March 2004 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

RE: [Wlug] Re: Good HowTo

by Martin, Eric

A large part of it is the learning, that's one of the things that got me into comptuers in the first place. I know it sounds crazy, but I want to deal with the headaches of a mailserver, and possibly 2 DNS servers if I can run them. Basically it comes down to wanting the expirience of bringing up a mail server and dealing with real problems... -----Original Message----- From: Bob George [mailto:mailings02@ttlexceeded.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 2:14 PM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: [Wlug] Re: Good HowTo Martin, Eric wrote: > [...] I own two domains, and I want to have email from those domains > delivered to my server. The first question is: will your provider allow incoming smtp to your address? If so, you can set up MX pointers to your server... unless it's dynamic. In which case, you could set up with one of the dynamic dns providers, and update it with a short TTL. In which case, everything shulud work, although some systems will reject (RBL) mail originating from your address simply because it IS dynamic. Back in Phoenix, I was set up (with Cox as my provider) with a server at the house directly accepting mail from outside. It was great fun, but due to the worm/virus outbreaks, and various threats from the community at large, they began blocking inbound smtp, and eventually outbound as well. While this was certainly aggravating at the time, and I was annoyed they didn't bother to NOTIFY me of this change, in hindsight it's probalby just as well. I wound up going with a $2/mo. offsite hosting outfit, and have to say my aggravation levels are greatly reduced (not to mention I can down my server and not worry about losing stuff... a real advantage while moving last summer.) It's also nice now that I'm experiencing the not-quite-so-steady power in my new home area. Mail for my domains goes to the hosted server (my MX), and I pull it down at regular (5 min.) intervals using fetchmail via POP3. I run postfix locally, but relay through my provider's (charter) smtp server for outbound to avoid sudden surprises if ToS changes. I've got accounts on the hosted server for my users (family), plus a "wildcard" that I can use to break things out locally via aliases. It's not as sexy as having incoming mail handled directly, but mail for my domains "is delivered to my server" for local reading via POP/IMAP, and I do have control over the local outbound (smtp). I don't have spammers knocking at my server constantly, and I have to admit I don't miss the headaches of an exposed server (though the learning was fun). I'm not sure if that's what you had in mind, but it does work well. > I have Postfix in mind, I've heard it's pretty easy but I'm obviously > not set on it. I used postfix throughout, and found it quite easy to set up and administer. Handling multiple domains locally was no big deal, jsut a matter of setting the "mydestination" option. Again, specifics may vary depending on what your provider allows/requires. > I'd also like to include spamassassin, and antivirus (clamav > probaly...) I do run spamassassin via local delivery, but obviously the stuff's made it onto my server by then. I don't run any MTA-level blocking, due to the setup described above. It does keep the crud out of my family's inboxen though (and quite deftly, I might add.) I also chain bogofilter and spamprobe, experimenting with variations on bayes. I'm on the spamassassin list, and there ways to get MTA-level integration, if you desire. I'm running several anti-virus (3 - bitdefender, f-prot and clamav) in line via procmail on delivery. Each detects some the others miss (depending on the hour.) Again, this could be integrated at a higher level. You might check out amavis or mailscanner. I've got anomy sanitizer as a 3rd level of defense, stripping off active content and defanging (web bugs and the like), for selected accounts. I set this up all as discrete steps, and had no real headaches. The documentation for each package (postfix, fetchmail, procmail, spamassassin, clamav) was sufficient. I run my own linux firewall, but I can understand why some folks prefer to by an appliance. I host my mail server off-site, but have done the "studly mail admin" bit as well. Just a question of trade-offs for a home/hobby system, and how much time you want to spend on it. - Bob _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

March 31, 2004

Re: Good HowTo

by Bob George

Martin, Eric wrote: > [...] I own two domains, and I want to have email from those domains > delivered to my server. The first question is: will your provider allow incoming smtp to your address? If so, you can set up MX pointers to your server... unless it's dynamic. In which case, you could set up with one of the dynamic dns providers, and update it with a short TTL. In which case, everything shulud work, although some systems will reject (RBL) mail originating from your address simply because it IS dynamic. Back in Phoenix, I was set up (with Cox as my provider) with a server at the house directly accepting mail from outside. It was great fun, but due to the worm/virus outbreaks, and various threats from the community at large, they began blocking inbound smtp, and eventually outbound as well. While this was certainly aggravating at the time, and I was annoyed they didn't bother to NOTIFY me of this change, in hindsight it's probalby just as well. I wound up going with a $2/mo. offsite hosting outfit, and have to say my aggravation levels are greatly reduced (not to mention I can down my server and not worry about losing stuff... a real advantage while moving last summer.) It's also nice now that I'm experiencing the not-quite-so-steady power in my new home area. Mail for my domains goes to the hosted server (my MX), and I pull it down at regular (5 min.) intervals using fetchmail via POP3. I run postfix locally, but relay through my provider's (charter) smtp server for outbound to avoid sudden surprises if ToS changes. I've got accounts on the hosted server for my users (family), plus a "wildcard" that I can use to break things out locally via aliases. It's not as sexy as having incoming mail handled directly, but mail for my domains "is delivered to my server" for local reading via POP/IMAP, and I do have control over the local outbound (smtp). I don't have spammers knocking at my server constantly, and I have to admit I don't miss the headaches of an exposed server (though the learning was fun). I'm not sure if that's what you had in mind, but it does work well. > I have Postfix in mind, I've heard it's pretty easy but I'm obviously > not set on it. I used postfix throughout, and found it quite easy to set up and administer. Handling multiple domains locally was no big deal, jsut a matter of setting the "mydestination" option. Again, specifics may vary depending on what your provider allows/requires. > I'd also like to include spamassassin, and antivirus (clamav > probaly...) I do run spamassassin via local delivery, but obviously the stuff's made it onto my server by then. I don't run any MTA-level blocking, due to the setup described above. It does keep the crud out of my family's inboxen though (and quite deftly, I might add.) I also chain bogofilter and spamprobe, experimenting with variations on bayes. I'm on the spamassassin list, and there ways to get MTA-level integration, if you desire. I'm running several anti-virus (3 - bitdefender, f-prot and clamav) in line via procmail on delivery. Each detects some the others miss (depending on the hour.) Again, this could be integrated at a higher level. You might check out amavis or mailscanner. I've got anomy sanitizer as a 3rd level of defense, stripping off active content and defanging (web bugs and the like), for selected accounts. I set this up all as discrete steps, and had no real headaches. The documentation for each package (postfix, fetchmail, procmail, spamassassin, clamav) was sufficient. I run my own linux firewall, but I can understand why some folks prefer to by an appliance. I host my mail server off-site, but have done the "studly mail admin" bit as well. Just a question of trade-offs for a home/hobby system, and how much time you want to spend on it. - Bob

March 31, 2004

Re: [Wlug] High-speed access questions

by Mike Frysinger

On Wednesday 31 March 2004 01:06 pm, Martin, Eric wrote: > Also, how hard is it to setup a linux > router? I've been meaning to make a DMZ, just have to get familiar with > iptables... ive been meaning to write a Gentoo HOWTO for this ... keep forgetting though :) personally i dont think it's hard, but thats because i spent the hours scouring google/howtos shifting through the good information and the bad information :) i'm not saying it should be that way ... if you have a good howto that outlines the things you *need* to do and the extra things you can do for *fun*, you can go from there ... that said, my little 'linux router howto' (off the top of my head atm) would consist of aquring a few key pieces (rp-pppoe, dnsmasq, dhcpd, oidentd, iptables) and then setting then them up ... -mike

March 31, 2004

Good HowTo

by Martin, Eric

Anybdoy know of a good howto for setting up a home mail server? Gentoo has a Virtual mailserver how to, but that's not what I'm looking for. I own two domains, and I want to have email from those domains delivered to my server. I have Postfix in mind, I've heard it's pretty easy but I'm obviously not set on it. I'd also like to include spamassassin, and antivirus (clamav probaly...) Thanks Eric

March 31, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Looking for a used power supply

by Theo Van Dinter

On Wed, Mar 31, 2004 at 12:45:17PM -0500, Mike Peckar wrote: > One of my clone's power supplies died - it's a standard PC-like power > supply, but the motherboard connector has 20 pins. I had some similar power > supplies lying around, but they had more/different motherboard pinouts.. Errr. If you go here: http://www.2000trainers.com/article.aspx?articleID=119&page=2 is the power supply using AT (2 single row connectors) or ATX connectors (a bank of 34 or whatever)? -- Randomly Generated Tagline: We come to bury DOS, not to praise it. (Paul Vojta, vojta(a)math.berkeley.edu, paraphrasing a quote of Shakespeare)

March 31, 2004

RE: [Wlug] High-speed access questions

by Martin, Eric

That's another good point about Charter...most of the tech support people are everyday people with a manual in front of them that has a table with 2 cols: Customer reports problem :: Solution. I had more dynamic solutions when I was 10 than these guys have. Also, how hard is it to setup a linux router? I've been meaning to make a DMZ, just have to get familiar with iptables... Eric -----Original Message----- From: Mike Frysinger [mailto:vapier@gentoo.org] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 12:59 PM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: Re: [Wlug] High-speed access questions On Wednesday 31 March 2004 12:35 pm, Gregory Avedissian wrote: > Has anyone had luck with linux and Verizon DSL? They're down to > $35/month, and they give you the modem. Anyone know of better deals? verizon is the cheapest ive seen in our area ... i use it out in holden and the service has been perfect the last few years ... if you can get speakeasy, i'd shell the few extra dollars out for them (too bad they dont have service in holden for me though :() ... speakeasy knows linux and offers technical support for no extra $$$ i started using them when they first started offering DSL and they sucked horribly ... but they have gotten their act together and i havent had troubles since personally i use a gentoo linux router that connects with PPPoE and hosts dns (with dnsmasq)/dhcp/NAT for about 6 linux machines and 5 windows machines ... never had troubles that were my fault :) do *not* try to contact technical support from verizon, the vast majority are stupid and just read off of the screen in front of them ... i only ever talked to one guy that knew what 'linux' was and that was after hours of being on the phone (this was back when their hardware would go dark for days on end) if need/want help i wouldnt mind stopping over to lend a hand ... assuming you live in the worcester area :) -mike _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

March 31, 2004

Re: [Wlug] High-speed access questions

by Mike Frysinger

On Wednesday 31 March 2004 12:35 pm, Gregory Avedissian wrote: > Has anyone had luck with linux and Verizon DSL? They're down to > $35/month, and they give you the modem. Anyone know of better deals? verizon is the cheapest ive seen in our area ... i use it out in holden and the service has been perfect the last few years ... if you can get speakeasy, i'd shell the few extra dollars out for them (too bad they dont have service in holden for me though :() ... speakeasy knows linux and offers technical support for no extra $$$ i started using them when they first started offering DSL and they sucked horribly ... but they have gotten their act together and i havent had troubles since personally i use a gentoo linux router that connects with PPPoE and hosts dns (with dnsmasq)/dhcp/NAT for about 6 linux machines and 5 windows machines ... never had troubles that were my fault :) do *not* try to contact technical support from verizon, the vast majority are stupid and just read off of the screen in front of them ... i only ever talked to one guy that knew what 'linux' was and that was after hours of being on the phone (this was back when their hardware would go dark for days on end) if need/want help i wouldnt mind stopping over to lend a hand ... assuming you live in the worcester area :) -mike

March 31, 2004

Re: [Wlug] High-speed access questions

by Chuck Noyes

Linux and verizon DSL work just fine. So does FreeBSD. -Chuck On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 12:35:39 -0500, Gregory Avedissian <avedis(a)rcn.com> wrote: > It seems like most of the providers say that you need windows or mac to > use their DSL or cable internet. Does this just mean they won't offer > tech support for linux, or does it mean that it won't work? I'm planning > on using a router and having two computers connected. > > Has anyone had luck with linux and Verizon DSL? They're down to > $35/month, and they give you the modem. Anyone know of better deals? > > Thanks. > > > Greg > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > -- Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

March 31, 2004

Looking for a used power supply

by Mike Peckar

One of my clone's power supplies died - it's a standard PC-like power supply, but the motherboard connector has 20 pins. I had some similar power supplies lying around, but they had more/different motherboard pinouts.. I'm willing to trade for a free beer after the next meeting.

March 31, 2004

RE: [Wlug] High-speed access questions

by Martin, Eric

It just means that they won't support it. Charter will add $30/mo I believe....Verizon Does PPoE, get get ready to recompile your kernel if you aren't using a router (which you are, so it doesn't matter). Once you have a router plugged in, your internet connection becomes just a regular lan, and TCP/IP takes over, not Verizon or Charter... -----Original Message----- From: Gregory Avedissian [mailto:avedis@rcn.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 12:36 PM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org Subject: [Wlug] High-speed access questions It seems like most of the providers say that you need windows or mac to use their DSL or cable internet. Does this just mean they won't offer tech support for linux, or does it mean that it won't work? I'm planning on using a router and having two computers connected. Has anyone had luck with linux and Verizon DSL? They're down to $35/month, and they give you the modem. Anyone know of better deals? Thanks. Greg _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

March 31, 2004