I must admit that sendmail can be intimidating at first. When I first started doing UNIX administration, after feeling that NT was unfulfilling and looking for a better solution to some specific problems, I installed RedHat and gave it a try. The first thing I wanted to accomplish was to set up an email system. Since sendmail was there on the default install, that's what I learned. I looked on the web, did a little RTFM, and bought the 'bat book'. I was still frustrated and not getting much of anywhere. Then one day it happened. I don't know what triggered it, but it all became clear. It really ISN'T that hard. The only problem was that nobody explained it in any book or HOWTO with any clarity.
Before you throw up your hands and try something else, read this. I wrote this to clarify the concepts behind sendmail, and SMTP in general and to offer come canned configs for new users. If you use my HOWTO, you will be up and running in under 10 minutes, even if you are an MCSE. You don't have to be a 31337 UN1X DuD3 or anything to figure it out.
I have customers who run sendmail on very modest hardware that handle tens of thousands of messages per week for months on end with no attention required. I can do things that the other MTAs only wish they could do in their wettest dreams, even when installed on that old ProSignia sitting in the corner. Before you bash it, give it a try. If you still can't figure it out, send me an email.
Apart from the hokey 'mail from' security scheme they used to use, I find that getting through to them when there is a problem is nearly impossible. The drones on the phone (if you can find the phone number) know so little about DNS that it is physically painful, and they charge extra for what other registrars include in the price of the registration.
In addition to that they are constantly trying to 'slam' my customers into changing registrars and breaking their domain names in the process. They also denied one of my customers' transfers because there was a 'special' on that account. (I later found that a special meant was set to expire in under a month, and they were trying to prevent the change of registrar from going through.)
They are a thoroughly pitiful organization and they deserve all the headaches they have caused me over the years.
I run a spam filtering service which uses DNSBLs along with other measures to reduce the spam that my customers receive. The customers who sign up for this service typically are completely swamped by unwanted email, in fact - one customer has a hit rate of over 60%. Yes, 60%. They had reached the point where their email was becoming useless, so they had to do something about it.
DNSBLs are a valuable tool when combined with other technologies and have a very low 'collateral damage' rate. For example, the customer mentioned above has never called to complain that valid email was blocked even though I remove over half of their mail before they get it.
As for someone's right to run an open relay, I guess they do have the right to run their server however they choose, but that right ends at my door. My server, my T1, my customers asking for help. I explain the risk of collateral damage to potential new customers, and explain they must trust me to make decisions on what is blocked and what is not. I try very hard not to be overzealous and it has served me well because no customer has ever left the service once they signed up.
I'm very sorry if the author of this article was inconvenienced by being blacklisted. But the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... or the one. (TM)
Notice I said "ininitiated" I use RH8, Evoluton, OpenOffice and Mozilla XFT almost exclusively. I love linux as a desktop. My customers are another story.
I've seen many more people more deserving of a major interview.
But having said that, I must say that I agree with him on a number of major points.
1. Linux is NOT for everyone. In my line of work, many people complain if you move their taskbar, nevermind changing their OS.
2. BUY LINUX. only support for the companies that create your distributions will keep them creating those distributions. (I have bought every version of RedHat since 6 and a couple of copies of SuSE, etc)
3. Linux is not the next wave of the desktop... yet. In the server field, Linux has most things tied up. Stability... Rock Solid. Usability for the uninitiated desktop user... Still sucks, sorry.
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Before you throw up your hands and try something else, read this. I wrote this to clarify the concepts behind sendmail, and SMTP in general and to offer come canned configs for new users. If you use my HOWTO, you will be up and running in under 10 minutes, even if you are an MCSE. You don't have to be a 31337 UN1X DuD3 or anything to figure it out.
I have customers who run sendmail on very modest hardware that handle tens of thousands of messages per week for months on end with no attention required. I can do things that the other MTAs only wish they could do in their wettest dreams, even when installed on that old ProSignia sitting in the corner. Before you bash it, give it a try. If you still can't figure it out, send me an email.
Apart from the hokey 'mail from' security scheme they used to use, I find that getting through to them when there is a problem is nearly impossible. The drones on the phone (if you can find the phone number) know so little about DNS that it is physically painful, and they charge extra for what other registrars include in the price of the registration.
In addition to that they are constantly trying to 'slam' my customers into changing registrars and breaking their domain names in the process. They also denied one of my customers' transfers because there was a 'special' on that account. (I later found that a special meant was set to expire in under a month, and they were trying to prevent the change of registrar from going through.)
They are a thoroughly pitiful organization and they deserve all the headaches they have caused me over the years.
I run a spam filtering service which uses DNSBLs along with other measures to reduce the spam that my customers receive. The customers who sign up for this service typically are completely swamped by unwanted email, in fact - one customer has a hit rate of over 60%. Yes, 60%. They had reached the point where their email was becoming useless, so they had to do something about it.
DNSBLs are a valuable tool when combined with other technologies and have a very low 'collateral damage' rate. For example, the customer mentioned above has never called to complain that valid email was blocked even though I remove over half of their mail before they get it.
As for someone's right to run an open relay, I guess they do have the right to run their server however they choose, but that right ends at my door. My server, my T1, my customers asking for help. I explain the risk of collateral damage to potential new customers, and explain they must trust me to make decisions on what is blocked and what is not. I try very hard not to be overzealous and it has served me well because no customer has ever left the service once they signed up.
I'm very sorry if the author of this article was inconvenienced by being blacklisted. But the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... or the one. (TM)
Notice I said "ininitiated" I use RH8, Evoluton, OpenOffice and Mozilla XFT almost exclusively. I love linux as a desktop. My customers are another story.
But having said that, I must say that I agree with him on a number of major points.
1. Linux is NOT for everyone. In my line of work, many people complain if you move their taskbar, nevermind changing their OS.
2. BUY LINUX. only support for the companies that create your distributions will keep them creating those distributions. (I have bought every version of RedHat since 6 and a couple of copies of SuSE, etc)
3. Linux is not the next wave of the desktop... yet. In the server field, Linux has most things tied up. Stability... Rock Solid. Usability for the uninitiated desktop user... Still sucks, sorry.
Just my 2cents. -jk
Sorry if I offended, not the intention. -jk
fp
They're not sharing ideas, they're rehashing someone else's. Amazing what passes for creativity these days...