unrouted mail setting

[Ric]

Hello Bob,

I suggest set all unrouted mail will be sent to :blackhole: in default(cpanel/mail/default address)

Thanks,

Ric

[catfished]

Originally Posted by Ric

Hello Bob,

I suggest set all unrouted mail will be sent to :blackhole: in default(cpanel/mail/default address)

Thanks,

Ric

I thought they had determined that :fail: was easier on the server resources than blackhole? I forgot how it was explained but it made sense.

[Ric]

Yes ,
Good article that explains server load and consequences of both :blackhole: and :fail:
http://www.configserver.com/free/fail.html

When put :fail: No such address here, a response is sent back from the mailserver handling that domain, that there is no address here for that.

Whereas :blackhole: simply discards without no notification back.

If you get a returned mail saying "there is no such mailbox here" Then that is taken that there is none here, this is universally accepted.

May be no return message is sent on :blackhole: the spammer doesn't know if its NOT been delivered, since a real message never gets a message back either, they assume this is a valid address and you get added to more lists.

but , if u set :fail: and response is sent back from your mailserver .. the spambot/program will create other unrouted mail, if you set :blackhole: and no response, the spammer doesn't know if its NOT been delivered.. the spammer may be not create other unrouted mail ..my concern is server load , if spambot/program/spammer create other unrouted mail and send back quickly..the mailserver will response more time

just my 2c..

PS: when I create my client account, default setting neither :blackhole: nor : fail: .. it set to account .. Bob, would you please check this...tks

Ric

[mylinear]

I would not mind having it set by default to :blackhole: as well. Currently, I change it manually for each client account since it defaults to "fail".

[Josh]

If you're concerned about server load, and citing that article as a reference (and by my understanding the article is correct), then you should be asking for it to be set to default to :fail: as that's the one the article recommends

Using :fail: the email is never accepted into the server. During the initial SMTP negotiation when the senders SMTP server connects to your SMTP server, the sending SMTP server issues a RCPT command notifying your server which email address the email to follow is intended for. Your server then checks whether the recipient email actually exists on your server (a POP3 account, an alias or a catchall alias) and if it does not, it issues an SMTP DENY which terminates the attempt to deliver the email.

[mylinear]

I thought "fail" sends back a bounce message, so I've been using "blackhole" to avoid that. But the article says it does not.

Does anyone know when then does the message bounce due to delivery failure? Maybe when the mailbox is full etc?

[Josh]

When a message bounces it's done by the sending server, not the receiving one. All the receiving one does is send the appropriate deny message (whether that be that the email address does not exist, mailbox is full and others).

[Ric]

yes,

I prefer response nothing to spamer/unrouted mail (any msg,even deny msg.) from mailserver. spam/program can easily resent huge amount unrouted mail again and again to the mailserver handling that domain, then mailserver send back the appropriate deny msg again and again until mailserver block that spamer/IP what ever .. in the same time, our mailserver could be blocked by spamer's ISP also, bcz too many deny msg send back..
itz allright to change to :blackhole: manually for my client account...
just suggestion ..

Ric