IP Pool Overview
This document explains how our IP pool management system works. It covers how we assign new accounts to IP pools, the structure of these pools, and how we actively monitor and maintain them.
An IP address is best thought of as a "server" that can send and receive emails. When you sign up to Bento, we assign you to an IP Pool (a group of addresses) that you send from.
Account Assignment Process
Criteria for Assignment
New accounts are assigned to IP pools based on two main factors:
- Account Reputation: This is determined by various factors such as:
- How long the account has been active
- Historical usage patterns
- Compliance with our terms of service
- Account Profile: This includes:
- Type of account (e.g., personal, business, enterprise)
- Expected usage volume
- Specific account requirements or restrictions
Assignment Algorithm
Our special algorithm looks at the above criteria and assigns each new account to the best IP pool. This ensures optimal distribution and minimizes the risk of IP reputation issues spreading between customers.
An example of this is we may have a pool of users who primarily send to French ISPs. This ensures that we maintain our sending volume to those ISPs and run into less issues with reputation.
IP Pool Structure
Pool Composition
- Each IP pool contains either 1 or 2 IP addresses.
- Multiple Bento accounts share the IPs within a pool.
Pool Management
- Pools are dynamically managed to maintain optimal performance and reputation.
- The number of users per pool is carefully balanced to prevent overuse of any single IP.
IP Monitoring and Maintenance
Active Monitoring
We use a robust monitoring system that continuously checks the status of all IPs in our pools. This includes:
- Real-time blacklist checking across major blacklist providers
- Monitoring of IP reputation scores
- Traffic pattern analysis to detect anomalies
Blacklist Management
When an IP is detected on a blacklist:
- The IP is immediately flagged in our system.
- All traffic through the affected IP may be halted.
- An investigation begins.
- Users who caused the issue are notified via email (and potentially paused from sending).
- Our team starts the blacklist removal process with the relevant providers.
- The IP is removed from its pool and replaced with a clean IP.
- Affected users are temporarily reassigned to maintain service continuity.
Proactive Maintenance
To keep our IP pools healthy:
- Conduct periodic reviews of IP performance and user assignment.
Best Practices for Users
To help maintain the integrity of our IP pools, we recommend users:
- Follow our acceptable use policy.
- Use batched sending to send high volumes of emails over time instead of all at once.
- Implement proper authentication measures (
Settings > Sender Authentication). - Report any suspected misuse or unusual account activity promptly.
Dedicated IPs
Bento offers a dedicated IP for our customers, but we strongly recommend that you use our shared network as it's the most reliable option for delivering at scale. A dedicated IP is a great option for customers sending over 500,000 emails per day.
Conclusion
Our IP pool management system is designed to provide reliable and reputation-safe IP addresses for all users. By dynamically assigning and monitoring IPs, we ensure optimal performance while minimizing the risk of blacklisting or reputation damage.