[Techtalk] re: Postfix reload

[showercurtain]

On Mon, 15 Sep 2003, Maria Blackmore wrote:
> To summarise once again, the "postfix reload" command is not
> disruptive to any portion of your email system, whilst ensuring
that > the latest configuration is used. 

We successfully reloaded postfix last night, no hassles :) Ideally it
should've have been done on a test system, as Carla suggested, using
the latest versions of Postfix and Spamassassin but the manager
told/ordered us to fix the live one by this Friday. 

On Sun, 14 Sep 2003, Carla Schroder wrote:
<snip> Especially when you're implementing something as potentially 
> drastic as DNSRBLs, you'll want to monitor the logs for awhile and 
> make sure things work right. Especially the reject messages, which 
> tell blocked senders what to do.

This is the bit I'm confused about. When postfix is configured to
block certain traffic, what exactly happens to that traffic, where
does it go? If some email to our organisation is blocked by the RBL,
does the sender automatically receive a bounce message? This is what
panix.com said about bounce messages:

      We urge you not to try to bounce spam with a fake "sender
unknown" message. Bouncing spam isn't just futile, it's harmful. Most
of the time, the provided envelope sender is, of course, not the real
sender. Either it's an invalid address, or it's the valid address of
an innocent third party. If it's an invalid address, then Panix's
mail servers waste resources trying to deliver the bounce. If it's
the address of a third party, then that hapless person receives the
bounce. Either way, there is a cost, but no benefit. 

Is this something we should consider?

Thanks again
Berenice


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