Question
Why does my server still have problems sending emails after I changed the outgoing IP address to a new one?
- Or -
Why does my newly provisioned server have problems sending email with the new IP that it has?
Answer
It is important to keep in mind that email servers and email providers keep track of what kind of emails they receive from various IP addresses and IP ranges.
Email providers also check with email blacklists to augment the data that they collect on their own.
When evaluating an incoming message, a number of various data points are inspected to determine if a message should be accepted. If the IP address that you are sending from has either a bad internal reputation within the recipient email provider, or if your IP is on a blacklist, it can significantly impact your server's email deliverability.
If your server's IP address has a bad reputation, one option you have to address the issue is to change the IP address that your server uses to send mail. This can sometimes appear to be the easiest solution.
However, in many cases, the new IP address that you are assigned could also have a bad or even worse email reputation than your original IP.
It is also possible that the new IP address you get simply does not have any reputation at all. In those cases, your server will also at least temporarily suffer from poor email deliverability until various email providers have received enough email traffic from you to verify that you are not a spammer, and consequently raise your IPs email reputation.
If you choose to change your server's IP with the desire to fix email deliverability issues, or if you are provisioning a new server with a new IP you should do the following:
- Verify with your IP provider that the new IP address will either have a neutral or good email reputation
- If the IP will have a neutral reputation, you should expect a time period where your messages will still be considered spam, even if you have everything perfectly configured while your email reputation is being slowly built.
- If the only IPs available to you will have an unknown or bad reputation, you may consider other options such as repairing your server's current IP address. This process can be complex. If you find that this is the route you must take, you should reach out to an email specialist or systems administrator with the skills, training, and experience required to consult on the topic for your specific situation.
If you're not sure where to start searching for a systems administrator you can get started here:
System Administration Services
The following resource also has information about how you can monitor your server's email reputation: