Sending email from specific vhost, bad for spam?

Question

Essentially, I have a server that contains many vhosts. One vhost in particular is required to send mail from the address invitations@vhost.com, however the reverse DNS for that server resolves to hosting.server.com, and various fields in the email header pertain to the server instead of the vhost.

The software involved is PHP / Apache / Sendmail / CentOS 5.5

The domain vhost.com uses an email provider on a different server, so mx.vhost.com has no links to hosting.server.com or www.vhost.com other than by the domain name.

My concern is that this will increase the likelihood that email from this vhost is flagged as spam. Am I worrying too much about this or is this a real possibility.

Does anybody advice on how to configure a server or domain setup in this instance?

Also, can these references to hosting.server.com be alleviated within the PHP application sending the emails at all, or is it purely a server configuration issue?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I'd say it's a distinct possibility. You can limit the damage by ensuring that you have as many hints as possible that your server is a legitimate sender for the domain vhost.com by configuring correct DKIM and SPF records, but it won't be a panacea.

As far as removing references to hosting.server.com in the e-mail, it's mostly a server configuration issue -- the two big ones are HELO name and and the rDNS

The really important thing to remember, though, is to not send spam. E-mail service providers hate that.