Own mailserver

[Malcolm Loades]

For over 20 years I've run my own mailserver (hMailServer) without any
problems. My DNS records have always contained an SPF record with
whatever static IP I've had at the time I also have DKIM signing.

I switched to my current full fibre ISP (Toob) 2 years ago and until 10
days ago have never had a problem sending mail. Now Spamhaus have
listed my IP because the "HELO appears to be dynamic".

Toob simply say they can do nothing and do not offer the ability to
change the rDNS.

Anyone else here running their own mailserver without problems? Am I
missing something that's not been needed for the past 20+ years?

Malcolm

[Malcolm Loades]

Post by Malcolm Loades
For over 20 years I've run my own mailserver (hMailServer) without any
problems. My DNS records have always contained an SPF record with
whatever static IP I've had at the time I also have DKIM signing.
I switched to my current full fibre ISP (Toob) 2 years ago and until 10
days ago have never had a problem sending mail. Now Spamhaus have
listed my IP because the "HELO appears to be dynamic".
Toob simply say they can do nothing and do not offer the ability to
change the rDNS.
Anyone else here running their own mailserver without problems? Am I
missing something that's not been needed for the past 20+ years?
Malcolm

In case I didn't make it clear my current Toob IP has always been static
for which i pay an extra £8 per month.

Malcolm

[Andy Burns]

Post by Malcolm Loades
In case I didn't make it clear my current Toob IP has always been static
for which i pay an extra £8 per month.

Maybe ditch the Toob static IP, and get an L2TP tunnel from A&A with one
IPv4 attached? Pretty sure they could handle rDNS properly.

<https://www.aa.net.uk/broadband/l2tp-service/>

[Malcolm Loades]

Post by Andy Burns

Post by Malcolm Loades
In case I didn't make it clear my current Toob IP has always been static
for which i pay an extra £8 per month.

Maybe ditch the Toob static IP, and get an L2TP tunnel from A&A with one
IPv4 attached? Pretty sure they could handle rDNS properly.
<https://www.aa.net.uk/broadband/l2tp-service/>

Reading about this service makes it look viable. I've emailed A&A with
variuos questions. I read that split tunnelling is possible but I don't
really want all my traffic going that route. I'd like split tunnelling
to be able to be configured that only traffic from my mailserver goes
via that route, their example was to tunnel/not tunnel traffic to an IP
address. Of course every email is directed to a different IP so that
scenario is no good.

Looking forward to hearing back from them.

Malcolm

[Theo]

Post by Malcolm Loades

Post by Andy Burns

Post by Malcolm Loades
In case I didn't make it clear my current Toob IP has always been static
for which i pay an extra £8 per month.

Maybe ditch the Toob static IP, and get an L2TP tunnel from A&A with one
IPv4 attached? Pretty sure they could handle rDNS properly.
<https://www.aa.net.uk/broadband/l2tp-service/>

Reading about this service makes it look viable. I've emailed A&A with
variuos questions. I read that split tunnelling is possible but I don't
really want all my traffic going that route. I'd like split tunnelling
to be able to be configured that only traffic from my mailserver goes
via that route, their example was to tunnel/not tunnel traffic to an IP
address. Of course every email is directed to a different IP so that
scenario is no good.
Looking forward to hearing back from them.

You can probably do something by not running the L2TP tunnel on the router,
but behind. ie if your mailserver is running on 192.168.1.2, then run the
L2TP client on that machine, which will make the mailserver appear at the
L2TP's public IP and outgoing traffic from the mailserver emerge from the
public IP. Traffic from other machines on the network would be unaffected.

If you don't want to dedicate a whole machine, run the mailserver in a
virtual machine and also run the L2TP client inside the VM.

Theo

[Andy Burns]

Post by Malcolm Loades
For over 20 years I've run my own mailserver (hMailServer) without any
problems.  My DNS records have always contained an SPF record with
whatever static IP I've had at the time  I also have DKIM signing.
I switched to my current full fibre ISP (Toob) 2 years ago and until 10
days ago have never had a problem sending mail.  Now Spamhaus have
listed my IP because the "HELO appears to be dynamic".
Toob simply say they can do nothing and do not offer the ability to
change the rDNS.
Anyone else here running their own mailserver without problems?  Am I
missing something that's not been needed for the past 20+ years?

it's certainly common for others to object

if your reverse DNS doesn't match the forward DNS and the HELO

or reverse DNS includes *pool* or *dsl* in the name

[Malcolm Loades]

Post by Andy Burns

Post by Malcolm Loades
For over 20 years I've run my own mailserver (hMailServer) without any
problems.  My DNS records have always contained an SPF record with
whatever static IP I've had at the time  I also have DKIM signing.
I switched to my current full fibre ISP (Toob) 2 years ago and until 10
days ago have never had a problem sending mail.  Now Spamhaus have
listed my IP because the "HELO appears to be dynamic".
Toob simply say they can do nothing and do not offer the ability to
change the rDNS.
Anyone else here running their own mailserver without problems?  Am I
missing something that's not been needed for the past 20+ years?

it's certainly common for others to object
if your reverse DNS doesn't match the forward DNS and the HELO
or reverse DNS includes *pool* or *dsl* in the name

The reverse DNS in my case has always been the current ISP, for the past
2 years it's been uk-189-129.toob.co.uk The numerics being the last
pair in my static IP address.

Malcolm

[Marco Moock]

Post by Malcolm Loades
For over 20 years I've run my own mailserver (hMailServer) without
any problems. My DNS records have always contained an SPF record
with whatever static IP I've had at the time I also have DKIM
signing.
I switched to my current full fibre ISP (Toob) 2 years ago and until
10 days ago have never had a problem sending mail. Now Spamhaus have
listed my IP because the "HELO appears to be dynamic".
Toob simply say they can do nothing and do not offer the ability to
change the rDNS.

Then many servers will reject your mails. This is something they have
to fix or you need to choose another ISP that offers rDNS changes for
you or delegates the address space to your server.

Post by Malcolm Loades
Anyone else here running their own mailserver without problems? Am I
missing something that's not been needed for the past 20+ years?

I do, but have working rDNS.
If the rDNS doesn't match, most big systems will reject the mails.

[Malcolm Loades]

Post by Marco Moock

Post by Malcolm Loades
For over 20 years I've run my own mailserver (hMailServer) without
any problems. My DNS records have always contained an SPF record
with whatever static IP I've had at the time I also have DKIM
signing.
I switched to my current full fibre ISP (Toob) 2 years ago and until
10 days ago have never had a problem sending mail. Now Spamhaus have
listed my IP because the "HELO appears to be dynamic".
Toob simply say they can do nothing and do not offer the ability to
change the rDNS.

Then many servers will reject your mails. This is something they have
to fix or you need to choose another ISP that offers rDNS changes for
you or delegates the address space to your server.

Post by Malcolm Loades
Anyone else here running their own mailserver without problems? Am I
missing something that's not been needed for the past 20+ years?

I do, but have working rDNS.
If the rDNS doesn't match, most big systems will reject the mails.

I guess you've got ADSL not fibre?

Having discarded my copper line and gone FTTP my options are rather
limited. I have only two FTTP providers available and neither offers
custom rDNS.

My confusion is why several 1,000 emails have been accepted by 'big
systems' over the past 2 years but now suddenly get stopped. Prior to
that when I had ADSL but no rDNS mail was fine for 18 years!

Malcolm

[Theo]

Post by Malcolm Loades
Having discarded my copper line and gone FTTP my options are rather
limited. I have only two FTTP providers available and neither offers
custom rDNS.
My confusion is why several 1,000 emails have been accepted by 'big
systems' over the past 2 years but now suddenly get stopped. Prior to
that when I had ADSL but no rDNS mail was fine for 18 years!

Anti spam precautions have tightened a lot in recent years, particularly
since a lot of email has moved to being hosted by the big boys
(Google/Microsoft).

Another option would be to rent a VPS and set up your mailserver there.

https://lowendbox.com/
is a handy starting point for offers, and
https://mailinabox.email/
is a simple one-command way to get a mailserver set up on it.

Cheap VPSes can sometimes suffer from IP blacklists but generally in my
experience it's been fine.

Theo

[Kofi Libon]

Post by Theo
Another option would be to rent a VPS and set up your mailserver there.

Agreed, that's what I do. The OP's paying £96 per year for a fixed IP
address, the same as I pay for a VPS with fixed IP addresses (and of
course reverse DNS).

[Bob Eager]

Post by Kofi Libon

Post by Theo
Another option would be to rent a VPS and set up your mailserver there.

Agreed, that's what I do. The OP's paying £96 per year for a fixed IP
address, the same as I pay for a VPS with fixed IP addresses (and of
course reverse DNS).

And here. I am lucky to have 72 fixed IP addresses (a /26 and a /29). I
run my own DNS so the reverse DNS is no problem. I naturally run my own
mail server with SPF and DKIM. The IPs are in a static range.

In case it's of interest:

https://www.tiltedwindmillpress.com/product/ryoms-preorder/

[Marco Moock]

Post by Malcolm Loades

Post by Marco Moock

Post by Malcolm Loades
For over 20 years I've run my own mailserver (hMailServer) without
any problems. My DNS records have always contained an SPF record
with whatever static IP I've had at the time I also have DKIM
signing.
I switched to my current full fibre ISP (Toob) 2 years ago and
until 10 days ago have never had a problem sending mail. Now
Spamhaus have listed my IP because the "HELO appears to be
dynamic".
Toob simply say they can do nothing and do not offer the ability to
change the rDNS.

Then many servers will reject your mails. This is something they
have to fix or you need to choose another ISP that offers rDNS
changes for you or delegates the address space to your server.

Post by Malcolm Loades
Anyone else here running their own mailserver without problems?
Am I missing something that's not been needed for the past 20+
years?

I do, but have working rDNS.
If the rDNS doesn't match, most big systems will reject the mails.

I guess you've got ADSL not fibre?

I have VDSL in Germany and other ISP can rent the VDSL line and get
their packets transported to the DSLAM or upper parts in the network.
I chose TAL.de, AS8820, but this won't help you.
Although, they offer VPN and you can get your IPv4/IPv6 address space
that way, if that is suitable for you.

Post by Malcolm Loades
My confusion is why several 1,000 emails have been accepted by 'big
systems' over the past 2 years but now suddenly get stopped. Prior
to that when I had ADSL but no rDNS mail was fine for 18 years!

Many things changed and the big providers like Google or Yahoo are
tighthening their policies.