[rbldnsd] Newbie questions

[Vincent Schonau]

On 18 mei 2011, at 18:58, Phoenix Kiula wrote:

> Is there a way to use rbldns WITHOUT subscribing to an RBL?

No. But there are ways to use DNSBLs without subscribing to them, and you won't need rbldnsd.

> I want to do this:
> 
> 1. RBL check from public database
> 2. Each check is cached for a certain time, say a day (86400 seconds)
> 3. Every subsequent RBL check for IPs that are in my local cache get
> checked locally, not needing to go outside
> 
> If this is possible, are there any easy instructions to set this up?

If you're a low-volume receiver, which from your questions I gather you are, you can query most DNSBLs via DNS directly. Your local caching DNS software will cache the results according to the policies set by the DNSBL maintainers, which is generally optimal for the specific DNSBL.

rbldnsd is software for *serving* DNSBL data. It only needs to be used by people who publish DNSBLs, or those receiving systems with volumes that are large enough that it's impractical for them to query the DNSBLs via DNS over the public internet. If you receive less than 100000 messages or connections a day, you should generally not bother with rsync subscriptions. Querying over DNS will be more efficient for you and the publisher.

To set this up, you simply configure your mail systems to query the DNSBL. Stick 'using DNSBL with ' and your favorite MTA software name into Google to find out how.

I also recommend you subscribe to a user mailing list for your Linux distribution or mail software; your questions are probably more appropriate there.

V.