[Info-vax] SMTP AUTH ?

[Jan-Erik Soderholm]

Phillip Helbig---undress to reply wrote 2011-11-07 22:45:
> In article<j98q3s$i6$1 at news.albasani.net>, Jan-Erik Soderholm
> <jan-erik.soderholm at telia.com>  writes:
>
>> My in-office VMS system have had my ISP's mail server as
>> smtp "Alternate Gateway" for some time. Has worked well.
>
> Yes.  Technically it's not necessary, but realistically, many people
> block email from "personal" IP addresses since by far the most of them
> are virus-infected Windows PCs sending spam.
>
>> Now, sine last week, this has stopped working. I now get :
>>
>> ---- Transcript of session follows ----
>>
>> 550 RCPT TO:<..>  Relaying not allowed - please use SMTP AUTH
>
> I remember SMTP AUTH being required at most places a bit more than 10
> years ago when I was setting things up at home...
>
>> Now, as far as I can see there is no way to get the smtp
>> sender in TCP/Services to use SMTP AUTH, right ?
>
> ...but that meant I couldn't use VMS.
>
>> I have some other options I will investigate (such as using
>> the smtp tools in the Python port), but though I'd ask others
>> here about it.
>
> My solution was to sign up with http://www.dynaccess.com/ (actually in
> my case http://www.dynaccess.de/ but I'm guessing your English is better
> than your German).  This is mainly a dynamic-DNS provider, but I find
> the service and prices much better than, say, DynDNS.org.  I also find
> it much easier to get an overview of which services are offered.  (The
> concept is a bit different: instead of mixing and matching, the more you
> pay the more you get.)  IIRC the "Business A" category gets you the SMTP
> relay server.  I've used it for almost a decade and it, and the entire
> Dynaccess service, is top-notch.
>
> This has nothing to do with my ISP, which is 1&1.  I signed up with them
> almost 11 years ago.  At the time, they were the main competitor to the
> formerly state-owned Deutsche Telekom, whom I wanted to get away from
> after experiencing bad business practices after the privatization.  I've
> stayed with them since the service is good and they have a very good
> NNTP server.
>
> I use Dynaccess for dynamic-DNS and they also handle my domain
> registration.  (One can of course host other domains on the same IP
> address with a different DNS provider.)  The SMTP relay server is a big
> plus.  No authentication required---he knows my IP address since he
> handles my DNS, and I can send stuff from that IP address with very
> basic vanilla VMS SMTP (until recently, I also used whatever TCPIP came
> with VMS VAX 7.3 as well).
>
> If your interested in dynamic-DNS, Dynaccess is also a good choice.
> Most dynamic-DNS places want you to update when your IP address changes.
> This works at Dynaccess as well, but in addition you can update more
> often (depending on how much you pay---the prices are very reasonable).
> If expected updates don't come, you can have your domain switched to a
> "neutral" IP (rather than risking some other person gets your old IP
> address and everything sent to it) and also have backup MX servers kick
> in.
>
> I think they are worth checking out for the SMTP relay server alone, but
> the other things might be interesting to you as well.
>
> I am not using it yet, but there is also the possibility to update via
> UTP every few seconds.  If there are problems with the connection, then
> they are noticed quickly and the appropriate steps are taken.
>

Thanks for the long reply !

Actualy, I use DynDNS for handling of my domain (jescab2.dyndns.org).
My ADSL line (well, actualy VDSL since last week, 60 Mb/s downsream and
12 Mb/s upsteam using my plain old phone line!) modem is setup to
automaticly update DynDNS whenever the public IP adress of my modem
changes. No problem with that. I myself always access my systems using
the domain so I would notice any problems. :-)

I will check what mail services DynDNS provides. I see no reason at the
moment to change dynamic DNS provider, but thanks for the tip.

Am I right that Dynaccess is only handling our *outgoing* mails, right ?

I have no problem *receiving* mails to "<some-user>@jescab2.dyndns.org".


Jan-Erik.