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Mail server host name in greeting

Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:23 am
by polonius
Since Installing MagicSpam, the DNS test from http://www.dnsstuff.com/ yield this warning for all of our email clients:

WARNING: One or more of your mailservers is claiming to be a host other than what it really is (the SMTP greeting should be a 3-digit code, followed by a space or a dash, then the host name). If your mailserver sends out E-mail using this domain in its EHLO or HELO, your E-mail might get blocked by anti-spam software. This is also a technical violation of RFC821 4.3 (and RFC2821 4.3.1). Note that the hostname given in the SMTP greeting should have an A record pointing back to the same server. Note that this one test may use a cached DNS record.


mail.meXXXXXXXXXXXXnt.com.au claims to be invalid hostname 'Spam': <br /> 220 Spam Protection provided by MagicSpam http://www.magicspam.com ESMTP <br /> (URL part blocked by XXX to protect the privacy of our client)

Why does it generate that message, and what must we do to ensure that the mailserver complies with best practice?

Re: Mail server host name in greeting

Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 9:47 am
by magicspam
Hello Polonius,

Based on the information posted, it would appear that there is an SMTP connectivity / send test that is taking place as part of the dnsstuff.com checks. However, the outbound SMTP server and/or the protocol test they are using is triggering one of the MagicSpam rules. We can't tell you exactly which rule triggered as the URL has been obfuscated in your post.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention however as we would of course like to work with the administrators of dnsstuff.com to resolve this issue properly.

In the meantime, this is nothing to be particularly concerned about and is actually indicative that your MagicSpam installation is working correctly - broken test rather than broken configuration on your part.

Re: Mail server host name in greeting

Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:17 pm
by polonius
OK.

Is there a way that I can send the details to you, without exposing the URL to all of the readers of this forum?

Re: Mail server host name in greeting

Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:49 am
by magicspam
Of course,

if you would like, you can forward the details to support@magicspam.com and we can work with you and dnsstuff.com on the issue from there.

Re: Mail server host name in greeting

Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 9:41 am
by nexus
I am having the same problem, this is NOT a DNSSTUFF issue, it is in fact a problem that MagicSpam does not follow the correct RFC!!!

MagicSpam is sending a SMTP Banner / Greeting that does not conform to the standards.

It should be 220 mail.whateverdomain.com

Instead MagicSpam is sending 220 Spam protection by....

This means that ANY remote mail server that performs a SMTP banner lookup against DNS for the sending domain WILL fail as spam.

Please FIX this problem and send the relevant patch, otherwise kindly refund my credit card and revoke your license, we cannot use the MagicSpam module if it is in fact going to hamper our mail services instead of assist it.

Re: Mail server host name in greeting

Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 11:43 am
by magicspam
This issue was addressed via email, however, for the benefit of all:

There is a very simple work around for this.

You can simply modify the contents of /var/qmail/control/smtpgreeting.magicspam prior to activating the module. (we are slating this as a possible "feature" request to be something that can be modified in the module interface...)