[PLUG] What a mess... No reverse record for this PCC site...

[Eric Harrison]

On 30 Sep 2003, Michael C. Robinson wrote:

>Sep 29 14:44:39 goose postfix/smtpd[28525]: reject: RCPT from
>unknown[209.152.33.41]: 450 Client host rejected: cannot find your
>hostname, [209.152.33.41]; from=<jkissick at pcc.edu>
>to=<michael at goose.robinson-west.com>
>Sep 29 14:48:54 goose postfix/smtpd[28531]: reject: RCPT from
>unknown[209.152.33.41]: 450 Client host rejected: cannot find your
>hostname, [209.152.33.41]; from=<vschroed at pcc.edu>
>to=<michael at goose.robinson-west.com>
>
>pcc.edu has address 209.152.61.185
>
>I'm guessing PCC is allowing a server to send
>email out that is not masqueraded for or reverse 
>registered properly?
>
>Is there a way I can inject a PTR record into my own
>dns servers that 209.152.33.41 goes to pcc.edu?
>
>     --  Michael C. Robinson

So Michael, you ever feel like you are tilting at windmills?

I've been down this path, and I decided that banging my head 
against the monitor did not offer sufficient yields.

There seem to be very few fundamental rules of the internet. Just
about the time you think you have things nailed down, all the
rules change. Well, most of the rules change - you can trust
that a few of the rules will remain the same.

Take DNS for an example. There have been all sorts of cool tricks
done with DNS over the years. Dynamic DNS, Hesiod, all those weird
things active directory does, IP over DNS, etc, etc. The one constant
throughout the history of DNS is that everyone gets it wrong.

The expectation that every domain's DNS should be 100% correct is the
path of a long and painful net experience.


Rather than trying to add your own DNS records for every site on the
net that does not meet your expectations, you may want to reallocate
that time to investigating alternate paths.

Spam detection has become an advanced science. There is a significant
body of recent anti-spam literature available that is much more likely
to lead you to the spam-free nirvana than the crude methodology of
relying on correct PTR records.


-Eric

--
http://www.google.com/search?q=spam