Only using spamhause.org for RBL?

[ScottChapman]

In my admin console I have enabled the following:
zen.spamhause.org
relays.mail-abuse.org
sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org
bl.spamcop.net
dnsbl.sarbs.net

But when I look at my mail log, I am only seeing rejections from zen.spamhaus.org

What am I missing?

[dwill]

Since Zen is listed first, it's probably catching all RBL Listed senders before it hits another RBL. I see the same thing - rarely get hits on the 2nd and 3rd RBL's

Just to verify, you can remove zen for a few hours and see what you get.

[LMStone]

In my admin console I have enabled the following:
zen.spamhause.org
relays.mail-abuse.org
sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org
bl.spamcop.net
dnsbl.sarbs.net

But when I look at my mail log, I am only seeing rejections from zen.spamhaus.org

What am I missing?

Well, there are a few things going on here...

First, zen.spamhaus.org includes all of the listings the sbl-xbl list (and then some), so zen is the only spamhaus rbl you need. See The Spamhaus Project - ZEN for more info.

Second, I believe that relays.mail-abuse.org was bought by Trend Micro, so the service is no longer free, and in any event the rbl server is now rbl-plus.mail-abuse.org as I recall.

Third, bl.spamcop.net in my experience doesn't list any legitimate spam IPs that are not already on the zen.spamhaus list, so we don't use it. Spamcop in the past has had some false positives (legitimate sources incorrectly/aggressively listed as spam sources), which is why historically we have not used it.

Fourth, you have "dnsbl.sarbs.net" above but it really is "dnsbl.sorbs.net", so, with that typo it's not surprising you are not seeing any hits. :-)

You may also want to check out psbl.surriel.com. Both it and Spamhaus are considered "conservative", and so each is unlikely to block legitimate email. Some tests we have seen have shown that the two together, given their very different listing methodologies, are very, very effective.

Hope that helps,
Mark