[Techtalk] sendmail/RBL question

[Kai MacTane]

At 3/28/02 03:19 PM , Raven, corporate courtesan wrote:
>Not being an open relay if you're a mail server admin is really
>important.

Not only that, it's also not that *difficult* to not be an open relay. Most 
if not all MTAs these days ship in a default configuration that doesn't 
relay. (Indeed, I'm sure that if an MTA shipped as an open relay by 
default, there would be a hue and cry, and that default would be changed 
very quickly!)

>It's not hard to turn on selective relaying for any
>customers of yours that may need it, and you're a lot less likely to
>have bulk-mailers using *your* resources and bandwidth to send out
>their spam.

Between SMTP AUTH and POP-before-SMTP, there is no reason to run an open 
relay. I'm proud to say I've never done so, except for about three days 
back in early '98 when I was learning mail administration. And figuring out 
how to secure the server and make the relaying selective instead of open 
was my first learning task as an admin.

At this point, I'm considering deliberately submitting my own server to 
OsiruSoft, ORBZ, ORDB, and Dorkslayers, just to prove that staying off 
these lists is *not* that hard. Just close off your relaying.

And if you want to run an open relay for some political reason or whatever, 
well, fine. You need to understand that your politics, philosophy, or 
whatever does *not* constitute a requirement on other people to listen to 
what you have to say (i.e., accept any packets from you, on any port at all).

                                                 --Kai MacTane
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