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Question Little help with DNS, Nameserver

D

DarrylDonohoe

New Pleskian
Hey all,

I was wondering about the following settings, since just a few days i have been renting a VPS with Plesk.
On this server i want to host multiple websites with corresponding mailaddress.

The websites are working, but mail isn't. So i have been reading on guides on how to get this to work.
I am not using the nameservers Plesk provides (or at least i have to setup) and i think using this would help my problem, however i am not sure if my interpretation is correct.

The domainnames are registered at a registrar, right now the DNS settings are directing to the VPS.
But since i want to use the nameservers and DNS settings in Plesk, i need to register (probably per domainname?) a new nameserver:

ns1.example1.nl
ns2.example1.nl

ns1.example2.nl
ns2.example2.nl

ns1.example3.com
ns2.example3.com

The registrar requires unique IP addresses for ns1. and ns2.
Should i fill the VPS IP address in ns1 and a random IP address in ns2? Is it possible to re-use this random IP address per domainname's ns2.?
Or do i have to create a unique random IP address per ns2.?

Any help is welcome! Thanks in advance, cheers,
Darryl
 
I don't think that a random IP address will do. You need to rent a second IP address, then add it to your server so that the server reacts on it, then direct the nameserver data to it.
 
Hello Peter,

Thanks for the reply! Okay, so i need 2 actual IP addresses, ns1 is the primary IP address of the VPS and ns2 is an extra rented IP address.
And from that moment on, all the domains will use the DNS settings Plesk is setting up?
 
You have to setup your own nameserver(s). That is done by adding a second IP to your system, so that BIND on your system can respond on both IPs. You need to make sure that these IP addresses are associated with domain names, so that you have two name server names. Then you can use the built-in functions of Plesk to control the nameserver that you are operating on your machine. None of this goes "from that moment on".

Frankly honest, if you have a VPS I doubt that it makes sense to operate your own nameserver. It's just a lot more work for something that you probably already have at the place where you rent your domain names from. It is more responsibility, higher costs for only a tiny bit of more flexibility. But it's your own choice of course what to do.
 
Ah okay, then i have been a little bit to eager, since i already ordered an additional IP address.

The reason why i am asking all of this is because the mail i am currently sending using: @example1.nl + @example2.nl + @example3.com
are all marked as spam.
So i have been adding a DMARC1, DKIM1 and a SPF record. And nothing seems to work.
For example:
Recordname: @
Type: TXT
Value: v=spf1 mx a include:example1.nl ~all

Recordname: _dmarc
Type: TXT
Value: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]

Recordname: default._domainkey
Type: TXT
Value: TXT - v=DKIM1;k=rsa; p=MIGf.........DAQAB;

I was hoping using a custom nameserver things would go smoother and everything would work.

Anyway thanks for the reply!
 
Running your own nameserver is likely gonna get you in more (email) problems unless you know very well what you're doing and have good understanding of managing nameservers. It is also unlikely that your email issues are related to your current nameservers.

If you have setup SPF, DMARC and DKIM properly for each domain (and have tested these), then the next thing to check is whether or not you've configured your rDNS properly.
 
Hey Rasp,

Right now the reverse DNS is set to be h1234567.stratoserver.net (the default name)
I can change the name, Strato only requires a full domainname: WWW. DOMAIN .(COM, ORG, NL etc...)

If i would change this, would it be better to use a general name like: mail, server or something alike?
Since i want to use this for multiple mails.

And once i have changed this, do i need to insert this somewhere on the Registrars DNS panel?

Thanks for the help!
 
The default server host name could be fine, but using your own host name gives you a bit more flexibility. You can use whatever host name you like, as long as the reverse DNS matches an actual A record record for the domain (which doesn't seem to be the case for the default host name h1234567.stratoserver.net). Off course if you chose to use a custom host name, don't forget to change the host name in Plesk :)
 
Last edited:
Okay i'll try that.

So once i change the hostname to www.servermail.nl (for example)
I'll have to set this up in Plesk and do i have to change DNS records on the registrar's side? Or leave the settings i used. (see previous message)

By the way, i already reverse checked the IP, and this is set to the actual servername. I tried this on mxtoolbox.com, so i guess this has been setup correctly?
 
If you want your servers host name to be www.servermail.nl you'll have to set this in Plesk (Tool & Settings > Server Settings), than change or add an DNS A record for www in the dns zone for servermail.nl and point it to the IP of your server. Then set the reverse DNS for the IP with Strato to point to www.servermail.nl.

DarrylDonohoe said:
By the way, i already reverse checked the IP, and this is set to the actual servername. I tried this on mxtoolbox.com, so i guess this has been setup correctly?
Click to expand...

Not fully, the reverse DNS might be set, however if you check h1234567.stratoserver.net for an DNS record there don't seem to be any. So the "DNS loop" isn't completed.
 
DarrylDonohoe said:
Sorry i didnt mention that the actual number was just an example.
Click to expand...
Silly me. Now that you mention it, it is really obvious that it was just an example url.

Anyway, it seems that your reverse DNS is actually properly configured. So it is probably not the cause of email issues.

Did already use tools like mail-tester.com to analyze your mail? And perhaps check if your IP isn't blacklisted.
 
I send a "test" mail using mail-tester.com. It was scored at: 7.5/10 (the actual mail just contained: "Test" so that had some influence on the total score)
mail-tester.com is not giving me an error that the IP is on a blacklist.
MXToolbox however is giving me one: UCEPROTECTL3

I also added my domain in Google's Postmaster Tools hopefully this will work.
 
Just a little update, it seems the mails are getting a bit better, ending less frequently in the spam box. However, most of the spam delivered testmails are with Gmail accounts.

I also looked into using a SMTP relay service. If i dont get this to work, i'll probably use one of those.
 
andrycarone said:
Hi darryl Donohoe,

you solved?
I have the same problem.
Click to expand...
No, I didn't found a solution. I just send (test)emails on a daily basis to friends with the question if they received it.
And if it was marked as spam, if yes, if they could unmark it as spam. Which will hopefully help future mails. (especially for Gmail)

I also added all the domains in Google's Postmaster Tools, I read somewhere that this could help.

As for DNS records, I use the following TXT records:
  • v=spf1 +a +mx ip4:12.2345.67.8 a:servername.net a:domain.com ~all
  • v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]
(replace the IP address and domain.com to your IP address and domain name)

As of now, its almost a 40% ratio that the mail will be marked as spam. Not the ideal situation, but its a lot cheaper than a SMTP relay service.

So if you ever find a possible solution, I am very interested.

And good luck!
 
Hey how are you?

Do you know to setup ns1 and ns2 to host multiple sites? I have a vps too and 2 ip address

Everything works well but when I try to access webmail.domain.com I can't

Any idea?
 
> Everything works well but when I try to access webmail.domain.com I can't

So all the DNS on your nameservers work except webmail.domain? Does that record exist and point to the right place?
 
john0001 said:
> Everything works well but when I try to access webmail.domain.com I can't

So all the DNS on your nameservers work except webmail.domain? Does that record exist and point to the right place?
Click to expand...
Yes! I already ponited the record to ip but webmail doesn't work

I have two ips on my VPS. Can you help me?
 
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