# Domain name registrar which uses spamhaus or similar?



## queshaw (Nov 29, 2012)

I have email forwarded to my ISP from a domain name hosting company. The IP address of their server that relays my email gets on the CBL at spamhaus. The result is that people who send me email get back an email saying that their email couldn't be relayed because that IP address is known to belong to a spammer.

The domain name hosting company's tech support people told me that there is nothing that they can do. Spamhaus warns that they will eventually refuse to delist addresses that get on the list repeatedly.

Assuming that I've understood the situation, do you know how I can go about finding a domain name hosting company that uses the CBL or something similar to avoid relaying spam, so that this situation doesn't keep coming up? I mean, aside from asking the companies about it. I suspect the people I would be able to talk to wouldn't understand the problem.


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## Pushrod (Nov 30, 2012)

Setup a Google Apps account if you can. Email sucks; I don't deal with it myself anymore.


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## queshaw (Nov 30, 2012)

Thanks. I have various email accounts.

There is a specific email address that identifies me that I need to use. So, I want to resolve this problem.


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## jrm@ (Nov 30, 2012)

In case it's not clear...

With google apps you can continue to use your personal email address(es).


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## SirDice (Nov 30, 2012)

A domain name registrar only registers domains, it doesn't host any services. You're looking for a (mail) hosting company with proper anti-spam. This has nothing to do with the registration of a domain.


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## queshaw (Nov 30, 2012)

The only service that I am referring to is DNS lookup. The company that I purchased my domain name from associates servers with my domain name. Similar to this, I think:

Sender's email client > their mail server (sender's server) -> the mail server that forwards my email (relay) -> my ISP (ISP) -> my email client

Spamhaus has "relay" on their spam list. "Sender's server" consults spamhaus and says, hey "relay" is a spammer.

dig mx example.com

shows the IP address of "relay" for example.com

About google apps, if that means google handles DNS for my domain name, then maybe that is an alternative, though I would prefer to avoid google as much as is practical.


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## jrm@ (Nov 30, 2012)

What @SirDice said...

But, today registrars like to try and get you to do more than just register domains with them.  They like you to buy extra services like web and email hosting _from them_.  It sounds like you are just buying an extra, crappy service from your registrar.

The only essential services your registrar provides are management of your domain information in a central registry database and ensuring your authoritative DNS server can be found.  You then have to create proper DNS records to point to email/web/etc/ servers.

What @pushrod is suggesting is that your update your mail (MX) records in DNS to point to google's mail servers instead of your registrar's mail servers.


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## SirDice (Nov 30, 2012)

Yep. There are several services involved here. A domain registrar just makes sure your whois information is correct. You can then use a DNS hoster, here you can host the actual DNS domain. Next service is mail. All three, registration, DNS and hosting can be done with different companies. 

Only the hosting company has to deal with spam. But even if they do they could still end up on Spamhaus list. No amount of changing the registrar or DNS hosting will change that. 

I really applaud combating spam but some administrators/providers go overboard and use the 'wrong' RBLs and block way too much. Or they insist on stupid things like having an MX record for an egress mailserver :\


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## queshaw (Nov 30, 2012)

Update: Thank you for the advice. I think my problem might be resolved. My ISP has an MX only option and I will see how that works out. They say that they use the list at spamhaus, so at least spamhaus probably won't add them it's list, I think.

Okay. So, get a third service involved. Could it be my ISP's mail server that the MX records point to? Maybe they don't want to give me a static ip address for a mail server for free.

What do companies do, if they don't have their own mail server? They can't have their customers getting email back saying something that looks like they have a spam problem.

Google is probably diligent about spam, but they are evil doers... It's probably worth it to pay for a third service, I guess. I know that any place could still get blocked, but I would like someone who cares and is going to do what they can to limit the number of times that they get on a list.


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