Re: [exim] A riddle: What HELO/EHLO does remote host send?

On Sat, 3 Feb 2007, Marc Haber wrote:

> On Sat, 3 Feb 2007 17:56:59 +0000 (GMT), Jethro R Binks
> <jethro.binks@???> wrote:
> >On Sat, 3 Feb 2007, Marc Haber wrote:
> >> On Fri, 2 Feb 2007 13:14:27 +0000 (GMT), Dennis Davis
> >> <D.H.Davis@???> wrote:
> >> >(4) A selection of names, eg "localhost.localdomain".
> >>
> >> During a period of time, newly installed Debian systems had their
> >> /etc/hosts misconfigured in a way that an installed exim 4 would HELO as
> >> localhost.localdomain. I suspect that most rejections based on that rule
> >> are false positives, maybe even from systems installed on your own
> >> campus.
> >
> >I don't call that a 'false positive', I call it a misconfigured system
> >that needs to be fixed :).
>
> Agreed. But, is this misconfiguration _that_ bad to reject e-mails?

>From offsite: as I see spam coming in from hosts also calling themselves
'localhost.localdomain', yes. I consider that someone unleashing such a
Debian system on the Internet should have enough skill to at least be able
to tell it its real name, and I consider it public duty to refuse mail
from them to encourage them to do so.

>From onsite: yes, because we insist on certain standards for appropriate
configuration of machines, or else they get limited or no service.

:)

Jethro.

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Jethro R Binks
Computing Officer, IT Services
University Of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK