General Questions about SpamStopsHere
From Greenview Wiki
- SpamStopsHere FAQ
- General Questions about Spam
- General Questions about SpamStopsHere
- SpamStopsHere Support Related Questions
Should I relay to my mail server's hostname or IP address?
During signup, our system will look up your existing "MX" records. You will see something like:
| Domain | Mailserver hostname | Mailserver IP | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| yourbiz.com | mail.bighost.net | 61.159.200.15 | 10 |
In this example, you must then choose whether to use "mail.bighost.net" (the hostname) or 61.159.200.15 (the IP address). Either will initially work, but there are subtle differences.
If your domain runs at a hosting company, then you are most likely using the hosting company's mail server for your email. In this case, use the "hostname" because hosting companies often change the IP address, but rarely change the hostname.
If your business has its own (in-house) mail server, then the person in charge of it (probably you) may prefer to use the IP address. This will rule out any possible problems resolving the hostname to the proper IP address.
In any case, you can change it later from your Control Panel. Help is available for the Control Panel after logging into it.
If you don't understand this discussion, then simply use the "hostname".
After I sign up, how soon will SpamStopsHere be active?
Typically within 1 to 2 hours; in some case it might take a full day. The primary reason for the delay is that any change to your domain's "MX" records do not take effect immediately, but must propagate through the Internet. Technically, your MX records have a "TTL" (Time-To-Live) value which specifies how quickly changes will take effect. A typical TTL value is 12 hours, but your domain may be configured with another value, such as 24 hours. Because some DNS servers don't honor the TTL, it can take up to 72 hours for the majority of your email to start passing through our service.
Does SpamStopsHere offer a challenge/response system?
Please read our document on Challenge Response Systems for more information on Challenge Response systems.
Do you have a reseller plan?
Yes. If you're interested in reselling our services, please contact sales to apply for a reseller account. The current discount rate is 30%, and all of the mailboxes for each of your domains are combined and billed in aggregate on your monthly billing date.
Is there a limit on the size of email attachments with your service?
Our email servers will relay email messages up to 100MB in size. Note that 8-bit attachments can grow by up to 33% when converted to 7-bit MIME encoded content, which is required for e-mail transmission.
Does it work with Microsoft Exchange?
Yes! SpamStopsHere works with any mail server software that is already accepting Internet email, including Microsoft Exchange, Novell Groupwise, Lotus Domino, Sendmail, etc.
Will the service work with any web/email hosting provider?
If your organization has its own internal mail server, you or your IT staff can certainly, and easily, configure it to work with SpamStopsHere.
If your email service is hosted with an ISP or web/email hosting provider, this may vary. SpamStopsHere should work with most business oriented hosting companies, as a lot of businesses do maintain their own office mail servers and often require custom MX records. If a hosting company is in this market, they are probably used to having customers request MX record changes. Changing MX records is usually a trivial operation for a hosting company.
Of course every hosting company can set their own policies. It is possible that, with a bulk bare bones hosting plan, the hosting company will either refuse to change MX records or charge you a small fee for the custom changes. If after signing up for our service you find that you cannot change your MX records appropriately to use our service, we will gladly give you a full refund during the "14-day Money-back guarantee" period.
IMPORTANT NOTE: At this time, Verio, BellSouth, and XO shared web hosting accounts, and 1&1's hosted email service can not be configured so that you can make the required MX record changes and still be provided with email hosting services, due to a limitation with their email server software. Also, due to the poor support our clients have experienced with some hosting providers, we will not accept accounts hosted at Earthlink or Verizon. Email hosting by Pair Networks, Hostway, Cedant, Host Excellence/IX Web Hosting, and VISI.com won't work with optimal MX records due to limitations with their DNS control panel.
Do I need my own mail server?
No! You only need your own domain name. Most small domains do not run a mail server, but instead contract out for web/email hosting services at a hosting company such as Interland, Hostway, Glob@t, etc.
When you sign up for the SpamStopsHere service, we email you a list of the changes that need to be made to your domain's DNS MX records. Some hosting companies let you change your own DNS settings through a control panel. Others require that you submit the requested changes to their technical support department. Within a few minutes of the completion of these DNS changes, the SpamStopsHere service will be in place.
Should I re-route blocked spam to a special mailbox?
Spam can either be fully REJECTED, or it can be FORWARDED to a special mailbox, such as spam@yourdomain.com for review.
If you are new to our service and leery of false positives, you may want to forward your spam to a spam mailbox for review until you are confident of our accuracy. Once you become comfortable with our accuracy, change the filter action for our more accurate proprietary filters to REJECT.
What happens if I discontinue the service?
Canceling the SpamStopsHere service is as easy as implementing it. Simply remove the SpamStopsHere load balancer's from your domain's DNS MX records and list your actual email server (or new anti-spam service) in the MX records instead. After the DNS changes propagate (we recommend waiting 72 hours), you should then be able to cancel the SpamStopsHere service without any interruption of email.
Discontinuing service before removing the SpamStopsHere load balancers from your domain's DNS MX records may result in email sent to your domain being undeliverable.
Although we hope it never happens, in the event we must disconnect you due to non-payment, we will give you a 10-day disconnect notification. If the issue is not resolved or we receive no reply at all, we will remove your domain name(s) from our servers. Until your MX records are changed, this may cause you to lose some or all of your email. We certainly want to avoid this and will be as flexible and understanding as possible.
Can you monitor my switch-over, just to be sure?
Yes! We monitor all new signups! We regularly check the MX records of new signups until we see that our service has been activated; we then check our service log files to make sure everything is working correctly. We will immediately call you if we see a problem or potential problem.
We encourage you to call us so that we can answer your questions and address your concerns.
Does the SpamStopsHere service delay my e-mail?
Not noticeably. This service may delay your email by a few seconds, but not more than a minute. Email with large attachments, especially if you have anti-virus service, can be delayed up to about a minute. Since spam is processed in realtime as they arrive, it will cause less of a delay than many anti-spam products that process messages at intervals after they have arrived.
Do you have backups of my e-mail in case I need it?
No. As described in the previous question, the SpamStopsHere service does not create a copy or backup of your e-mail messages.
How secure is the privacy of my e-mail?
The SpamStopsHere service does not affect your security in any way. Our service does not backup or make copies of your email messages. The log files only contain the email addresses of the sender and the recipient. We will never log the entire email message. As described in our privacy statement, we do not share any information with anyone else!
In the event your mail server is off-line, our service will "spool" your email messages. When your mail server is back on-line, it will automatically transfer all the spooled email messages. Even in this case, the temporarily spooled messages will not be permanently saved or backed up.
Can you change the MX records for me?
No, that is the only part we cannot do and the only thing you must "take care of". Only you and/or your hosting company have (legal) access to your MX records.
What if I don't know how to change my "MX" records?
That is no problem. We will email you the necessary changes and you can simply forward this email to your hosting company or IT department.
How do you define spam with regards to the SpamStopsHere service.
Spam is typically defined in the anti-spam industry as Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE). This includes any email that you receive that was unsolicited (you didn't initiate or subscribe to) and sent in bulk. As a result, if someone sends you a copy of a resume, or other targeted unsolicited personal email that is not sent in bulk, we can not block it globally as "spam", even if it may be unwanted by you. You can take advantage of the Personal Blacklist feature to block any harrassing emails that are not UBE. However, we recommend that you simply ask the party to refrain, and contact the sender's Internet Service Provider (ISP) or your local law enforcement if the harrassment continues.
Although it is usually obvious whether a message was targeted directly to you or sent in bulk, if you're unsure, please ask one of our analysts for assistance.
When discussing UBE and using the term spam, it should never be spelled in all upper case (SPAM), as this is a trademark of Hormel Foods Inc.
