Postini with Direct SMTP

[#1]

I have a domain which is configured to deliver directly via SMTP to my static IP (and therein to my exchange server), can I opt in to the Postini trial?
What will happen to the SPAM? Does it just get tagged and forwarded on?  Does it get filtered somewhere else?
Please advise
p.s. I tried to search the forum using 'postini smtp' and got no results.

[#2]

SMTP mail delivery by-passes the PlusNet mail servers completely so it is not possible to use Postini with SMTP delivery.
In other words mail from the sender get delivered direct to your IP address / server.
You will have to use your own SPAM/AV solutions on your server.

[#3]

Hi haardman,
I've just signed up to this :-
http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/security/compare.html
Which is effectively Postini for your own domain.
I've not yet worked out how to configure it as the Postini Control Panel seems to offer many options!  But at £12.50/user per year I thought it was a fairly good deal.

[#4]

I tried to register with google and got  the following error:
"You are already an existing customer. This offer is only available to new customers"
Has plusnet somehow registered my domain?

[#5]

That's interesting/concerning, do you mind PM'ing me your domain name?

[#6]

bob, ive had the same error message, www.streetdivers.co.uk
I have a number of domains tied to a number of my f9 accounts (accounts adam1v and bridges), but streetdivers.co.uk is a domain which i can play around with.
I would like to sign up to the postini trial on this machine.

[#7]

Adam1V, not sure what your problem is. Fromwhat I can see the domain is hosted with us and is already on Postini:

Non-authoritative answer:
streetdivers.co.uk      MX preference = 100, mail exchanger = streetdivers.co.uk
.s5a1.psmtp.com
streetdivers.co.uk      MX preference = 200, mail exchanger = streetdivers.co.uk
.s5a2.psmtp.com
streetdivers.co.uk      MX preference = 300, mail exchanger = streetdivers.co.uk
.s5b1.psmtp.com
streetdivers.co.uk      MX preference = 400, mail exchanger = streetdivers.co.uk
.s5b2.psmtp.com

If you wanted to transfer this domain out to another host using Postini then we may need to remove the record from our systems first.

[#8]

This has now become a joke...having opted in to the Postini trial for my POP3 domain, Plusnet could not provide me with Postini support for my separate SMTP domain.  So I sign up with Google Postini, but cannot add my SMTP domain because Plusnet already have it 'configured' under their account.  So after an exchange on this Thread, and a few PM's, my SMTP domain is removed from the Postini database (22/2).
I sign up for Google Psotini Mail Filtering and add my SMTP domain, edit my own MX records, and everythin is working.
Everything is good until Sunday 2nd March (2/3), when my POP3 email stops arriving.  So I post a Question (24330379), and get told that it is fixed.  Unfortunately the 'fix' involves bypassing my Postini config (the MX records were reset to mx.plus.net).
Now I am told that plusnet cannot reinstate my Postini MX records because my SMTP domain is configured under a 3rd party [my own Google] Postini account.
So I am left with the only alternative: to pay Google Postini to protect my POP3 accounts as well.  Only I can't, because I think my POP3 domain is STILL configured under the plusnet account!
Somebody please speak some sense into this situation.  I'm tearing my hair out, and am back to the bad old days of several hundred Spams a day in all my mailboxes.


Worse than that, I cannot even a

[#9]

Oh dear, I have to say this sequence of events isn't a pretty one and I'm sorry for the trouble you've been put through.
I've taken a look at your account and from what I can see this is what happened:

• You've two domains, one using SMTP delivery and one using POP3 delivery.
  
• In January you requested to be moved onto Postini.
  
• When this was done, both of the domains will have been added to Postini. Adding your SMTP one doesn't break anything because the MX records are only changed if the domain is set to POP3 in the database (which it wasn't).
  
• You then realised that our Postini spam filtering does not work with SMTP mail delivery.
  
• Reading on the forums that this could be achieved by registering the domain with Google Apps you tried to do this.
  
• As mentioned earlier though the domain had already been added to Postini by us so this failed.
  
• You contacted us, we removed the domain and you registered your SMTP domain with Google Apps. All was well for a week or two and you had two domains on your account. One using SMTP and one using POP3 with both being filtered by Postini one way or another.
  

The evidence to suggest what happened next is a little sketchy but I'm fairly confident I'm on the right lines. Take a step back from your particular situation and imagine the following scenario.
A customer has not yet been migrated and has a domain hosted on their account that has at some point in the past been added to Postini by another company. We try to add the customer to the system and whilst the .plus.com domain is added OK, the domain isn't because there's already an entry in Postini's system. After a week has been allowed for any DNS changes to take place, we block everything being sent directly to our servers. Because the domain was never added, it's MX records were never changed. This means that they're still pointing straight at our servers and mail starts getting blocked. We identified this as an issue and so set about adding a condition that would identify if a customer's domain was already in Postini's database. In the event that it was, the script should fail to prevent the blocking from being applied a week later.
Now I don't know exactly what happened at this point, but I reckon something that was done as part of the above fix resulted in the following chain of events:

• The MX records for your POP3 domain were switched back to point directly at our servers but the blocking wasn't removed. This caused your POP3 email to start bouncing.
  
• You queried this and it we fixed it.
  
• You then realised that your POP3 email was no longer being filtered by Postini.
  
• You requested to be added to Postini again.
  
• The request took a very long time to deal with. I'll not go into detail but for a number of reasons we had a backlog of about 4 weeks' requests until very recently (although this was only a handful of requests).
  
• When we tried adding you again, the script failed due to the fix I've explained above. As you now had your SMTP domain with Google Apps, the records for the POP3 domain couldn't be pointed back to Postini.
  
• You tried to register the POP3 domain with Google Apps but we still had it in the system.
  
• We removed it and I now understand that you've managed to do this.
  

Some of the above is likely to be slightly inaccurate but it's going to be along the right lines. What we need to do is evaluate what systems are in place for this kind of situation and possibly devise a mechanism for independently changing the MX records and Postini flag for domains that reside on the same account.
Sorry if the above is a little technical, but I've gone into detail as much for my own benefit as anything else. I intend on raising this example to those involved in the next phase of Postini improvements and without it being written down somewhere it would be a nightmare for me to explain
I hope this helps you understand that this particular problem hasn't been a simple one to remedy. Having said that, you've borne the brunt of it and for that I apologise. Hopefully we can take something away from this example to ensure a similar thing doesn't happen to anybody else moving forwards.

[#10]

Thanks Bob, I feel some comfort knowing that some good might come out of this.  A 24 day turnaround time on a ticket doesn't look so good on the statistics board.
One of the reasons I've stuck with Plusnet over the years is your added services, flexibility and technical openness. 
The 3 events that have challenged my viewpoint are:
- last years support nightmares (which I thought were over)
- the Spam database leak (which mightily pissed off all my clients as well as my family)
- and now this merry dance I've been led on.
This experience has driven me back to the point of thinking about alternatives.
So anyway, I am now finally up and running with both domains on my Google Postini account (which I obviously pay for separately).
Might I also suggest that this ticket be used as an example of how not to support a client.  Several operators were obviously not taking the time to read the whole ticket, and just responding to the last entry (made my blood boil several times).  One response pretty much summed up the whole affair:
"This action will be completed within the next few days."
Nice one...that fills me with confidence.
While I'm on the subject Daniel Payne stood out as someone who new what they were talking about. Please pass on my thanks, if there is a mechanism to do so.

[#11]

This is a prime example of where we should be able to rate each ticket response, not just give an overall rating for the whole ticket when it is closed.
Edit: If you think this is a good idea, please vote for PUGIT 267

[#12]

Thanks JELV. 
In the PUGIT comments forum for this topic, I have been advocating closure of PUGIT 267 based on improvements in CSC ticket handling and general overall satisfaction with responses.  This sad saga points out two problems which are re-emerging:
1) Not fully reading the ticket.
2) Lengthy delays on some complex problem responses.
I'm certain that Mark will be taking action on 1) and extremely unhappy that it is being flagged up again.
Both of these problems will need to be addressed if the target to increase customer satisfaction is to be met. 
I have changed my opinion and now support differential measurement of individual and overall responses to Tickets - they measure different parts of the process. 
Maurice

[#13]

Can someone explain to me why my SMTP domain gets registered in the Postini database in the first place?  If plusnet are unable to filter my SMTP delivered email, why do anything with it.
The party line seems to be: use a 3rd party filtering solution.  If I happen to choose Google Postini as my preferred solution, then I can't register the domain as it is already registered in Plusnet's config.
I've now been battling for 10 days to get another domain removed, with no success yet.  Meanwhile I'm getting 700 odd spams a day in several user mailboxes.
Pathetic.

[#14]

Quote from: haardman

Can someone explain to me why my SMTP domain gets registered in the Postini database in the first place?  If plusnet are unable to filter my SMTP delivered email, why do anything with it.

This was how the system was originally designed. It's in the process of being fixed though. Have a look here at Problem 51058 Mail Delivery Type is not consistent with customers on SemiAuto/SMTP and Problem 51013 Customer being removed from Postini when the spam filter is switched off. They may not sound relevant, but the fixes we will be applying will remove a domain from the Postini database if the mail delivery type is set to SMTP or Other by the customer. 'Other' being where you specify your own domain records.

Quote

The party line seems to be: use a 3rd party filtering solution.  If I happen to choose Google Postini as my preferred solution, then I can't register the domain as it is already registered in Plusnet's config.

Even with the above fixed there will be a small propagation delay after you've changed your mail settings before you'll be able to add the domain to Google. This will be possible though.

Quote

I've now been battling for 10 days to get another domain removed, with no success yet.  Meanwhile I'm getting 700 odd spams a day in several user mailboxes.

I'll take a look at this now.
Edit: not sure the account associated with your Community Site username is the one you're referring to so you might need to remind me what account you're having difficulties with?