What is SORBS?
Pete
Can someone tell me how SORBS works? For some reason we seem unable to
post emails without them being bounced back to us saying 'service
unavailable' an ip address and 'blocked using dnsbl.sorbs.net'. If we
keep re-sending sometimes it seems to work.
Whats happening?
Pete
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The Next Guy
peteso...@hotmail.com says...
> Can someone tell me how SORBS works? For some reason we seem unable to
> post emails without them being bounced back to us saying 'service
> unavailable' an ip address and 'blocked using dnsbl.sorbs.net'. If we
> keep re-sending sometimes it seems to work.
>
> Whats happening?
The short version is that SORBS maintains a list of insecure systems and
other potential spam sources. The person responsible for the servers
that you're trying to send email to have chosen to use the SORBS list in
order to reduce incoming spam to their systems.
The IP address you mention is most likely the address of the server used
to transmit your outgoing email. It's hard to give a more detailed
answer without knowing that IP address -- if you can provide it, someone
in this group may be able to give more specific info.
For more on SORBS see http://www.us.sorbs.net/
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note to Mod: changed my "from" address in response to your suggestion
Atro Tossavainen
> Can someone tell me how SORBS works? For some reason we seem unable to
> post emails without them being bounced back to us saying 'service
> unavailable' an ip address and 'blocked using dnsbl.sorbs.net'. If we
> keep re-sending sometimes it seems to work.
>
> Whats happening?
One possible explanation for that is that your service provider is
using multiple servers with multiple IP addresses for outgoing mail
and some of them are listed while others are not. This would not be
specific to SORBS. Without further information (such as the listed
IP address, and IP addresses of other machines with which things
seem to work) it's very difficult to guess.
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Atro Tossavainen (Mr.) / The Institute of Biotechnology at
Systems Analyst, Techno-Amish & / the University of Helsinki, Finland,
+358-9-19158939 UNIX Dinosaur / employs me, but my opinions are my own.
< URL : http : / / www . helsinki . fi / %7E atossava / > NO FILE ATTACHMENTS
ru.ig...@usask.ca
> Can someone tell me how SORBS works? For some reason we seem unable to
> post emails without them being bounced back to us saying 'service
> unavailable' an ip address and 'blocked using dnsbl.sorbs.net'. If we
> keep re-sending sometimes it seems to work.
> Whats happening?
It's hard to give you much information without more details of
your situation (e.g. who your mail service is, header info of
bounced email, etc). The general answer to you first question
is that SORBS generates several lists of IP addresses that have
somehow done something considered abusive, like sending spam,
or having a web site that is advertised by spam, or having
a computer that has been hacked. One list that may be affecting
you is the "Dynamic IP" list which doesn't really list offenders
as much as potential offenders: it lists blocks of dynamically
assigned IP addresses, partly because these belong to users
that don't configure mail servers properly, partly because
these kinds of machines tend to be easy to hack and send spam
from. That list won't affect you if you are using your ISP's
mail server (e.g. with POP or IMAP). So you see, figuring out
why you are being blocked depends a lot on the details of your
setup.
Regardless, these lists are made available to any mail server
that wishes to block email based any of the rules of the lists.
The email admin sets up his machine to lookup the SORBS databases
every time a new mail comes in, and if the mail fails, it can
either bounce or just be thrown out, depending on the mail
server's configuration. In your case, your email are getting
bounced.
I recommend checking the SORBS web site, www.dnsbl.sorbs.net
for more information.
Why you can sometimes get email through, I don't know. It may
have something to do with how your mail service works, like
using different servers at different re-tries, or your own IP
keeps changing and you just happen to occasionally drop into
an unblocked IP.
Give us more details, like who your mail service is, what your
IP is, and a cut-and-paste of the reason of refusal from one
of your bounced messages. We might be able to pin down why
you are experiencing a block. Just don't be surprised to find
that there really is a problem with your mail service, and that
getting out of a block list will require you to make some
decisions regarding how you get your network connection.
ru
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