Normal
Ramp-up completeThe bank's transactional addresses 203.0.113.121 and 203.0.113.122 — 5–6 thousand messages a day each, 99.2–99.4% delivery, score 97 each, “ready”.
AAddress
sending
203.0.113.122Score 97
99.2% delivery“ready”
Addresses and reputation
IP address reputation, blacklists and PTR
IP address reputation.
A score for every
sending address.
Mailbox providers judge the reputation of each address separately: one bad address drags down your overall deliverability and has to be fixed on its own — so you need to see it on its own too.
Every sending address for the period — next to its server, warm-up stage, reverse DNS and blacklists.
Four statesIdle ones listed separatelyA score per address
Analytics · addresses & reputationMTA-Hub interface
StatesScoreIdle
Real module screensOpen full size ↗
01MTA reportsEach address's messages
02ScoreFrom this address's bounces
03Hub dataPTR, warm-up, blacklists
04DecisionWhat to do with the address
01 / Address states
Four states of sending IP addresses.
Every sending IP address is in exactly one state: “Sending normally”, “Warming up”, “Reputation at risk” or “Idle”. A problem outranks the warm-up stage: an address that's warming up but has no reverse DNS counts as “at risk”. A state tile works as a filter for the table.
28 addresses in a day
01 · Normal2 addresses
02 · Warming up20
03 · At risk4
04 · Idle2
Clicking a tile leaves only the addresses in that state in the table
Warming up
Low volume is the planThe label “day 9 · cap 2,952” explains why an address sends little. Marketing addresses in warm-up send 153–686 messages each, and that's the plan, not a problem.
WWarm-up
stage
Marketing addresses153–686 messages
plan daydaily cap
02 / Reputation score
How an IP address's reputation score is calculated.
The Hub takes spam bounces, complaints and mailbox provider policy bounces from the event log of that particular address. So an IP address's reputation score drops only for the address that providers are rejecting. When Microsoft rejects one address, its score drops, and the other addresses don't suffer.
198.51.100.125
Score 80The mq-02 address that Microsoft rejects: 4,268 messages a day, 90.7% delivery, worst of all — mailbox provider policy bounces.
Nmq-02
log
198.51.100.125Score 80
90.7% deliveryprovider requirements
Small volumes aren't trusted
≈ grayOn a few hundred messages, one spam bounce is already 0.3%. While an address has fewer than 500 messages, its score is gray with a “≈” sign, and the score alone doesn't put the address “at risk”.
HMTA-Hub
threshold
Under 500 messages≈ gray score
18 addressesnot marked at risk
03 / Addresses with problems
Blacklists, complaints and PTR: what to fix first.
The list includes addresses on blacklists, with a dropped score, delivery below 90%, complaints from 0.3% or no reverse DNS (PTR). What hurts reputation most comes first. The numbers in the rows are the ones that put the address on the list.
192.0.2.101
In PSBL — mailbox providers reject it for this reason.
198.51.100.125
Score 80 — this is the address Microsoft rejects.
198.51.100.126
The cleanup server cl-01: score 81, complaints 0.148%.
192.0.2.120 and one more
Addresses without PTR are grouped in one row.
04 / Idle addresses
Silent IP addresses — in a block of their own.
Addresses that are set up but sent nothing during the period are gathered in a separate block — with reverse DNS and a blacklist check. That way they don't get lost among the working addresses. You either get them ready for work or retire them, so you don't pay your hosting provider for idle capacity.
lab-01
Ready for workAddress 203.0.113.141 on the lab server has its reverse DNS in place and isn't on any blacklists.
Nlab-01
silent
203.0.113.141PTR set
blacklists — cleanready to use
mta-11
PTR firstAddress 192.0.2.131 on the new server has no reverse DNS — don't put the address into rotation until it's set up.
Nmta-11
silent
192.0.2.131No PTR
record firstthen warm-up
Getting ready for work means reverse DNS, a DKIM signing key and warm-up. If any of the idle addresses is already on a blacklist, the summary says so too.
05 / The interface in detail
The “Addresses & reputation” tab interface — 6 screens.
Four states, addresses that need a decision, the address table, the “at risk” filter and idle addresses. Above each screenshot: why the screen matters. Below it: what it shows.
State and decisions
2 screensThe tab starts with a summary: how many IP addresses are in each state — normal, warming up, at risk or idle. Below are the addresses that need a decision, the most dangerous for reputation first. These two screens answer whether there are any addresses hurting your deliverability right now.
01State of the address fleet
Four states
A summary of all sending IP addresses: how many are in each state. In the example, of 28 addresses two are sending normally — the bank's transactional addresses whose ramp-up is complete — twenty are following a warm-up plan, four are at risk and two sent nothing during the day. The key number here is “Reputation at risk”: clicking that tile leaves only the problem addresses in the table. The other tiles work the same way. The summary is your starting point: an address that's warming up but has no reverse DNS lands in “at risk”, because a problem outranks the warm-up stage. Next comes the “Need a decision” block with the reason for each such address.
Enlarge- Sending normally — 2 — the bank's transactional addresses.
- Warming up — 20.
- Reputation at risk — 4.
- Idle — 2.
A problem outranks the warm-up stage: an address in warm-up without PTR is “at risk”.
02Need a decision
What hurts most comes first
The “Need a decision” block lists addresses you need to act on, with what hurts reputation most first. In the example that's five addresses out of 28: 192.0.2.101 is on the PSBL blacklist, 198.51.100.125 (mq-02) has a score of 80 because of Microsoft bounces, 198.51.100.126 (cl-01) has 81 because of complaints, and two addresses have no reverse DNS. The numbers in the rows explain why an address made the list. Work through the rows from top to bottom. For example, 198.51.100.125 is the very address Microsoft rejects: a breakdown of its bounces with the reply code is on the “Providers” tab. Reverse DNS is set up in the DNS section.
Enlarge- 192.0.2.101 — on the PSBL blacklist.
- 198.51.100.125 (mq-02) — score 80 — provider requirements.
- 198.51.100.126 (cl-01) — score 81 — spam and complaints.
- 192.0.2.120 and one more — no reverse DNS.
The numbers in the rows are the ones that put the address on the list.
Addresses
2 screensNext — all addresses that sent mail during the period: score, delivery, warm-up stage, reverse DNS and a blacklist mark. You can sort the table and search by address or server. The tile above the table works as a filter — for example, it leaves only the addresses at risk.
03Address metrics
All addresses for the period
A table of metrics for every address that sent mail during the period — 26 addresses in a day in the example. For each one you see the server, volume, delivery, reputation score, warm-up stage and a “DNS” column with reverse DNS and a “BL” mark. So the transactional addresses with 99.2–99.4% delivery sit right next to 198.51.100.125 with 90.7%. A gray score with a “≈” sign means there are fewer than 500 messages and it's too early to draw conclusions. Sort by score to bring the weak addresses to the top. Sorting by address goes by the address numbers in order, so addresses from the same subnet sit together. Addresses in warm-up show the plan day and the daily cap: their low volume is planned.
Enlarge- 203.0.113.121 and .122 — 5–6 thousand messages each, 99.2–99.4%, score 97 each, “ready”.
- 198.51.100.125 — 4,268 messages, 90.7%, score 80.
- Marketing — 153–686 messages; plan day and daily cap.
- Gray “≈” — 18 addresses have fewer than 500 messages.
- DNS — reverse DNS and the “BL” mark.
You can sort by address, server, score, volume and delivery, and search by address or server.
06Only addresses at risk
Filter by tile
The table after clicking the “Reputation at risk” tile: only the four problem addresses are left. The filter is handy when you have many addresses but only need to deal with the bad ones. Each shows its own problem: mq-02 has a score of 80 and 90.7% delivery, mta-01 has the “BL” mark — the address is on a blacklist, cl-01 has a score of 81 and 0.148% complaints, mta-10 shows “no PTR”. A button above the table clears the filter and brings back all addresses. It's handy to turn the filter on after a fix — for example, after setting up reverse DNS — to make sure the address has left “at risk”. The other three tiles work the same way.
Enlarge- mq-02 — score 80, 90.7% delivery.
- mta-01 — the “BL” mark.
- cl-01 — score 81, complaints 0.148%.
- mta-10 — “no PTR”.
The button above the table clears the filter.
Idle
2 screensIn a block of their own — silent addresses: set up, but sent nothing during the period. Reverse DNS and blacklists are shown for them too. Based on this data you decide whether to get an address ready for work or retire it. The list opens with the “expand list” button.
04Idle for the period
Collapsed summary
A collapsed summary of silent addresses — the ones that are set up but sent nothing during the period. It's there so such addresses don't get lost or sit around unused. In the example the summary says “2 addresses are set up but silent”, and warns right away that one of them has no reverse DNS and shouldn't go into rotation until it's set up. If any of the idle addresses is already on a blacklist, the summary says so too. The “expand list” button shows these addresses one by one. Such addresses are easy to forget: the server is paid for, but there's no sending. The expanded list on the next screen shows which of them you can already get ready for work.
Enlarge- Summary — “2 addresses are set up but silent”.
- Warning — 1 has no reverse DNS — don't put it into rotation until it's set up.
If any of the idle addresses is on a blacklist, the summary says so too.
05Idle addresses as a list
Expanded block
The expanded block of silent addresses: each address on its own row, with its server, reverse DNS and blacklists. In the example 203.0.113.141 on the lab server lab-01 has its reverse DNS in place and isn't on any blacklists, while 192.0.2.131 on the new server mta-11 has no reverse DNS. These rows help you decide the address's fate: get it ready for work — reverse DNS, a DKIM signing key, warm-up — or retire it so you don't pay for idle capacity. In the example lab-01 can be prepared for work right away, while mta-11 needs reverse DNS first — until then the address shouldn't go into rotation.
Enlarge- 203.0.113.141 (lab-01) — reverse DNS in place, blacklists clean.
- 192.0.2.131 (mta-11) — no reverse DNS.
Such addresses are either prepared for work or retired.
06 / Questions about addresses
Frequently asked questions about IP address reputation.
In short: how an address's score is calculated and when you can trust it.
Why is reputation calculated per address?
Mailbox providers judge each sending address separately, and one bad address drags down your overall deliverability.
What is an address's score made of?
Spam bounces, complaints and mailbox provider policy bounces of that particular address — from the event log.
Why is the score gray with a “≈” sign?
The address has fewer than 500 messages in the period: the number is the same, but it's too early to trust it.
When is an address “at risk”?
A blacklist, a dropped score, delivery below 90%, complaints from 0.3% or no reverse DNS.
Why does an address in warm-up send so little?
That's by design: the label “day 9 · cap 2,952” shows the stage of the plan.
What should I do with an idle address?
Get it ready for work — reverse DNS, a DKIM signing key, warm-up — or retire it so you don't pay for idle capacity.
Which addresses are in the table?
Only addresses of connected servers and proxies. Retired addresses and ones unknown to the Hub aren't shown — a caption says how many there are.
Where does the warm-up and PTR data come from?
From the Hub's own data: server or proxy, reverse DNS, warm-up plan stage, blacklist checks.
07 / Next step
Check the state of your sending servers.
An address lives on a server, and the server can have its own problems: disk, CPU, MTA reports. That's on the “Servers” tab.
Reverse DNS and DKIM signing keys are set up in the DNS section.