your IP address also points to the name. (This is called the PTR record in the DNS.)

Make sure your SMTP server reports itself with the proper FQDN when it sends out email Neglecting these things will get some r even mst of your email bounced. Becasue failing to take care of these requirements is a common sign of SPAM and Malware. So stopping connections on these criteria makes for a very effective first line of defense. (This is related to your HELO/EHLO greeting.)