email - Can running your own authoritative DNS server mask a dynamic IP hosted email server from being blacklisted?

I'm running my own email server on my ISPs dynamic IP range which is blacklisted. So when I send mail to certain mail server my email is block. When I run the same setup in a VPS, I'm not on any blacklist and I can send to whatever email server. What I'm think is instead leaving my emails on a VPS which defeats the purpose of running my own email server, Can I solve this blacklist problem by running an authoritative DNS server in the cloud (VPS) and redirect everything back to my email server at home???

user3590149

Posted 2014-10-12T16:29:25.550

Reputation: 111

These are two questions in one. Split the DNSSEC stuff off it, also I’m not sure whether thats on topic at all here. 2. What has DNS to do with your dynamic IP?

< – Jonas Schäfer – 2014-10-12T16:33:51.297

@JonasWielicki Dynamic IPs are typically blacklisted. I have a dynamic IP from my ISP, these ranges are by default blacklisted because of spam. Email servers work with other email servers that have good reputation which are determined by central services like Spamhaus. If your email server IP is on this list other servers won't accept your emails. – user3590149 – 2014-10-12T16:44:46.943

@JonasWielicki Took your advice for the DNSSEC question and post separtely http://superuser.com/questions/825225/dnssec-client-software

– user3590149 – 2014-10-12T16:53:53.573

Answers

The blacklists block mail you send, therefore they're specifically about the location of your mail server. They have absolutely nothing to do with where your DNS domain is hosted; moving that will not help, and will not redirect any mail; after all, the DNS server itself doesn't accept messages.

So what you can do is run a mail server on your VPS. Have your home server relay all outgoing messages through the remote one (with some kind of authentication of course) – the option is usually called "relay host" or "smarthost".

(What you should also do is get a static IP address for your home server, not just because of blacklists, but also because receiving mail on a dynamically assigned addresses isn't quite reliable.)

user1686

Posted 2014-10-12T16:29:25.550

Reputation: 283 655

I definitely want a static IP and would solve my problems. My ISP doesn't change my IP unless I change my mac address. I find that funny but still its dynamic and I hear your point. My ISP doesn't make it cheap for static IP though. I only have a handful of clients on this server. – user3590149 – 2014-10-12T16:48:36.283

Getting a static IP from a consumer ISP is no guarantee that it’ll work. Even in a datacenter you have no guarantee that the IPs routed there are “clean”. – Jonas Schäfer – 2014-10-12T17:44:38.887

Do you have any software or service recommendations for relays or even tutorials? – user3590149 – 2014-10-12T20:25:13.053

Running your own DNS will not solve the blacklisting issue. Your mail server is blocked for legitimate reasons. The vast majority of spam originates from compromised hosts on dynamic addresses. Even if your ISP had not provided there dynamic IP ranges for blacklisting, you would still get caught by rDNS validation as the PTR record for your IP will not match your domain.

While you risk loosing email when your dynamic address changes, you can receive email on a dynamic addresses. I would recommend asking your ISP for a fixed address. Some ISPs provide them on request, other charge a fee. They should also be willing to set the PTR record on your static address to your mail servers DNS name.

The proper way to send email if you are on a dynamic range is to use your ISPs mail relay. Configure your email server to send all outgoing email to the relay for delivery. This should resolve your issue with being blacklisted.

If you configure SPF (highly recommended), then include your ISP's record, or list their relay server(s) in the SPF record for your domain.

BillThor

Posted 2014-10-12T16:29:25.550

Reputation: 9 384

Do you have any software or service recommendations for relays or even tutorials? – user3590149 – 2014-10-12T20:24:54.830

Also static IPs can be expensive. 80/per month. Seems unreasonable for my small application. – user3590149 – 2014-10-12T22:17:45.610

Just get a cheap VPS and run your email server off it. – Journeyman Geek – 2014-10-12T23:21:19.183

@user3590149 Debian/Ubuntu should handle the configuration if you select the smarthost for your server. Exim4, postfix, and sendmail are all easy to setup. Lightweight SMTP proxy servers all work as smarthosts, but don't handle incoming email. – BillThor – 2014-10-13T03:07:03.980