IP (Internet Protocol) Address is an address of your network hardware. IP Address enables to connect a computer to other devices through a network and from all across the globe. It comprises of a mixture of numbers and characters. All devices that are connected to an internet connection have a unique IP address.
Four types of IP addresses exist with varied meanings. Here are their significances-Â Â
- Private- Â It is an address of a person`s device which is connected to the home or business network. If a person has a few different devices connected to one ISP (Internet Service Provider), then all the person`s devices will have a unique private IP address.
- Public- It is the main IP address to which a person`s home or business network is connected. This IP address connects one to the world, and it’s unique for all users.
- Static- It is what turns up when a person configures manually and fix them to the network of one`s device. Static IP addresses cannot change automatically.
- Dynamic- It configures automatically and assigns an IP to a person`s network when one sets up the router with the internet.Â
Having an IP address end up on a so-called ‘blacklist’ can be a troublesome experience, especially when you least anticipated. Thus, the prevention mechanism most often employed by mail server administrators is a simple block of these bad IP addresses. To create efficiency in this process the idea of crowdsourcing this data and centralizing it was fostered and DNS-based Blackhole Lists (DNSBLs) were born. DNSBLS are in some way a form of internet police, the “internet sheriffs” you might say. Luckily, most lists allow for de-listing once the operator of the address has confirmed a solution to the problem or incident that caused the listing.
Various scenarios that require counteraction on your part when you are BLACKLISTED:
- Leaving the resolution of the IP blacklisting issue to the ESP or SMTP relay service that you use – Email service providers like MailChimp and SMTP relay services like Amazon SES use a pool of addresses they send emails of all their users through. They are aware that portions of their IP address space are sometimes listed on blacklists like SORBS and UCEPROTECT. They carefully and continually monitor the reputation of their IP address space and work closely with mailbox providers and blacklist operators to identify and resolve the listings.
- Visit the blacklist`s website and do a lookup on your IP address and find out why you were blacklisted– Most blacklist databases will provide general listing reasons, but they don’t list email addresses tied to blacklisted addresses. After you find out why you were blacklisted, take steps to resolve the issues as prescribed by the blacklist.
- Blacklists with a self-removal service– It lets you take your IP address off the blacklist without much trouble. But your address gets listed again, it won’t be easy to get it removed the next time.
- Blacklists with a time-based removal service– It is a built-in, automatic process that removes lower-level listings (IP addresses that are light offenders) within a week or two. But if the address had sent spam more than once or did a high volume, the time will be longer.
- Following the rules and procedure of the blacklist process – While trying to be removed from a blacklist, follow the rules and cooperate. If you are truly innocent of any deliberate wrongdoing or if you made an honest mistake, let them know. If not, and the blacklisting is troublesome for you, consider contacting the list maintainer by phone and try to resolve the issue that way.
Further steps to de-list oneself are as follows-
- Secure your webserver– If you were blacklisted due to email accounts being compromised and used for sending out spam, please make sure the source of the problem is removed by securing your mail server and, if applicable, your websites.
- Ensure your IP address is not listed on any blacklists– Use a tool such as MxToolbox, a blacklist lookup tool that checks your server IP address against over 100 DNS based email blacklists, to verify that your IP address is not listed on any other blacklists
- Set an SPF record– Microsoft blocks email from IP addresses that are not specified in the DNS zone file of the sender’s domain. An SPF record is a TXT record that you can set up in your DNS zone file. The TXT record authorizes specific hosts to send emails from a certain domain.Â
- Set up a PTR record– Just like in the case of missing SPF records, Microsoft generally does not accept emails from IP addresses that do not identify themselves with a pointer record (PTR).
