RDNS, email and AOL

[eSology]

Here is my setup:
Dedicated server running FreeBSD/DA.
main server IP is shared with several domains.
static IP is used for my most important site.

I asked my Colocation provider to setup RDNS since AOL was rejecting emails. That was a month ago. I looked up my domains at dnsreport.com and all the domains on the main servers IP reflect domain of static IP. Domain on static IP shows FAIL with no RDNS.

Here is a domain that is shared: esology dot com
My domain that is using a static IP: stockhideout dot com

Any suggestions of what needs to be done?

 

[ballyn]

Your provider set up a PTR record for .178 to resolve to stockhideout, but this is the "shared" IP.

You should ask them to set the PTR for .178 to resolve to some generic name (perhaps the FQDN of the machine, or mail.primarydomain.com, e.g.) and set the PTR for .181 to resolve to mail dot stockhideout dot com or something similar.

Actually, now that I think about it, though, exim will send all outgoing mail on the primary IP of the machine (the server IP). So that's the IP that you really need a reverse DNS entry (PTR) for. The other PTRs aren't critical unless you've configured exim to send outgoing mail on them. Ideally, this PTR entry should resolve to a name that then resolves to the same IP.

 

[nobaloney]

You should ask them to set the PTR for .178 to resolve to some generic name (perhaps the FQDN of the machine, or mail.primarydomain.com, e.g.)

Generally on shared hosting servers this should be the hostname of the machine.

Actually, now that I think about it, though, exim will send all outgoing mail on the primary IP of the machine (the server IP). So that's the IP that you really need a reverse DNS entry (PTR) for.

Presumably this is .178. Is that correct?

Ideally, this PTR entry should resolve to a name that then resolves to the same IP.

Not important at all; RFCs require only that there be a reverse record to a resolvable fqdn; they do NOT define what it has to be.

Jeff

 

[eSology]

Yes .178 is the main IP.

So your saying that shared or not all I need is a resolveable RDNS entry and AOL shouldn't reject emails any longer?

The .178 returns stockhideout while the static IP .181 has no PTR record despite that I created one for it in DA.

 

[ballyn]

Yes, that's correct. You can ignore the error from DNS report about "Reverse DNS entries for MX records" since you aren't using the IP (.181) for outgoing mail.

Also, the PTR record you created for your IP has no affect because you're not authoritative for the corresponding in-addr.arpa zone (your provider is, which is why you need to contact them to get the entry added).

 

[qsentry]

You can also check which name your server uses by typing:
hostname on the commandline

Using that domainname should be enough.

Rene