SOHO Email Hosting or Alternatives

[Lloyd Kvam]

On Mon, 2007-04-23 at 20:20 -0400, Ben Scott wrote:
> On 4/23/07, Python <python at venix.com> wrote:
> >> Mailbox host rejects spam message during SMTP, alias host tries to
> >> send a DSN for spam message, which bounces, resulting in backscatter
> >> problems and lots of headaches for alias host postmaster.
> >
> > I don't really understand this point.  Aren't DSN concerns essentially
> > the same between the alias host and the mailbox host?
> 
>   A lot of mail servers reject spam during the SMTP transaction.  If
> there is no forwarding involved, the spam cannons just bounce off the
> mail server.  (Legitimate failures generate a DSN at the originating
> system, which also works fine.)  But add in an alias/forwarding
> system.  Now the alias host accepts the spam, and tries to forward it
> on to the forwarding target.  The target MX rejects during the SMTP
> transaction from the forwarder.  Since the forwarder is not the
> originator, it has to generate a DSN, and then attempt to deliver said
> DSN to the originating system, based on the information from the SMTP
> envelope.  

OK.  I see what you're saying.  I assume my server tolerance for "bad
email" matches reasonably well to the final server (Maybe it's fussier).
If it was good enough for my server, it will also be acceptable to the
mailbox server.  I am not generating many DSNs.

> Since that information is almost always forged, the alias
> host ends up trying to deliver tons of DSNs to all sorts of bogus
> addresses -- some of which match to real people, who then email the
> postmaster of the alias host and ask them to stop emitting
> backscatter.  (Or, more likely, threaten bodily harm and/or legal
> action.)
> 
>   Did that make sense, or just confuse the issue further?  :)

Thanks for taking the trouble to explain.

One other item I've noticed.  More and more mail servers are not
bothering to report delivery failures.  I get complaints about
undelivered emails and I respond with log entries showing that their ISP
accepted the email for delivery.  Presumably the email got silently
shunted into the spam heap.

> 
> -- Ben
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-- 
Lloyd Kvam
Venix Corp.
1 Court Street, Suite 378
Lebanon, NH 03766-1358

voice:  603-653-8139
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