Re: Avoiding a "Bogus HELO" error

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

From: Diane Poremsky [MVP] (dianenws_at_poremsky.com)
Date: 10/07/04 

Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 21:24:14 -0400

Keep in mind that RFC 2821 deals with MSAs and MTAs (servers). MUAs
(clients) are covered by RFC 2476 if I recall correctly. 

-- 
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
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"Vanguardx" <see_signature> wrote in message 
news:uCsRqs8qEHA.3396@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> "Dan" <bogus@foo.bar>
> wrote in news:ugVBML7qEHA.3840@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl:
>> Hi,
>>
>> My outgoing messages get tagged as spam by many spam filters because
>> of "Bogus HELO" headers.
>>
>> I am using an ISP's SMTP server for sending mail; is there any way to
>> configure TCP/IP on my end (Windows XP Pro) to solve the problem?
>> Basically, I need my machine name to show up as a fully-resolved
>> name, not just the single-word name that I've assigned to it locally.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> -dan
>
> If you are using the same ISP for e-mail as you used to post this message 
> (Comcast), what about Comcast's add of the Received header is considered 
> bogus?  When I send a message using Comcast's SMTP server, the first 
> Received header (the one it added) look like:
>
> Received: from <myHostname> 
> (c-<myIPaddrs>.<state>.client2.attbi.com[<myIPaddrs>])
>          by comcast.net (sccrmhc11) with SMTP
>          id <someAlphanumericString>
>          (Authid: <myAccountName>);
>          Wed, 6 Oct 2004 17:13:32 +0000
>
> I'm one of those AT&T customers that got forcibly migrated to Comcast when 
> Comcast bought out the broadband services of AT&T.  That's why attbi.com 
> is still listed for hosts in the route (I keep asking they change this but 
> they are lazy).  The <myHostname> is whatever the e-mail client claimed it 
> was in the HELO command to the SMTP server.  I can't think of why spam 
> filters would trigger on the hostname of the sending client.  According to 
> RFC 2821 for the HELO or EHLO commands:
>
> "The argument field contains the fully-qualified domain name of the SMTP 
> client if one is available. In situations in which the SMTP client system 
> does not have a meaningful domain name (e.g., when its address is 
> dynamically allocated and no reverse mapping record is  available), the 
> client SHOULD send an address literal (see section 4.1.3), optionally 
> followed by information that will help to identify the client system."
>
> Well, since you are the customer getting a dynamically assigned IP address 
> from Comcast's DHCP server then you don't have a FQDN to report in the 
> HELO command.  Might be different if you had a registered domain name and 
> were assigned a static IP address from your ISP.  Notice that the RFC says 
> an address literal (dotted decimal) *SHOULD* be used.  That doesn't make 
> it a requirement and most times an alphnumeric string is used which is the 
> local hostname (probably because the sender doesn't want to divulge their 
> internal IP addressing scheme or reveal their internal IP addresses).  The 
> stuff inside the parenthesis (i.e., "(ipname [ipaddrs])") at the end of 
> the "from" section of the Received header are added by the receiving SMTP 
> server to identify who really connected to it (and I don't think there 
> really is a standard that dictates the format of this SMTP server added 
> sender information).
>
> Maybe changing your hostname would help.  The spam filter shouldn't 
> trigger on it but maybe it does, so using a hostname of "SPAM" would be a 
> bad idea.
>
> -- 
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