What's a "Reverse DNS Record"?

Discussion in 'Site & Server Administration' started by elklabone, Apr 22, 2006.

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  1. #1
    We're having trouble delivering mail to AOL, and are looking at their whitelist program.

    The first question I have.... AOL says that you "must have valid reverse DNS records".

    So, I looked up our IP at a reverse IP service and came up with:

    204.11.244.83 resolves to
    "smallplanet.modwest.com"
    Top Level Domain: "modwest.com"

    The domain we're sending mail from is herbal-nutrition.net (modwest is our host).

    Is this going to be a problem? How we fix it if it is?

    Thanks! :eek:
     
    elklabone, Apr 22, 2006 IP
  2. fsmedia

    fsmedia Prominent Member

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    #2
    a reverse DNS record is simply when you DNS an IP address it resolves to a specific hostname. the same when you dns a hostname it resolves to an IP address, it's just the opposite of that.

    the example you have of 204.11.244.83 is a properly formatted rDNS entry.

    you shouldn't have any problems with mail, just make sure it doesn't check the security certs and the hostname shouldn't be a problem.
     
    fsmedia, Apr 22, 2006 IP
  3. livingearth

    livingearth Well-Known Member

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    #3
    I have had some problems with AOL as well. Email sent from PHP pages and scripts on client sites of mine suddenly stopped being delivered to my clients AOL addresses. AOL said that my ip was OK and not banned but still no results. A few dozen calls and a bunch of Long Distance charges later still no real help. My solution was to not recommend AOL and to offer alternative ips connection services to my clients who utilize them.
     
    livingearth, Apr 22, 2006 IP
  4. elklabone

    elklabone Peon

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    #4
    We have about 12% of our clients using AOL; it's not realistic to convince all of them to switch.

    My problem is identical to yours. I'm in the process of researching all of my options... here's what I've found so far:

    If you want your mail to get to their inbox, you have two options:

    AOL Whitelist
    http://postmaster.aol.com/whitelist/

    AOL CertifiedEmail Program (Goodmail Accreditation)
    http://postmaster.aol.com/whitelist/certifiedemail.html

    I'm in the process of going through the whitelist hoops now.
     
    elklabone, Apr 22, 2006 IP
  5. graymatter

    graymatter Guest

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    #5
    Encourage all AOL users you know to switch to other email services. This is only way we can beat AOL. AOL wants to rip us by charging email.
     
    graymatter, Apr 23, 2006 IP
  6. forkqueue

    forkqueue Guest

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    #6
    When you send email, does your server HELO as "smallplanet.modwest.com"?

    If not, that's your problem - the FQDN your server advertises itself as must match your rDNS.
     
    forkqueue, Apr 23, 2006 IP