----- Original Message ----- >Quotes from this thread (and the nolisting site which was posted as a >response): > >Michael Scheidell -> "Do NOT use a bogus mx as your lowest priority." >Bowie Bailey -> "I would say that it is too risky to put a non-smtp >host as your primary >MX"
I can't disagree with having a non-smtp host being strange or non-standard. But having a bogus lowest mx record that points to a non-existing host is something to consider. I've seen it recomended and was considering doing it last year when my RBL rejections were increasing. Durring the month of November last year I replaced my gateway server - which required a change in my mx records. From that point on the number of rejects dropped dramatically. Even now in February the number is stable and low and not on the rise (yet). So I can see a direct benifit to having a false mx record that will point spambots to nothing. In fact the recomendation I read was to have a fake mx record above and below the real one. RFC compliant servers will try the lowest and move on to the next highest till they can send the message. Spambots will typically try the highest and leave when they can't deliver. Right now I only have one mx record so the fact that my rbl rejections has dropped so much gives support to the above. As for any "lost" email. I haven't had a complaint yet. Why? Real senders are using real servers which are RFC compliant... >seems like every discussion of it leads to a group saying "you will >lose mail" and a group saying "you will not lose mail". Is there any >way to resolve this once and for all? It's hard for me to see why >either side would misrepresent the truth, but obviously someone is >wrong here. > >One thing I notice (and I certainly could be wrong here)... the >proponents seem to be actually using nolisting and claiming no >problems, whilst those against the idea seem to be predicting problems >rather than reporting on actual issues they have experienced. You'll always have your supporters and detractors. That's life. The really important thing for you to do is figure out what conditions are acceptable to you for your site and what is not. Then go about and configure your site to work for you. Email streams vary by site and what they want at each site varies as well. Here, we're an educational institute so I have to give some leniancy to educationaly related emails. A lumber mill on the other hand may not care/need or want messages about diploma's etc... So your job is to figure out the why someone is opposed or in favour to a particular method and see if it would be the same reason for you at your site. Only then can you judge a method as good or bad for your users. ================================= Kevin W. Gagel Network Administrator Information Technology Services (250) 562-2131 local 5448 My Blog: http://mail.cnc.bc.ca/blogs/gagel My File share: http://mail.cnc.bc.ca/users/gagel ------------------------------------------------------------------- The College of New Caledonia, Visit us at http://www.cnc.bc.ca Virus scanning is done on all incoming and outgoing email. Anti-spam information for CNC can be found at http://gateway.cnc.bc.ca -------------------------------------------------------------------
