Trouble with zzap64 e-mail

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salem
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Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2003 11:53 am

Trouble with zzap64 e-mail

Post by salem »

Hi Iain,

I've just started having some problems sending through my zzap64.co.uk address, although I can still receive ok.

Last week we got BT ADSL installed (yay!) so I changed my outgoing smtp server to carbon.webfusion.co.uk which you said should work if I couldn't use my own ISP's server (although you said that when I first signed up for the address in 2003 so I don't know if it's changed!). Before this I was using Freeserve/Wanadoo mailserver to send mail as we had an anytime account.

Everything was working until today when my outgoing mails started bouncing as the external IP address of my router appears to have been blacklisted by CBL. I'm still trying to find out why I was blacklisted (haven't found any trojans so far) and should be able to remove myself.

However, the FAQs at CBL say I shouldn't need to remove myself from the blacklist to be able to send mail through an ISPs server and that the blacklist should only stop me from establishing a direct connection from my IP to the recipient's IP. The problem seems to be that the webfusion server is blocking me because of the blacklisting.

First of all, I want to make sure all my SMTP settings (server name/address, port, user name, password) are correct.

Also I'd like to know if there's another port I can connect to the server through, and if so do I need to do anything different, as CBL recommends that I block all outgoing traffic on port 25.

And maybe if all else fails, you could jsut shout at webfusion for being paranoid. ;)

Cheers.
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Iain
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Re: Trouble with zzap64 e-mail

Post by Iain »

I'm in college at the moment studying, so I can't go into too much detail since I don't have access to my desktop in here (prob too obvious to state that! ;-) )
salem wrote:Hi Iain,

Everything was working until today when my outgoing mails started bouncing as the external IP address of my router appears to have been blacklisted by CBL. I'm still trying to find out why I was blacklisted (haven't found any trojans so far) and should be able to remove myself.
I got a msg like this a few weeks ago and did a bit of research it on. I came to the conclusion that somebody else on my ISP who had that IP for a while, must have been infected and was sending out lots of spam from their machine.

My solution was to unplug my modem and re plug it in and I was assigned a different IP from my ISP, been working fine since then.

I don't think it's anything to do with the carbon server, it's the IP on your machine that's been blocked for whatever reason.
salem
Techno Teaboy
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2003 11:53 am

Post by salem »

I realise that, but webfusion shouldn't be blocking us in this way even if our IPs are blacklisted. As stated in that quote from CBL, e-mail providers should NOT use the list to block their own users under any circumstances. It should only be used to block incoming mail, not outgoing. I think you need to complain at them, because they're definitely doing something wrong.

Edit: the quote I thought I'd edited into my first post doesn't seem to be there, but it was along the lines of what I've just said.

Just to make things stranger, my IP is no longer on the blacklist, even though I didn't actually remove it myself, so I can now send again!

Nevertheless, webfusion shouldn't be blocking legitimate users from sending through their servers even if they are blacklisted for a genuine reason. That's not what the blacklist is for.
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Iain
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Post by Iain »

I'll forward your comments onto my contact regarding my web server etc.

Glad it's working again anyway :)
salem
Techno Teaboy
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2003 11:53 am

Post by salem »

It looks like my external IP has changed and that the new user has removed the old one from the list.

It's always possible to remove yourself from the list, but according to CBL you shouldn't need to unless you're running your own mail server, since blacklisted IPs should still be able to connect to their own e-mail provider's SMTP server provided that the server is correctly configured.

Details of the list that blocked me are at:

http://cbl.abuseat.org/

The latest news at the top of the page is particularly relevant!

Thanks for your quick replies. :)
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