Re: [exim] How can I tell if my server is getting bombarded …

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Author: Tommy Butler
Date:  
To: exim-users
CC: Fred Viles
Subject: Re: [exim] How can I tell if my server is getting bombarded with spam?
Fred Viles wrote:

>On 14 Dec 2004 at 13:09, Tommy Butler wrote about
>    "Re: [exim] How can I tell if my ser":

>
>> Mike Oliveri wrote:
>>
>> >If you watch your rejectlog, you should be able to see how much mail
>> >is getting rejected and at least get an idea of how much mail your
>> >server is bouncing. It might just be a matter of tweaking your
>> >SpamAssassin bounce threshold. You might also want to be sure you
>> >don't have any relaying open (relay_from_hosts), especially for hosts
>> >not under your direct control.
>>
>> Well I checked it, err, am monitoring it. Virtually nothing is getting
>> bounced.
>
>The reject log shows *rejections*, meaning messages your server
>refused to accept for delivery, not *bounces*, meaning new messages
>being sent back to the original sender when a previously accepted
>message turns out not to be deliverable.
>
>

I get it.

>If you are not seeing rejections in the reject log, it means you are
>accepting everything you are being sent (which is a Bad Thing).
>

Yikes! This is awful.

>My suggestion is to shut down your mail server immediately.
>

Right, like I can do that to the company mail server. *sobs* I feel so
violated.

>Then sit
>down and read the Exim manual cover to cover, paying special
>attention to the basic concepts of ACLs, routers, and transports.
>Then go through your configuration file line by line, referring back
>to the manual for details, until you understand what *everything* in
>it is doing. In the process, you will learn a lot that you really
>need to know and as a side effect you will see where the problems
>are.
>
>

This is so overwhelming. I'm starting to wonder why the hell I ever
thought this would be better than sendmail.

>BTW, if your biggest problem is being an open relay (which is how it
>sounds), fixing that should be your top priority - not spam
>filtering.
>
>

So what you're indirectly saying is that the default Debian
configuration that comes with exim4 is to be an open mail relay for the
world?! Can it be so? I'm basically using the default configuration
with the exception that I'm trying to get TLS to work (and it still isn't).

--
Tommy Butler
tommy@??? <mailto:tommy@atrixnet.com>