On Wed, 17 Mar 2021, Peter West wrote:

The most pertinent stuff I found was this this Confluence page:
https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/SPAMASSASSIN/CachingNameserver

So it looks as though I have to install a primary nameserver and a secondary 
rbldnsd.

I’m trying to translate this –
Rsync the feed files into /var/lib/rbldnsd

which seems to be this set
dul.dnsbl.sorbs.net:ip4set:dul.dnsbl.sorbs.net
http.dnsbl.sorbs.net:dnset:http.dnsbl.sorbs.net
smtp.dnsbl.sorbs.net:ip4set:smtp.dnsbl.sorbs.net
new.spam.dnsbl.sorbs.net:ip4set:new.spam.dnsbl.sorbs.net
dnsbl-1.uceprotect.net:ip4set:dnsbl-1.uceprotect.net

Agh, no, that's *way* too much to just fix URIBL_BLOCKED...

The critical bit from that Confluence page is this:

  A local DNS caching server should not forward to other DNS servers to
  ensure your queries are not combined with others.

Normally what you do when setting up a computer is you configure it to forward DNS requests to your ISP for them to handle. Along with the requests from all the ISP's other customers. Which then exceeds the free query limits imposed by the various DNSBL providers.

What you need to do is set up a local DNS server that does the name resolution itself, rather than passing that work off to your ISP.

So:

(1) install a local nameserver,

(2) configure it to do recursive name resolution (vs. "forwarding") (assuming it doesn't come that way out-of-the-box),

(3) point SpamAssassin (and potentially also your MTA) at that nameserver rather than at your ISP.

That's it at the most basic level.

*Refinements* include:

- configuring the nameserver so that the DNSBL traffic is resolved locally and other traffic is forwarded to your ISP to take advantage of their cache - "split resolution"

- configuring a local authoritative DNS server (like rbldnsd) for high-volume DNSBL feeds (if your traffic level by itself exceeds their free-query limits) and for custom blocklists you maintain yourself

So initially, don't get distracted by the rbldnsd stuff. Just pick a DNS server and install it locally, and run the tests in the Testing section of that Confluence page. If that works, point SpamAssassin at it as described in the Using section of that Confluence page.


On 15 Mar 2021, at 1:29 am, John Hardin <jhar...@impsec.org> wrote:

On Sun, 14 Mar 2021, jwmi...@gmail.com wrote:

Peter West writes:

And You might want to fix the URIBL_BLOCKED issue.  Fixing the
URIBL_BLOCKED issue will do far more to fix your issues than adding
rules.

Seconded. The keywords here are "local, caching, *NON-FORWARDING* DNS server for 
SpamAssassin".

If that isn't enough to set you on the right path, search the mailing list archives for 
"URIBL-BLOCKED" or "URIBL DNS" for previous discussions of this topic. If that 
history isn't enough, feel free to ask for assistance.

--
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