• Dynamic IP setup with own Domain Name

    From Grasshopper@1:103/705 to All on Mon Jun 22 20:18:54 2020
    Hello!
    Just wanted to share my occomplishment. It took a while to fit everything together.
    I got my RPi to send email that is authenticated so it doesn't end up in spam.

    I also wanted to use my own domain name over a dynamic ip address. So, there was a lot of searching on how to point my own domain to a dynamic domain name server (ddns). That was a little tricky. Then the next annoying issue was that email sent from the BBS was always marked as SPAM and blocked on outlook.com. I found that I had to create an SPF record in the DNS manager. That was a bit of a challenge to get that right. Everytime I thought I had it right, I would send another email and find that is wasn't being authenticated. (lot's of trial and errors) Finally I realized that the email being sent as <username>@<bbs-name>.<domain>.<name> was the culprit. I had to get the bbs to send it as <username>@<domain>.<name> but still have the BBS show <bbs-name>.<domain>.<name>. Once I had that setup, BINGO!! I was in business and email was no longer being flagged as spam and email arrived much more quickly.

    Now, I have to finish customizing the board more, perhaps change the colors and maybe the layout a bit. Plus add an opening message in local-General board. And eventually start another advernture of setting up FIDO NET.

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    þ Synchronet þ The Meditative Mind - Fitchburg, WI - telnet://oneness-bbs.dragonflymoon.org
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From Razor@1:103/705 to Grasshopper on Thu Jun 25 18:23:57 2020
    Re: Dynamic IP setup with own Domain Name
    By: Grasshopper to All on Mon Jun 22 2020 08:18 pm

    Just wanted to share my occomplishment. It took a while to fit everything I also wanted to use my own domain name over a dynamic ip address. So, there was a lot of searching on how to point my own domain to a dynamic annoying issue was that email sent from the BBS was always marked as SPAM and blocked on outlook.com. I found that I had to create an SPF record in the DNS manager. That was a bit of a challenge to get that right. <username>@<bbs-name>.<domain>.<name> was the culprit. I had to get the bbs to send it as <username>@<domain>.<name> but still have the BBS show

    Grasshopper, would you be able to document how you did all this? I have been trying to do essentially the same thing & just haven't had enough time to figure it out myself.

    Razor

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    þ Synchronet þ The Silent Strike - bbs.thesilentstrike.com
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From ONENESS@1:103/705 to Razor on Thu Jun 25 20:39:20 2020
    Re: Dynamic IP setup with own Domain Name
    By: Razor to Grasshopper on Thu Jun 25 2020 06:23 pm

    Hello Razor,
    Sorry for the late reply. I still seem to be having some issues with my BBS not fully grabing all Dove-Net messages. I will try to compile the list here.

    Grasshopper, would you be able to document how you did all this? I have been trying to do essentially the same thing & just haven't had enough time to figure it out myself.

    I will compile the steps in notepad and then transfer them here. Still haven't quite fully grasped how to work with QWK messaging yet.
    I will log off now and try to build the steps and reply to this message again.

    Best regards,
    Grasshopper

    The Meditative Mind telnet://oneness-bbs.dragonflymoon.org
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From Grasshopper@1:103/705 to Razor on Thu Jun 25 23:23:20 2020
    Re: Dynamic IP setup with own Domain Name
    By: Razor to Grasshopper on Thu Jun 25 2020 06:23 pm

    Hello again Razor,
    Well, I realized that I mostly followed directions myself although, I think the creation of the SPF record in DNS was a little tricky and perhaps I will go into that.
    The link that greatly helped me is https://uk.godaddy.com/community/Managing-Domains/Dynamic-DNS-Updates/td-p/7862
    This uses noip.com to relay off of. I already had a noip account (you don't need a subscription, you get 3 free domain names when you create an account). Once you have your free domain it doesn't really matter what you choose because your domain records are just going to use this for the dynamic ip and you will want to setup you ddns name first.

    Once you have followed the directions in the link above, then comes setting up the SPF record which the link doesn't go into a lot of detail but luckily I found another link that will create the SPF text that you will need.
    https://www.spfwizard.net/
    The above link will help with creating the SPF record. If godaddy hosts your domain name, then just copy the text inside the double quotes! I made the mistake of copying the whole entry and pasting it inside the text record and Godaddy got angry. Important note: For the 'IP addresses in CIDR format that deliver or relay mail for this domain' I entered my "public" IP address. This is the address that is assigned to your wireless router that connects to the cable modem. I would also put your MX record address and your noip address and addresses that you think might be used in the headers of your email.
    So, to test your SPF record to see if you have it setup right use this link: https://mxtoolbox.com/SuperTool.aspx
    From the orange button click the down arrow to select "SPF Record Lookup" and enter your <domain>.<name>. If you get all green checks, you win! :)
    Whew!
    One more thing, (home stretch, I promise), to use the new SPF record and to prevent your email being labeled as junk mail on most email servers, your BBS must send email as <username>@<domain>.<name> and not <username>@<bbs-name>.<domain>.<name> and the way you can make that happen is by using scfg (assuming you are using synchronet) and selecting "Networks" from the menu and then "Internet E-mail" and select "System Address" and set it to <domain>.<name> which will then cause synchronet to send email as <username>@<domain>.<name>

    That should do it and prevent email from being labeled as junk email.
    I hope this helps you and I apologize for such a late response. Let me know if I can be of any other help.

    Best Regards,
    Grasshopper

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    þ Synchronet þ The Meditative Mind - oneness-bbs.dragonflymoon.org
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From Digital Man@1:103/705 to ONENESS on Wed Jul 1 10:47:49 2020
    Re: Dynamic IP setup with own Domain Name
    By: ONENESS to Razor on Thu Jun 25 2020 08:39 pm

    Re: Dynamic IP setup with own Domain Name
    By: Razor to Grasshopper on Thu Jun 25 2020 06:23 pm

    Hello Razor,
    Sorry for the late reply. I still seem to be having some issues with my BBS not fully grabing all Dove-Net messages. I will try to compile the list here.

    Grasshopper, would you be able to document how you did all this? I have been trying to do essentially the same thing & just haven't had enough time to figure it out myself.

    I will compile the steps in notepad and then transfer them here. Still haven't quite fully grasped how to work with QWK messaging yet.
    I will log off now and try to build the steps and reply to this message again.

    Best regards,
    Grasshopper

    The Meditative Mind telnet://oneness-bbs.dragonflymoon.org

    Your message did not have a QWK tagline, so something's wrong somewhere. What BBS software are you using?

    digital man

    Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #59:
    REP = QWK Reply
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    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From Grasshopper@1:103/705 to Digital Man on Sat Jul 11 01:59:14 2020
    Re: Dynamic IP setup with own Domain Name
    By: Digital Man to ONENESS on Wed Jul 01 2020 10:47 am

    Hello Digital Man,

    Your message did not have a QWK tagline, so something's wrong somewhere. What BBS software are you using?

    I am using Synchronet BBS software. Sorry, somehow I missed this message. I probably did a "NO-NO" by answering a message while logged into VERTRAUEN bbs. This would be why the tag line did not show properly. Won't happen again.

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    þ Synchronet þ The Meditative Mind - oneness-bbs.dragonflymoon.org
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From Nightfox@1:103/705 to Grasshopper on Sun Jul 12 10:41:29 2020
    Re: Dynamic IP setup with own Domain Name
    By: Grasshopper to Digital Man on Sat Jul 11 2020 01:59 am

    I probably did a "NO-NO" by answering a message while logged into VERTRAUEN bbs. This would be why the tag line did not show properly. Won't happen again.

    I think we're allowed to use Vertrauen and read and post messages there if we want to..

    Nightfox

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    þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)