Gary Smith put forth on 11/23/2010 11:47 PM: >> "My general advice WRT to VPS/colo/hosting outfits such as Softlayer, >> Limestone, Sharktech, Hostnoc, Colocation America, Colo4, SingleHop, >> Liquid Web, ServePath, GigeNet, WholeSale Internet, FDCservers, >> CarolinaNet, Hurricane Electric, et al is to SMTP block their entire IP >> space and then whitelist sender addresses if/when necessary." > > That pretty much lists everything available to me... The colo is Hurricane > Electric in Fremont, but that's only because a) budget and b) locality. I > have a colo that I'm in right now that unfortunately isn't capable of > providing "any service level". So my options are limited. The biggest > problem is that this line of business really isn't a money make for us since > large companies can simply undercut any price we set (or primary job is > software architecture) and that we still have a need to support email for our > custom clients. > > I understand the blocking issue of IP's, which is why I think ideas such as > SORBS has merit (though I was burned when the reported my current ISP as a > dynamic block after being static for year -- some time ago). Which is why I > kind of started this thread. I know that I have to register my primary MX > out services with several of the larger providers, SORBS (probably through > HE), setup RDNS, and whatever else. It's that whatever else that I'm just > making sure that I have done. > > I was supposed to receive the IP's today but haven't yet (as we had to resend > the wonderful justification again). As for VPS services, I've haven't really > had any problem with mine in terms of services. I check pretty frequently to > see if my VPS is on any blacklist and it hasn't popped up at this point. > > Anyway, if you happen to know a cheap colo in that area, I'm willing to > change already, but thus far I haven't found anything else in budget.
I don't think you could do worse than HE. Not only are they perennial snowshoe enablers, they're currently hosting a ROKSO spammer, Joshua Greenwood: http://www.spamhaus.org/rokso/evidence.lasso?rokso_id=ROK9232 and have been for at least 3 months. Any responsible network operator would boot a ROKSO spammer immediately upon learning of the SBL listing. HE is extremely lucky Spamhaus doesn't follow a scorched earth policy WRT ROKSO spammers. You'd be better off with SliceHost (RackSpace) than HE, and SliceHost sucks from a delivery standpoint. It doesn't suck nearly as bad as HE though, as evidenced by the ROKSO listing above. HE had a mouthpiece on spam-l not long ago preaching how they were trying to clean up the network. Now I see this ROKSO listing. So much for that line of BS. Given that you're in the Bay Area, the connectivity and colo capitol of the world, I find it hard to believe you can't find "affordable" hosting with a reputable provider. That area alone has more combined network B/W than most of the rest of the states combined for Pete's sake. By "affordable" I think you really mean _cheap_ and you won't find anything cheap in the Bay Area. Not housing, not net access. So it boils down to this: 1. Cheap and have delivery problems due to provider reputation 2. Pay more, 2x, 3x even, for decent hosting with a reputable provider Want cheap, reliable, and reputable? Get two Verizon 25/25 mb/s FiOS lines with a static IP each for $99/month each, $200/month total, and have Verizon bond them. Ask for additional IPs if you need them. Get one of these Cisco routers (<$300) and configure bonding/failover on the WAN ports: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124127 Configure NAT and port forwarding to your hosts. Configure 1 to 1 NAT etc with the extra IPs, if needed. Buy a 42U rack (<$200 used in The Valley) and a 120V input 3KVA UPS new for ~$1500, or pick up a used unit in The Valley for $500. If you take this route, immediately buy a set of new batteries. Setup SNMP on the UPS and your hosts to facilitate clean shutdown in the event an outage is going to outlast the batteries. Set the hosts' BIOS to power on after power loss. You're in now in business for an upfront investment of ~$2500 (not including any FiOS setup charges), have good IP reputation from day one, and you have easier access to your gear since you don't have to visit a colo facility across town. The only downside is your total B/W is about half what you'll get at a colo. However, do you really _need_ more than ~50 Mb/s full duplex? If I was in your position, this is probably what I'd do, assuming you can get the FiOS service at your location. -- Stan
