Missing Emails on Hotmail or MSN

[mbpark]

Hello,

Hotmail and AOL have been dropping many emails if the senders don't have:

1. An SPF record for their domain that shows who can send the mail.
2. Reverse DNS lookup records for the mail server.
3. A properly configured mail server (i.e. not on a blacklist, no relaying allowed, some AV/filtering installed).

If you don't have these three things on your mail server, chances are that AOL/CompuServe, Hotmail, and other large ISPs are dropping your email.

I have had to work through this issue with multiple customers that use AOL, Hotmail, and other services, and the first two issues (SPF records and reverse DNS lookup) are what prevents mail from being sent to many AOL and Hotmail accounts. It looks like they've really turned up the filtering a notch.

Mitch