Avoid being blacklisted by Spamhaus and CBL

Symptoms

• You have been blacklisted and want to avoid this in the future.
• You want to configure your mail server to avoid being blacklisted.

Cause

Softalk Mail Server can be mis-configured to display suspicious behaviour that may be confused with a spamming mail server.

Resolution

Configure Softalk Mail Server as described below. If you have been blacklisted then contact the administrator of the list to get your listing removed.

Detail

To avoid being inadvertently blacklisted by Spamhaus, CBL and other DNSBL (DNS Blocking List) servers, your mail server must be correctly configured as follows:-

1. Ensure that Softalk Mail Server is not configured as an open relay. To do this, open the Administrator program and click on the Summary screen icon. If an alert box indicates that Softalk Mail Server is an open relay, follow the instructions to correct it.
2. Refer to the following FAQ that describes how to configure Softalk Mail Server to correctly identify itself to other mail servers. If this is set up incorrectly then messages from Softalk Mail Server may be blocked by some mail servers and your mail server may be blacklisted by one or more DNSRBL services.

   Diagnostics warn: No external IP addresses detected. Domain XXXXXXXXXXX must specify a HELO/EHLO domain, otherwise some email servers will not accept emails from this domain.

3. We recommend that you configure the default identification details on the Sending tab in Settings. Then configure the ‘per domain’ settings on the Sending tab of the domain properties pages to use the default setting. Configuring a different ‘per domain’ identity on the same mail server may be seen as suspicious behaviour and may lead to your mail server being blacklisted.