Setting up a SURBL DNS mirror under Windows

• Install and Configure wrbldnsd
• Configure rsync
• Configure the mail filter application to use the new local DNS mirror

1. Download and run the wrbldnsd installer, wrbldnsd_1.2.1_Installer.exe, which includes Windows ports of rbldnsd, rsync, ssh and cygwin.

2. Click "Next" on the screen below.
   

3. Read the License Agreement and click "I Agree".
   

4. Specify the location where you want to install to and click "Next".
   

5. On this screen, specify the IP address that rbldnsd will listen on and the alternative port to use if port 53 is already used on your server. For the Zone-Dataset mapping, specify "multi.surbl.org:dnset:multi.surbl.org.rbldnsd".
   

6. Click "OK" on the following prompt.
   

7. Click "Close" to exit the wizard.
   

1. In a command window, navigate to the folder "<INSTALL-PATH>\bin" and execute the following command to perform the first rsync manually.

     rsync -qa [RSYNC SERVER NAME HERE]::surbl/multi.surbl.org.rbldnsd ..\rbldnsd
   

   * The destination location must be "<INSTALL-PATH>\rbldnsd" in order for the next step to work. (The rsync server name will be provided in your data feed instructions.)

2. Wait for the rsync to complete and you will be able to start the "rbldnsd" service under Windows Services.
   

3. To schedule the subsequent rsyncs, we need to ensure that only one rsync can execute at any given time. Perform these steps:
   1. In the folder "<INSTALL-PATH>\bin", create an empty file named as "rsync.unlocked".

   2. Open a new text file using Notepad and create the following batch file. Save the file as "rsync.bat" in the folder "<INSTALL-PATH>\bin".

      @echo off
      
      If not exist rsync.locked (goto :rsync) else (goto :exit)
      
      :rsync
      
      rename rsync.unlocked rsync.locked
      
      rsync -qa [RSYNC SERVER NAME HERE]::surbl/multi.surbl.org.rbldnsd ..\rbldnsd
      
      rename rsync.locked rsync.unlocked
      
      :exit
      
      exit
      

   (The rsync server name will be provided in your data feed instructions.)
4. Add a Windows Scheduler task to run "rsync.bat" every N minutes. Here are the specific steps:
   1. Under Control Panel -> Scheduled Tasks, click "Add Scheduled Task". Click "Next".
      

   2. Click "Browse" and select the "rsync.bat" file saved earlier depending on where you have saved it. Click "Next".
      

   3. Select "Daily" for the task schedule. Click "Next".
      

   4. Click "Next".
      

   5. Key in credentials of an administrator that can run the task.
      

   6. Click "Finish".
      

   7. Under Control Panel -> Scheduled Tasks, open the new task "rsync.bat". Under the "Schedule" tab, click "Advanced". Input the frequency that you will want the task to run (in this case 3 minutes) and enter 24 hours for the duration. Click "Ok" to close the window.
      

   8. Back on the Control Panel -> Scheduled Tasks, to test that the task is created properly, right click on the task and click "Run". The task should run
      

For example, for ClearSwift Mailsweeper:

Setting up ClearSwift Mailsweeper for SMTP 5.x Software to use SURBL Cache

Hence, there are two ways to point the software to query our SURBL cache: set up the new mirror on the existing recursive DNS server, or set up the new mirror on a local server and also set up the same server to act as a DNS forwarder.

1. Add a new zone on the existing DNS servers used by your Mailsweeper server

   On the existing recursive nameserver that the mail filter uses, create a new forward zone multi.surbl.org to forward all queries to the IP of your SURBL cache. The DNS servers will act as a forwarder and help to forward all SURBL queries to the SURBL cache.

2. Install BIND for Windows on the same SURBL cache server (if you do not have control over your provider's DNS servers)

   During the installation of wrbldnsd, specify rbldnsd to run on another port e.g. "127.0.0.1/54". Install BIND for Windows. The latest BIND version 9.6.0 cannot run on Windows 2000 Server; the minimum version is WinXP Pro or Windows 2003 Server. Configure BIND for Windows to forward recursive requests (for all other zones) to your provider's DNS servers. Define the following zone in your named.conf file to forward requests to the local SURBL cache.

   zone "multi.surbl.org" IN { 
   	type forward; 
   	forward first; 
   	forwarders { 
   		127.0.0.1 port 54; 
   	}; 
   }; 
   

   (Note that BIND zone forwarding is the same technique used with Unix.)

   Lastly on the Mailsweeper servers, set the first DNS server entry to the IP of this machine which BIND is listening on. Set the second and any additional IPs to the provider's DNS servers. This creates a failover redundancy. Should the local server go down, the queries go to your provider's DNS instead. Alternatively, set up additional local mirrors and add them as the second IP, etc.