I’ve a Hestia server dedicated to mail. All parameters are well configured (DMARC, DKIM, SPF and PTR: 10/10). Web applications and mail clients (like Thunderbird) connect to that server via SMTP on port 587. This reveals their source IP, which appears in the sent mail messages and often leads to deliverability problems (I think) because…
1.- Web servers work behind a CDN, as a consequence, they do not have the correct PTR record.
2.- Mail clients are installed on personal computers that connect from IPs dynamically assigned by their ISP, often on blacklists (some servers subtract points from messages sent from IPs simply for being dynamic).
Is this a correct diagnosis? Or have I missed something in the mail server configuration? If all of the above is true, can anyone tell me what I can do about it (especially from HestiaCP)?
Thank you for replying. 1 and 2 calms me, but it does not explain me the deliveries received in the SPAM folder after a certain date. There have been no changes in the server configuration, so I deduce that the cause may be the changes that Google has implemented this year in its security policies, although I do not have any client that reaches the minimum of 5,000 mails / day that Google considers…
The IP of the mail server is not on any blacklist. You mean the server logs? How can these logs help me if the deliveries are done correctly?
Thank you for your contribution. The domains are added and verified in Postmaster Tools after the incident, so I have no way of knowing if there is manual SPAM tagging by some people (another possible cause). Currently I can see a normal IP reputation and a bad reputation for one domain.
Which port is used to check a PTR record by the servers receiving the email? Is it possible that an overly strict security policy in the FW could affect this check?
A PTR record is a DNS record, so it uses port 53 (UDP and TCP). Anyway, usually the one resolving the PTR for your IP is your hosting provider, so your firewall shouldn’t affect it.
If you want to know which DNS servers are resolving the PTR record…
Well, none of my crazy theories are correct. That leaves me a bit confused, since Google marks sent messages as SPAM (Google Postmaster Tools indicates bad reputation of a domain) by passing PTR, SPF, DMARC and DKIM security tests. If I send a test email to the same Gmail and look at the source code I see:
SPF: PASS…
DKIM: ‘PASS’…
DMARC: ‘PASS’…
The PTR record is configured in my provider correctly pointing to the hostname of the server with HestiaCP for multi-domain mail.
So, if everything is OK, why do the sent mails (with a sanitised list of less than 2000 contacts) arrive in the SPAM folder in Gmail? Can anyone give me any clues or information to look for?
Only Gmail can answer it, nobody knows their rules.
Anyway, if one of your domains have a bad reputation, it could affect to all the domains sending mails from the same ip (it happened to me a couple of years ago).
I thought it was a good idea to check all possible causes, so it wouldn’t be necessary to know specifically what policies gmail uses. The tests are OK for the configuration, I have reviewed the content of the message, I have fulfilled the conditions that Google requires for senders of more than 5,000 emails per day and I have even come up with crazy theories that you have discarded in this thread.
As far as this forum is concerned, I understand that I have to rule out any faults with the settings that Hestia automatically offers. If anyone can give me a clue as to where to look for any bugs, I would appreciate your input.
Basically the days of email marketing/bulk is gone along time ago. Anti-spam engines are tagging those emails as spam and for a good reason. Don’t use your hosting server to send out bulk emails. Use mailchimp or other service to send those emails. Email delivery can be very complicated sometimes. you can go to junk just for one word in the subject or body.
@schiwe yes, you are right. The balance between security and freedom is complicated and difficult, but I like to work for an internet where email communication can be possible and decentralised. I don’t use a hosting server, I use a dedicated mail server.
Keep in mind that Communication is not the same as SPAM, and third party services like mailchimp face the same challenges. Poorly chosen words can label legitimate messages as SPAM (as I have seen on a few occasions).
So what you mean is something like: the days of email marketing/bulk is gone along time ago, except through specialised companies? Or do you mean that Hestia is not the best choice for this purpose? I know there are other options out there that are more specialised, but not as easy as Hestia, which has done a good job so far, in my opinion, and in the opinion of mail-tester, mxtoolbox and Google Postmaster Tool.
I am very interested in opinions that contradict me.
Everyone wants to get inside the recipient inbox, but the big companies (like google and microsoft) and specially anti-spam services will not allow this to happen. You might get some of the emails pass-through but most of them will go to the junk/spam or quarantine folder. I don’t know what is the purpose of your emails and the content sent from your server to answer you specifically. If you do send bulk emails as burst you will go to spam or blocked, if your content is “spammy” you will go to spam, if you continue with this behavior from your server you will get a bad reputation and be punished for that. Yes you’re right about the challenges of external service like mail-chimp. This is why email marketing It’s a waste of time.
I hope I wasn’t too harsh
If you consider email marketing a waste of time, talking about email marketing must be even worse! Thanks for your time! I’ll take a look at third party services as well.
Gmail, hotmail, etc. won’t be accepting 2000 emails in 5 minutes, and even if they did, if the mail shows up as spammy or has a few of users that flagged it as spam, then you are in trouble.
Gmail will swallow those emails and make your SMTP server think they have been delivered BUT they will dissapear. They won’t even get to the spam folder.
You have to start to build a reputation you can’t go from 0 emails to 2000 emails in 1 hour.
After some research I was able to see the cause of the problem: the CRM used was not preventing unsubscribed contacts from receiving emails After a follow up through Post Master Tools, which ended up showing the domain reputation at the lowest point of the graph, I could see the recovery back to normal on the same day as the mass mailing with that bug fixed (a few weeks later).
This is not a discrepancy to the advices given here for speed or third party services I intend to follow that advices. I just wanted to put this case on record in case it is helpful to anyone else.
And I forgot to apologise. I didn’t imagine that a CRM would allow that…
Thanks for your time!
After a follow up through Post Master Tools, which ended up showing the domain reputation at the lowest point of the graph, I could see the recovery back to normal on the same day as the mass mailing with that bug fixed (a few weeks later).
I intend to follow that advices. I just wanted to put this case on record in case it is helpful to anyone else.