DNS, PTR, Mail Server HELP!

Question

I am not really sure which route to take. Here is my current setup.

We host our web server on RackSpace Cloud (moved from EC2) Previously we hosted our own name servers, now we use RS (RackSpace) name servers.

Our mail server is hosted locally running on an ATT T1. ATT Will not setup a PTR unless they are hosting the domain. So they have to "delegate" control and whoever they delegate to can create the PTR. RS will not create a PTR because they said their Reverse DNS isn't setup to run that way.

We have a few domains, big domains that are our primary customers, rejecting our mail because of this issue.

So just to clarify, this is our setup:

Domain Registrar is at Godaddy.com DNS Name Servers point to RS DNS Mail is hosted locally via ATT T1, ATT Delegates DNS authority for our IP Block to our OLD name servers at ns1 and ns2.mycompany.com. (These no longer exist as we host with RS now)

Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated. I have been dealing with this for 3 days now and feel like a complete newb. It's driving me mad. So mad I will be willing to pay a consultant to assist in this matter.

The Error that our mail server is giving is:

delivery temporarily suspended: host or domain not found. name service error for name=domain.mil type=mx:host not found, try again

Answer 1

AT&T does this. It's their policy. It's an ugly policy, but I will often times either host a minor domain attached to the company with AT&T or delegate the primary DNS domain to them. If you have a small domain you don't mind hosting with AT&T, do it. Then they'll give you the reverse PTR records.

Answer 2

A PTR record can only be set up by the netblock owner or another entity that they delegate it to. If your email server runs on AT&T's ip address then they have to set up the PTR record for you if it can't be delegated to RS. You may be out of luck unless you have AT&T host your domain. GoDaddy can continue to be the registrar and RS can continue to host your web site but you can move your domain (DNS) to AT&T.

It's not a requirement that all of your eggs be in one basket.

I can have one company as my domain registrar, another company that hosts my DNS, another company that hosts my email, and yet another company that hosts my web site.

Answer 3

You could consider an alternative, low-cost solution to bypass your current problem, by using an external server from a hosting company which allows you to set the PTR record, for example, linode or slicehost (a RackSpace company.)

The external server should then be configured as the primary mail relay for your domain whilst your existing T1-hosted mail server should be removed as a mail relay from your DNS. The primary relay can then relay incoming mails privately to your T1-hosted mail server.

Similarly, for outgoing email, you can avoid sending mail directly from the T1-hosted mail server and instead configure this to use the external server as a smarthost.

You'll then need to consider different issues, for example, which email addresses will be accepted by the external server, spam filtering, etc, although how that is achieved is dependent on your choice of mail server software. But that's a different question for stack exchange.

Answer 4

If AT&T will not allow you a PTR record, your only alternative is to use a smarthost to relay your mail. Usually ISP's have a mail server to relay through, most requiring authentication although sometimes they rely simply on the fact that if you are on their subnet, you can relay.

If they do not, you will need to purchase a service that will let you do relaying. Here is one from DYDNS.org for just $20/year: http://www.dyndns.com/services/sendlabs/outbound.html. I am not sure if that one allows business class service, but you get the idea.

Lastly, you then have to know how to set your specific server up to use it. In Exchange 207/2010, you do it under Organization Configuration>Hut Transport>Send Connectors. On the network tab, you select "Route mail through the following smart hosts", and enter the information appropriately.

Answer 5

I work for a business class ISP and we usually handle PTR records for anyone using one of our IPs regardless of whether he host email for them or not.