Method and apparatus for destination domain-based bounce profiles

• US 20050265319A1
• Filed: 05/26/2005
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ironport Systems (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ironport Systems (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Clegg, Paul J., Jasinskyj, Lonhyn
• Granted Patent: US 7,917,588 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting

Abstract

A method and apparatus for managing the delivery of electronic messages using bounce profiles is provided. A bounce profile is a set of data that may be used by a mail server in redelivering an electronic message that was not successfully delivered (i.e., bounced) to a recipient of an electronic message. A sender mail server, upon determining that an electronic message sent to a recipient mail server bounced, may select a bounce profile, among a plurality of bounce profiles, that is associated with a trait of the bounced electronic message, such as a domain of the recipient or a message type of the bounced electronic message. The sender mail server determines whether, and how, to redeliver the bounced electronic message to the recipient mail server based on information specified by the selected bounce profile.

Claims

1. A method for managing the delivery of an electronic message, comprising:

storing one or more bounce profiles, wherein each bounce profile, of the one or more bounce profiles, identifies how to redeliver electronic messages that have been sent to, but not received by, their recipients;

upon receiving an indication that a particular electronic message was not received by a particular recipient of the particular electronic message, selecting a particular bounce profile, of said one or more bounce profiles, that is associated with a domain of the particular recipient of said particular electronic message; and

determining whether to redeliver said particular electronic message to said particular recipient based on said selected bounce profile.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether to redeliver said particular electronic message comprises:

determining, based on said selected bounce profile, a maximum number of allowed attempts to establish a connection with said domain;

determining whether a number of actual attempts to establish a connection with said domain exceeds said maximum number of allowed attempts to establish a connection with said domain; and

upon determining that the number of actual attempts to establish a connection with said domain exceeds said maximum number of allowed attempts to establish a connection with said domain, generating a hard bounce message for said particular electronic message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether to redeliver said particular electronic message comprises:

determining, based on said selected bounce profile, a time to wait after an unsuccessful attempt to establish a connection with said domain before attempting to establish a second connection with said domain; and

upon determining that said time has expired, attempting to establish the second connection with said domain.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a second bounce profile for use in processing said particular electronic message, wherein said second bounce profile is associated with a message type of said particular electronic message.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, based on said selected bounce profile, a maximum number of allowed delivery attempts for said particular electronic message;

determining whether a number of actual number of delivery attempts for said particular electronic message exceeds said maximum number of allowed delivery attempts for said particular electronic message; and

upon determining that the actual number of delivery attempts for said particular electronic message exceeds said maximum number of allowed delivery attempts for said particular electronic message, generating a hard bounce message for said particular electronic message.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, based on said selected bounce profile, a time to wait after an unsuccessful attempt to delivery said particular electronic message before attempting to resend said particular electronic message to said particular recipient; and

upon determining that said time has expired, resending said particular electronic message to said particular recipient.

7. A method for managing the delivery of an electronic message, comprising:

storing one or more profiles, wherein each profile of the one or more profiles identifies how to redeliver electronic messages that have been sent to, but not received by, their recipients;

upon receiving an indication that a particular electronic message was not received by a particular recipient of the particular electronic message, selecting a particular bounce profile, of said one or more profiles, that is associated with a trait of said particular electronic message; and

determining whether to redeliver said particular electronic message to said particular recipient based on said selected bounce profile.

8. A machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for managing the delivery of an electronic message, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

storing one or more bounce profiles, wherein each bounce profile, of the one or more bounce profiles, identifies how to redeliver electronic messages that have been sent to, but not received by, their recipients;

upon receiving an indication that a particular electronic message was not received by a particular recipient of the particular electronic message, selecting a particular bounce profile, of said one or more bounce profiles, that is associated with a domain of the particular recipient of said particular electronic message; and

determining whether to redeliver said particular electronic message to said particular recipient based on said selected bounce profile.

9. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the step of determining whether to redeliver said particular electronic message comprises:

determining, based on said selected bounce profile, a maximum number of allowed attempts to establish a connection with said domain;

determining whether a number of actual attempts to establish a connection with said domain exceeds said maximum number of allowed attempts to establish a connection with said domain; and

upon determining that the number of actual attempts to establish a connection with said domain exceeds said maximum number of allowed attempts to establish a connection with said domain, generating a hard bounce message for said particular electronic message.

10. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the step of determining whether to redeliver said particular electronic message comprises:

determining, based on said selected bounce profile, a time to wait after an unsuccessful attempt to establish a connection with said domain before attempting to establish a second connection with said domain; and

upon determining that said time has expired, attempting to establish the second connection with said domain.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the step of:

selecting a second bounce profile for use in processing said particular electronic message, wherein said second bounce profile is associated with a message type of said particular electronic message.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining, based on said selected bounce profile, a maximum number of allowed delivery attempts for said particular electronic message;

determining whether a number of actual number of delivery attempts for said particular electronic message exceeds said maximum number of allowed delivery attempts for said particular electronic message; and

upon determining that the actual number of delivery attempts for said particular electronic message exceeds said maximum number of allowed delivery attempts for said particular electronic message, generating a hard bounce message for said particular electronic message.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining, based on said selected bounce profile, a time to wait after an unsuccessful attempt to delivery said particular electronic message before attempting to resend said particular electronic message to said particular recipient; and

upon determining that said time has expired, resending said particular electronic message to said particular recipient.

14. An apparatus for managing the delivery of an electronic message, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for managing the delivery of an electronic message, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of;

storing one or more bounce profiles, wherein each bounce profile, of the one or more bounce profiles, identifies how to redeliver electronic messages that have been sent to, but not received by, their recipients;

upon receiving an indication that a particular electronic message was not received by a particular recipient of the particular electronic message, selecting a particular bounce profile, of said one or more bounce profiles, that is associated with a domain of the particular recipient of said particular electronic message; and

determining whether to redeliver said particular electronic message to said particular recipient based on said selected bounce profile.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the step of determining whether to redeliver said particular electronic message comprises:

determining, based on said selected bounce profile, a maximum number of allowed attempts to establish a connection with said domain;

determining whether a number of actual attempts to establish a connection with said domain exceeds said maximum number of allowed attempts to establish a connection with said domain; and

upon determining that the number of actual attempts to establish a connection with said domain exceeds said maximum number of allowed attempts to establish a connection with said domain, generating a hard bounce message for said particular electronic message.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the step of determining whether to redeliver said particular electronic message comprises:

determining, based on said selected bounce profile, a time to wait after an unsuccessful attempt to establish a connection with said domain before attempting to establish a second connection with said domain; and

upon determining that said time has expired, attempting to establish the second connection with said domain.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the step of:

selecting a second bounce profile for use in processing said particular electronic message, wherein said second bounce profile is associated with a message type of said particular electronic message.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining, based on said selected bounce profile, a maximum number of allowed delivery attempts for said particular electronic message;

determining whether a number of actual number of delivery attempts for said particular electronic message exceeds said maximum number of allowed delivery attempts for said particular electronic message; and

upon determining that the actual number of delivery attempts for said particular electronic message exceeds said maximum number of allowed delivery attempts for said particular electronic message, generating a hard bounce message for said particular electronic message.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining, based on said selected bounce profile, a time to wait after an unsuccessful attempt to delivery said particular electronic message before attempting to resend said particular electronic message to said particular recipient; and

upon determining that said time has expired, resending said particular electronic message to said particular recipient.