DNS Whitelist

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What Does DNS Whitelist Mean?

A DNS whitelist is a collection of SMTP and email servers that are considered safe to exchange emails with. This list is used for email filtering purposes, allowing a system to block emails received from illegitimate or spam email servers. It’s used to decrease the number of spam emails a user receives.

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Techopedia Explains DNS Whitelist

A DNS whitelist works when a domain name server is configured with a list of trusted mail servers and domains. When an email is received at the configured server, the SMTP listener utility matches the domain or its IP address with the list of approved mail servers/email providers. If a match is found, the email is forwarded to the corresponding email address inbox. However, if there is no match, the email is sent to the spam folder or is deleted altogether.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.