Can't email AOL from domain

[Tasocahtfu]

Hi,

First up, I know a bit about networking but I am no guru, so really sorry if what I ask is a bit stupid.

Our problem is that for the past few weeks, we have been unable to send emails from within our domain to anyone with a @aol.co.uk/com address. This has now widened to including @blueyonder.co.uk addresses as well.

Our network administrator spoke to AOL and did some searching, and he thinks we need to set up a reverse DNS lookup? (Before anyone asks, he is snowed under at the moment so I'm just trying to help him out. )

I've been trying to look into doing this and our hosting provider, who have been pretty unhelpful, say on their website that for advanced DNS settings we need to use ZoneEdit. We have set up an account with them but I don't really know what to do!

Does this sound like the right course of action at all? Has anyone had a similar problem and can help?

Not sure what info might be needed, please ask if you think you can help.

Many thanks

 

[neil_g]

are you sending directly out via dns or through an isp mailserver?

for some reason some isp now do not accept mail direct from non-isp mailservers for spam reasons.

 

[#Chri5#]

AOL are very fussy for R-DNS if you're hosting your own mail server. That's something I've had to get put in place for quite a few sites.

Do you host your own mail server on a broadband connection? Do you relay directly by DNS or via your ISPs mail server?

 

[Tasocahtfu]

Hi,

Sorry for taking so long.

We have our own mail server on which we use MS Exchange 2003 standard, and mail is routed via DNS.

Any help at all?

Cheers

 

[Curiosityx]

Does your ISP provider any kind of smart host ability?

If so setup two SMTP Connectors, on the second modify the address space to only include the @aol.com domain and configure a smarthost on it, the second connector can continue to route via DNS.

 

[matja]

I've had the same issue with AOL sending mail from a BT SDSL line - all the IP's we used had correct PTR records but AOL simply did not like the hostname ending in btopenworld.com - they thought we were a dialup/dynamic connection so refused delivery. Relaying through your ISP's SMTP relay or via an external server should work - just make sure that if you use SPF, that the address of your relay is mentioned