Add a valid PTR-record to our account

[#1]

Hi there,

We have a static IP (and have had the same one since 2006) and we run our mail server from it. However, we are listed by Spam Rats for not having a valid PTR-record.
Can you tell us how we can get the PTR-Record set up, please?
Thanks!

[#2]

Thanks for your post @groovehat and welcome to our Community Forums.

I believe this is a bit like setting a rDNS.

You'll need to make sure you've set up a forward A record on your domain to point towards your IP address, and if you can then drop me a PM with your domain name, I'll be happy to arrange for the rDNS to be updated.

[edit]

I've just checked with a colleague and a PTR record is slightly different I'm told.

Is there an option for you to set this via your account online?

[#3]

Thanks for the reply.

The reverse lookup for my IP returns bigfishtraining2.plus.com. When I send email, bigfishtraining2.plus.com is in the "Received: from" part of the header that the receiving server sees. I am not in a position to create a record for a plus.com address, which is why I was enquiring here.

Can this be done by the Plus.net customer support team?

Thank you again,

Jon

[#4]

Thanks for getting back to me @groovehat 

Just to confirm, is your domain name the Plusnet email address, or do you have another?

If you're using another domain hosted by us, have you tried setting the records in your account online?

[#5]

I use my own domain for email, not bigfishtraining2.plus.com and no, my domain is not hosted by plus.net and the DNS is not hosted by plus.net.

As I said, the record that needs to be updated is for bigfishtraining2.plus.com and I cannot do that because plus.com isn't my domain to configure.

Thanks again.

[#6]

What do you want the record set to?

If I understand correctly, you’re wanting the rDNS of your static IP set to yourdomain.plus.com?

[#7]

No, that's not what a PTR record is.

A PTR record begins with "in-addr.arpa".

DNS records are stored under the domain but PTR records are stored under the IP address.

So it would be something like "80.229.227.135.in-addr.arpa"

I make no claim to be an expert in this stuff, but there's an explanation here:

https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/learning/dns/dns-records/dns-ptr-record/

As per this thread, you will see the comment "PTR records need to be added by your IP provider (ISP)":

https://community.cloudflare.com/t/how-to-register-ptr-record-in-dns/148301

I hope that helps to clarify.

Thanks again.

[#8]

Thanks for the clarification @groovehat 

I don’t profess to be an expert either in this. Domains are somewhat of a legacy thing with us we don’t fully support

Looking at the problem itself, one of the first questions we’d ask is, are you sending mail from your mail server using relay.plus.net as a smart host?

[#9]

@groovehat you say you are running a mail server from your static IP and I assume your mail server is configured to send email from your externally-hosted domain, not your .plus.com address?
Assuming this is the case, then it is advised that the reverse DNS record for your IP address matches the forward record for your mail server.
So, if your mail server is reachable at mail.domain.tld then we need to set the reverse DNS record/PTR record of your IP address to match.
This is possible, however in order to prove ownership of the domain, you will need to make sure that the subdomain you want the PTR record to be, has an existing A record configured in DNS that points to your IP address.
i.e. if mail.domain.tld currently points to your Plusnet IP, then @Gandalf should be able to make it so your Plusnet IP points to mail.domain.tld

[#10]

What @bobpullen said. Thanks Bob! Bookmarked the thread for reference. 

@groovehat Drop me a PM with your domain if you carry out the steps suggested and I'll arrange for your IP to point there.