OK, back to the purpose of this list - spamassassin! :) Validity are planning to enforce limits (although how they will enforce remains unknown - timeouts? false -ves? false +ves?). Given that these DNS BLs are in the standard config, and I'm apparently exceeding the free threshold of 10,000 queries in 30 days I need to explore ways to reduce consumption. >From looking in 20_dnsbl_tests.cf, the Validity tests seem to be generating >queries to sa-trusted.bondedsender.org, sa-accredit.habeas.com and >bl.score.senderscore.com. From grep counting in my unbound logs I'm hitting >about 240 queries a day on average to EACH of those (so if that is 700+ a day >total then I can see how I'm exceeding 10k in 30 days). E.g. these hits from >one email: Apr 05 10:00:13 unbound[5946:1] info: 127.0.0.1 161.40.42.203.bl.score.senderscore.com. A IN NXDOMAIN 0.462141 0 129 Apr 05 10:00:13 unbound[5946:1] info: 127.0.0.1 161.40.42.203.sa-trusted.bondedsender.org. A IN NXDOMAIN 0.459313 0 70 Apr 05 10:00:13 unbound[5946:1] info: 127.0.0.1 161.40.42.203.sa-accredit.habeas.com. A IN NXDOMAIN 0.467782 0 65 If each set does 3 x queries we are limited to about 100 sets of queries a day to stay inside total 10,000 in 30 days free. I'd need about 25,000 a month I guess. What's the consensus on how to manage this within spamassassin? Simon.
On Saturday, April 05, 2025 09:39 AEST, "Simon Wilson via users" <users@spamassassin.apache.org> wrote: Hi Andrew Thank you, and Tom Bartel (on the mailop list), for replying. * BTW I've never signed up for anything with Validity other than creating an account at validity.com/zone to validate my IPs (horrible website trying to find that again to check yesterday). * I'm a personal not corporate email system user, with about 300 inbound emails a day average across half a dozen active domains, running caching local DNS lookups. I've never actively added validity lookups, I assume these are default lookups baked into spamassassin's 20_dnsbl_tests.cf file. * Validity sent me a first email on 2nd April saying “if you wish to continue to access the Validity Zone File, a contract is required. If we are unable to secure this agreement prior to May 1, 2025, your account will be downgraded to the free edition as of May 1, 2025, which comes with limited access to Validity Zone File Access data” * Validity then sent a reminder on 4th April saying “Reminder – you’re currently receiving the paid edition of Validity’s Zone File Access (at no cost), but as of May 1st, 2025, we will no longer be able to provide this experience for free. If you wish to continue receiving IP Reputation, Validity Blocklist and Validity Certification Allowlist data, you will need to upgrade your account by May 1st, 2025. ” * When I replied with questions, the response was even less helpful: “Accounts with under 10,000 queries within a rolling 30-day window will still be free. Hopefully this means you are unaffected.” Still no usable information. It took me a while to even work out what this was about, and then even longer to work out what in my config was calling the lookups. The emails are alarmist, uninformative and unhelpful; what would be have been useful would have been something like: * We are continuing to provide a free service (10,000 queries in a rolling 30 days) * You are currently exceeding that threshold by… (insert real stats here on recipient's usage) * Your options are: * Reduce your usage to under 10,000 queries per 30 days (see xxx for tips on how to do that) * Stop using the validity service * Subscribe to a plan to continue as is (see yyy for details of plans available to you) Little wonder the allergic reaction. I echo Jaroslaw's comment on the mailop list: “If they now want to charge money for using that list, said motivation drops to near zero, and benefit, in monetary terms, may even become negative...”. Yep. For my volume of usage and with the costs I already incur to provide ‘free’ email to close family, adding extra costs here means using these BLs drops off the ROI. Simon BTW, if I'm doing more than 10k queries in a 30 day period, stats and info would be useful so I can work out why and do something about it. On Saturday, April 05, 2025 01:25 AEST, "Andrew Fragias via users" <users@spamassassin.apache.org> wrote: Hi Simon, I wanted to introduce myself as one of the Product Managers here at Validity and help clarify some of the confusion here. Firstly, I wanted to point out that the free service will not be changing and we will be allowing 10,000 Queries within a rolling 30 day window, what will be changing is all those that are excessively exceeding that volume will no longer be able to consume at those extreme volumes unless a contract is in place by May 1st. In regards to the notifications that are being sent out, they are being sent to all users on Accounts that are currently far exceeding a 10,000 query volume in a rolling 30 day window as they will be impacted by the enforcement of this limit moving forward and we wanted to provide notice of change to ensure all are prepared for this by either contracting directly with Validity or by reducing their query volume. For your case I believe you are already in contact with a colleague of mine but if you require any additional information please reach to either them or me on andrew.frag...@validity.com Regards Andrew Fragias Disclaimer The information contained in this communication from the sender is confidential. It is intended solely for use by the recipient and others authorized to receive it. If you are not the recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in relation of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. -- Simon Wilson M: 0400 121 116 -- Simon Wilson M: 0400 121 116
