nanog mailing list archives

Re: why IPv6 isn't ready for prime time, SMTP edition


From: Laszlo Hanyecz <laszlo () heliacal net>
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 23:07:16 +0000

The OP doesn't have control over the reverse DNS on the AT&T 6rd.  Spam crusades aside, it can be seen as just another 
case of 'putting people in their place', reinforcing that your end user connection is lesser and doesn't entitle to you 
to participate in the internet with the big boys.  How does one dare run a 'server' without being a member of a RIR?

One would hope that with IPv6 this would change, but the attitude of looking down on end subscribers has been around 
forever.  As seen in the other thread being discussed here, people are already looking for ways to block end users from 
participating.  

-Laszlo


On Mar 25, 2014, at 10:38 PM, Rich Kulawiec <rsk () gsp org> wrote:

On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 02:57:15PM -0600, Brielle Bruns wrote:
Nothing wrong with my mail server setup, except the lack of RDNS.
Lacking reverse should be one of many things to consider with
rejecting e-mails, but should not be the only condition.

Lack of rDNS means either (a) there is something temporarily wrong with
rDNS/DNS or (b) it's a spam source or (c) someone doesn't know how to set
up rDNS/DNS for a mail server.  Over the past decade, (b) has been the
answer to about five or six 9's (depending on how I crunch the numbers),
so deferring on that alone is not only sensible, but quite clearly a
best practice.  If it turns out that it looks like (b) but is actually
(a), then as long as the DNS issue clears up before SMTP retries stop,
mail is merely delayed, not rejected.  And although *sometimes* it's
(c), why would I want to accept mail from a server run by people who
don't grasp basic email server operation best practices?   (Doubly so
since long experience strongly suggests people that botch this will very
likely botch other things as well, some of which can result in negative
outcomes *for me* if I accomodate them.)

Of all the things that we need to do in order to make our mail servers
play nice with the rest of the world, DNS/rDNS (and HELO) are among
the simplest and easiest.

---rsk

p.s. I also reject on mismatched and generic rDNS.  Real mail servers have
real names, so if [generic] you insist on making yours look like a bot,
I'll believe you and treat it like one.




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