Using sonic.net mail aliased to GMail - SPF Auth Request

General discussions and other topics.
5 posts Page 1 of 1
by fionn » Tue Jul 12, 2011 3:37 pm
Howdy, all.

A number of my friends & family have been telling me that GMail has been labeling my e-mail as possible spam. I finally got around to looking at it, and yes, GMail doesn't like me very much.

Some History:
Years ago, when I was fed-up with my previous ISP, and before I settled on sonic.net (love you guys, by the way), I decided to settle on the new, up-and-coming, pre-IPO 'Google' as my e-mail address: it was portable, and since my Google username is my real name with '@gmail.com' tacked-on, I figured nobody would have to remember much, or forget to update their address books if/when I moved or changed providers.

My mail client of choice was 'Pine'. Now it's 'Alpine'. Procmail is my very very good friend, as the GMail account simply forwards everything to me at my sonic.net account, and I am otherwise a very happy camper.

Current Situation:

The boys in Mountain View don't like it when I send from my sonic.net account, where my .pinerc has the smtp-server set to mail.sonic.net, and the user-domain set to gmail.com (all of which tells replies to go to my GMail account (before being forwarded to my 'real' sonic.net account)). Basically, it looks like my e-mail is being sent (legitimately, I hope) from GMail, and most people are (or, were) none the wiser.

The error reads "This message may not have been sent by: <REDACTED>@gmail.com, and the reader is instructed to go here: https://mail.google.com/support/bin/ans ... wer=185812 Madness, I tell you.

Request:

Is there a way the good people at Sonic.net can have their servers be recognized/authorized for use for GMail? Or is there some setting in the .pinerc file I'm not seeing?

Thanks in advance,
-Fionn
by kgc » Tue Jul 12, 2011 5:22 pm
Fionn, this is really between you and Google. Google does provide SMTP services so if you wanted to send with a @gmail.com address AND you want google to not mark that email as 'via sonic.net' or whatever other warning it tacks on.

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answ ... swer=13287
Kelsey Cummings
System Architect, Sonic.net, Inc.
by fionn » Tue Jul 12, 2011 8:21 pm
kgc wrote:Fionn, this is really between you and Google. Google does provide SMTP services so if you wanted to send with a @gmail.com address AND you want google to not mark that email as 'via sonic.net' or whatever other warning it tacks on.

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answ ... swer=13287
You know; I read your reply, and I'm completely flummoxed as to why I didn't think of that myself.

I've been treating the GMail as a dropbox without actual sending capabilities -- and I've been using it that way for so long, I guess it simply never occurred to me that -- yes, indeed -- it's a 'real' SMTP mAil server, and can send stuff on its own. I've been using the sonic.net mail capabilities without even considering alternatives.

I suppose the one drawback is that it requires a second login to the GMail server, but that's not a real problem.

This is one of those massive 'Duh' moments; I'm such a dork.
by nkonaya » Sun Sep 18, 2011 10:36 pm
Gmail is one of those services checking the DNS TXT record for a "v=spf1*" line. This is used by the domain owner (which is Google, in the case of 'gmail.com') to designate an IP address, or list of IP addresses, as permitted sender for the domain. Since Google controls the DNS record for 'gmail.com', only Google could set the SPF record to allow any other IP addresses than their own. That is a process which would not scale for Google.

Response for using 'mail.sonic.net' for any domain other than 'gmail.com' to send 'gmail.com' email to a 'gmail.com' recipient will usually be "Neutral":

Code: Select all

Received: from b.mail.sonic.net (b.mail.sonic.net [64.142.19.5])
	by mtain-dl02.r1000.mx.aol.com (Internet Inbound) with ESMTP id 215703800011A
	for <%User_Name%@aim.com>; Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:07:43 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from [192.168.102.34] (173-228-18-150.dsl.dynamic.sonic.net [173.228.18.150])
	(authenticated bits=0)
	by b.mail.sonic.net (8.13.8.Beta0-Sonic/8.13.7) with ESMTP id p8J57fbI013974
	(version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO);
	Sun, 18 Sep 2011 22:07:42 -0700
Message-ID: <4E76CDFB.1000803@kozue.aosake.net>
From: Proper Name <%User_Name%@gmail.com>
X-AOL-IP: 64.142.19.5
X-AOL-SPF: domain : gmail.com SPF : neutral
To use a domain with 'mail.sonic.net', you would need to know the Sonic output IP addresses, and you would need control over the domain you are using. It is possible, if you have your own domain:

Code: Select all

Received: from b.mail.sonic.net (b.mail.sonic.net [64.142.19.5])
	by mtain-mb05.r1000.mx.aol.com (Internet Inbound) with ESMTP id AB8C6380000A6
	for <%User_Name%@netscape.net>; Sun, 18 Sep 2011 03:33:27 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from aosake.net (173-228-18-150.dsl.dynamic.sonic.net [173.228.18.150])
	(authenticated bits=0)
	by b.mail.sonic.net (8.13.8.Beta0-Sonic/8.13.7) with ESMTP id p8I7XOFp013667;
	Sun, 18 Sep 2011 00:33:26 -0700
Received: from Spooler by aosake.net (Mercury/32 v4.72) ID MO000003;
  18 Sep 2011 00:33:26 -0700
Received: from spooler by aosake.net (Mercury/32 v4.72); 18 Sep 2011 00:33:16 -0700
Received: from kozue.aosake.net (192.168.102.34) by reki.aosake.net (Mercury/32 v4.72) with ESMTP ID MG000002;
   18 Sep 2011 00:33:08 -0700
From: "Proper Name" <%User_Name%@aosake.net>
X-AOL-IP: 64.142.19.5
X-AOL-SPF: domain : aosake.net SPF : pass
Note the last header line in each example; AOL mail is checking the SPF record for a sending domain.

In general, you can avoid this kind of problem by using the SMTP Message Submission server for the domain you are sending email from; unless you own the domain, and can create an SPF record for the IP address of the Message Submission Serer you are using.
by kgc » Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:31 am
Since it may be hard to find this otherwise, I'll post it here too. We do not currently publish PDF records on sonic.net for various reasons. We do, however, provide a SPF record that we pledge to keep updated for mail.sonic.net that you can include in your SPF record should you decide or need to publish one.

Code: Select all

microshaft.org.         600     IN      TXT     "v=spf1 ip6:2001:5a8:4:5e40::1/60 ip4:208.201.249.0/26 include:mail.sonic.net ?all"
Kelsey Cummings
System Architect, Sonic.net, Inc.
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