re: Re[4]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

2008-10-09 Thread Linda Pagillo
Sandy...

Uptime should be 100% on DNS servers. It's 2008! This should not even
be a consideration. No matter how wonderfully they work, a
high-traffic mail server will _always_ be slowed down by using DNS
servers over a WAN.

In a perfect world this would be correct, but as you already know from working 
in the IT profession, no server, DNS or otherwise has an uptime of 100%. I have 
yet to see one that does in the 10 years that i have been an IT professional. 
Yes, things may be slowed down a bit by using a DNS server over a WAN, but in 
my experience, it's more reliable to use the OpenDNS servers with Declude 
because they are configured properly for use of the RBL tests. You'd be 
suprised how many people i talk to in a week who have very little understanding 
about the role DNS plays in having these tests work properly.

Well... anyone running a help desk for an otherwise stable
product/environment sees the majority of questions for stupid stuff
that is not your fault. Does that mean that corporate help desks,
which are constantly saddled with password resets and access requests,
should just tell users to share the same user account + password?
(Some do: bad ones.)

I don't consider the questions that are asked by our customers as stupid stuff 
that is not our fault, especially the questions about how DNS plays an 
important role in our product. When a customer comes to me in a panic about 
their mail backing up and causing delays, they are quite happy when we 
diagnose, fix and educate them about the issue, DNS related or otherwise. I do 
not see that as bad service. We provide some of the best support available. 
If you would like to see the thank you letters and cards that i receive each 
year, i will gladly show them to you. In my years of working in this business, 
i have never come across a technical support agent that spent hours on the 
phone with me (on holidays, weekends, after hours and days off) providing me 
with an educated, detailed description and resolution of a problem i was 
having. I have never had a technical support agent give me their personal cell 
phone number so that i could reach them in their worst time of need. We proudly 
go above and beyond the call of duty. If that is considered bad service, i 
don't know what to say.

Actually, what you said was I suggest always using 208.67.220.220
because you will never have to rely on your internal DNS -- that is
not an idle option but a pretty firm prescription from the company.
Guess it depends on whether suggest beats always or vice versa.

I do suggest always using the OpenDNS servers. For the 3rd time... 95% of our 
support issues are DNS related because of incorrectly configured DNS servers 
and most of our users are not DNS experts. Although i do always suggest to our 
customers to use these servers, a few of them choose to obtain outside DNS 
support to help them get their server configured. On the other hand, most of 
them are very pleased that we have another option for them. I have been asked 
many many times to suggest a DNS server that they can use.

All companies either have an internal recursive DNS server (maybe they
don't know its IP?) or already use their ISPs DNS or some other remote
DNS service like OpenDNS. Are you talking about people who have a DNS
server running on localhost, but not a recursive server, and have
dliberately set Declude to use this server instead of the fully
functioning one they must have in order to send mail? G-d help us if
these people are blithely switching to OpenDNS instead of taking their
DNS illiteracy seriously!

Like I said above, most of our customers are not DNS experts and call us in 
time of need for help or advice. You would be surprised how many people i speak 
with who do not have the recursive option set on their DNS servers or even more 
so, they are using their ISP's DNS server and the ISP does not allow recursive 
lookups because of the high traffic.

I would submit that you are both (a) doing your own product a
disservice by hampering its performance AND
 
By suggesting a DNS server to use with our product is far from doing it a 
disservice. We are simply giving them an option. We are not forcing them to use 
the OpenDNS servers.

(b) doing your client a
disservice by treating their management like It's okay that your IT
person doesn't know how to configure/locate the simplest possible DNS
setup, he/she can still be a responsible mail admin. 
This may be a
good way to grab more Declude users who would otherwise outsource all
of their anti-spam, but it is unethical to suggest that anyone so
unqualified should be in charge of their company's anti-spam defenses.

This is completely off the subject. We have no bearing on how people choose to 
run their business or educate their employees. We do our best to educate the 
people who come to us for help. It's not up to us wether or not they choose to 
run their own DNS server or use the one(s) that we suggest.

Why not just 

Re: Re[6]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

2008-10-09 Thread Darin Cox
I have to say I also agree with Sandy.  While recommending a free external 
DNS solution like OpenDNS is an easy fix for many less technical customers, 
as Sandy has pointed out it is not the best solution.

1. The customer has no control over its availability.  With a free external 
DNS solution there is no guarantee it will be available in the future.  This 
is why an internal or pay-for solution is generally a better choice, 
especially for something as critical as business mail services.

2. There is a performance hit from using external DNS for mail processing.

So again, while recommending it may be an easy fix, and may get you many 
thanks, the above points should always be discussed so the customer 
understands the implications of using a solution like OpenDNS.

While there is a full range of customer knowledge levels and desired 
depth/control of a technical solution, I would have to agree that running 
mail servers and use of a technical solution like Declude should require a 
background knowledge in DNS and SMTP.  I would think that being halfway 
up-to-speed with the technical background necessary is a much worse and 
dangerous place to be in running these services than either outsourcing or 
having a deep enough understanding to do something as simple as set up 
multiple internal DNS servers with recursion turned on.


My $0.01. (decreased due to inflation and other financial considerations, 
plus being mostly a reiteration of points already made)

Darin.


- Original Message - 
From: Sanford Whiteman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Linda Pagillo declude.junkmail@declude.com
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 4:52 AM
Subject: Re[6]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes


 In a perfect world this would be correct, but as you already know
 from working in the IT profession, no server, DNS or otherwise has
 an uptime of 100%.

A  single  physical  DNS server may go down, sure, whatever. The DNS
config  (redundant  DNS servers or load-balanced on a virtual IP) used
by   a  mail  infrastructure  _must_  be  100%  as  available  as  the
mailservers  themselves.  I'm  certain that everybody on this list who
runs  a hosting provider or supports a large company completely agrees
and has built their infrastructure accordingly.

My  clients  always have DNS resolution -- yes, _100% of the time that
they   are  connected  to  the  internet_  --  as  is  commonplace  in
enterprise-class  IT  (if not in all enterprise IT). It is not so in
SMB  IT,  to  be  sure,  but for your (presumably) SMB clients, we are
likelytalkingaboutmakingDNS   _as   available   as   a
single-point-of-failure  MX_. That can mean running caching DNS on the
same  box.  If  an admin can't keep a modern DNS daemon running on the
mailserver, then their mail should be outsourced. Period.

 Yes,  things  may  be slowed down a bit by using a DNS server over a
 WAN,

Will  certainly  be slowed down, no may, let's please be clear about
this.

 but  in my experience, it's more reliable to use the OpenDNS servers
 with Declude because they are configured properly for use of the RBL
 tests.

An  OpenDNS  server  is not more reliable for RBL lookups than local
recursive  DNS  servers. It is more reliable than overloaded ISP DNS
servers. That is not the same statement.

 You'd  be suprised how many people i talk to in a week who have very
 little  understanding about the role DNS plays in having these tests
 work properly.

I  wouldn't be surprised at all... and I wouldn't be surprised if, nnn
months  after they magically switch to OpenDNS, they _still_ have very
little  understanding  of DNS and how to troubleshoot SMTP sending and
receiving  problems.  Because  you've  patched  the  problem,  but you
haven't  educated them one bit by telling them that DNS -- rather than
being  the  mail-critical,  distributed,  scaleable, high-performance,
learnable,  fairly  brilliant protocol that it is -- is something they
should get from a free provider over the WAN.

By   the   way,  I  completely  support  shops  that  outsource  their
anti-spam/anti-virus  +  their  mailboxes  (and  just about everything
else)  using OpenDNS for web browsing, since otherwise they would have
to  support  their first reliable, recursive DNS server(s). But if you
are  capable  of  supporting  your own anti-abuse and mailbox servers,
_you  are  capable  of supporting a recursive DNS server_. Or you lied
about the first part.

 I  don't  consider  the questions that are asked by our customers as
 stupid stuff that is not our fault, especially the questions about
 how  DNS  plays  an  important  role in our product.

But you know very well what I mean by stupid stuff These are the
issues  you  have  to  deal  with  that cause collateral damage to the
reputation  of your product or service, even though you have no direct
control over the problem area. In my password example, people with bad
memories  or  unstuck  post-it notes are not your fault. But you don't
yell  

Re[6]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

2008-10-09 Thread Sanford Whiteman
 In a perfect world this would be correct, but as you already know
 from working in the IT profession, no server, DNS or otherwise has
 an uptime of 100%.

A  single  physical  DNS server may go down, sure, whatever. The DNS
config  (redundant  DNS servers or load-balanced on a virtual IP) used
by   a  mail  infrastructure  _must_  be  100%  as  available  as  the
mailservers  themselves.  I'm  certain that everybody on this list who
runs  a hosting provider or supports a large company completely agrees
and has built their infrastructure accordingly.

My  clients  always have DNS resolution -- yes, _100% of the time that
they   are  connected  to  the  internet_  --  as  is  commonplace  in
enterprise-class  IT  (if not in all enterprise IT). It is not so in
SMB  IT,  to  be  sure,  but for your (presumably) SMB clients, we are
likelytalkingaboutmakingDNS   _as   available   as   a
single-point-of-failure  MX_. That can mean running caching DNS on the
same  box.  If  an admin can't keep a modern DNS daemon running on the
mailserver, then their mail should be outsourced. Period.

 Yes,  things  may  be slowed down a bit by using a DNS server over a
 WAN,

Will  certainly  be slowed down, no may, let's please be clear about
this.

 but  in my experience, it's more reliable to use the OpenDNS servers
 with Declude because they are configured properly for use of the RBL
 tests.

An  OpenDNS  server  is not more reliable for RBL lookups than local
recursive  DNS  servers. It is more reliable than overloaded ISP DNS
servers. That is not the same statement.

 You'd  be suprised how many people i talk to in a week who have very
 little  understanding about the role DNS plays in having these tests
 work properly.

I  wouldn't be surprised at all... and I wouldn't be surprised if, nnn
months  after they magically switch to OpenDNS, they _still_ have very
little  understanding  of DNS and how to troubleshoot SMTP sending and
receiving  problems.  Because  you've  patched  the  problem,  but you
haven't  educated them one bit by telling them that DNS -- rather than
being  the  mail-critical,  distributed,  scaleable, high-performance,
learnable,  fairly  brilliant protocol that it is -- is something they
should get from a free provider over the WAN.

By   the   way,  I  completely  support  shops  that  outsource  their
anti-spam/anti-virus  +  their  mailboxes  (and  just about everything
else)  using OpenDNS for web browsing, since otherwise they would have
to  support  their first reliable, recursive DNS server(s). But if you
are  capable  of  supporting  your own anti-abuse and mailbox servers,
_you  are  capable  of supporting a recursive DNS server_. Or you lied
about the first part.

 I  don't  consider  the questions that are asked by our customers as
 stupid stuff that is not our fault, especially the questions about
 how  DNS  plays  an  important  role in our product.

But you know very well what I mean by stupid stuff These are the
issues  you  have  to  deal  with  that cause collateral damage to the
reputation  of your product or service, even though you have no direct
control over the problem area. In my password example, people with bad
memories  or  unstuck  post-it notes are not your fault. But you don't
yell  at  them,  and  you  don't  tell them to rely on somebody else's
account. You do the smart thing and reset their password. Likewise for
people  that  can't  open  their corporate e-mail account because they
forgot to plug in their LAN cable when they came back from a trip. You
don't  hang  up  on  them,  and you don't tell to go down to the local
coffee  shop  and  use  their GMail account. You tell them how to deal
with the problem, not how to avoid it.

 When  a  customer comes to me in a panic about their mail backing up
 and  causing  delays, they are quite happy when we diagnose, fix and
 educate them about the issue, DNS related or otherwise. I do not see
 that  as  bad  service.  We  provide  some  of  the  best  support
 available.  If you would like to see the thank you letters and cards
 that  i  receive  each  year, i will gladly show them to you.

I'm  not  debating  whether people are pleased with your service. I am
sure  they are pleased as punch to have avoided learning something new
and nonetheless brought their mailserver back to life (albeit at lower
performance).  That  does  not change the fact that by suggesting that
the  right  thing  to  do  for  DNS  is  use a free service, you are
pretending  that  DNS  is not a necessary skill area for a mail admin,
and  *that  is  ridiculous*.  These  are  DECLUDE users we are talking
about!  Yours  is  not  a  tremendously  user-friendly  product in the
anti-spam  scene. Its powers are rich and at times obscure. Maybe some
people can get by with the defaults for a while; eventually, that will
not  suffice.  And  if  they  want to understand how to optimize their
anti-abuse  defenses,  they  *must* understand 

Re: Re[6]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

2008-10-09 Thread Ncl Admin
There is also the question of loss of connectivity from point A to OpenDNS
server #1 which is all that you have if you setup Declude to use a Single
Source DNS server.  If anywhere in that path there is an outage you will
have no DNS.

Far better to learn a little about DNS and run your own. Then you can at
least use several other sources even if you care to set it up to use OpenDNS.

As for $0.01 I have changed that as of recent events to $0.005 as your 401K
has probably gone down that much in recent months.

At 09:01 AM 10/9/2008 -0400, Darin Cox wrote:
1. The customer has no control over its availability. 
My $0.01. (decreased due to inflation and other financial considerations, 
plus being mostly a reiteration of points already made)



-
This information is intended only for the use of the individual or
entity named above. 

If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that
any disclosure, copying, distribution, or action taken in reliance
on the contents of these documents is strictly prohibited. If you
have received this information in error, please notify the sender
immediately and arrange for the return or destruction of the 
document(s).

Warning: All e-mail sent to or from this address will be received or
otherwise recorded by the Corporate e-mail system and is subject to 
archival, monitoring or review by, and/or disclosure to, someone other
than the recipient.


---
This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list.  To
unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and
type unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail.  The archives can be found
at http://www.mail-archive.com.



RE: Re[6]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

2008-10-09 Thread Patrick Childers
Sandy, I agree with you. While recommending OpenDNS is certainly painless
and easy for the support desk, it is certainly not the best solution for an
in-house mail server - especially those running anti-spam products.

Just my .02


~Patrick

 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sanford
Whiteman
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 4:52 AM
To: Linda Pagillo
Subject: Re[6]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

 In a perfect world this would be correct, but as you already know from 
 working in the IT profession, no server, DNS or otherwise has an 
 uptime of 100%.

A  single  physical  DNS server may go down, sure, whatever. The DNS
config  (redundant  DNS servers or load-balanced on a virtual IP) used
by   a  mail  infrastructure  _must_  be  100%  as  available  as  the
mailservers  themselves.  I'm  certain that everybody on this list who runs
a hosting provider or supports a large company completely agrees and has
built their infrastructure accordingly.

My  clients  always have DNS resolution -- yes, _100% of the time that
they   are  connected  to  the  internet_  --  as  is  commonplace  in
enterprise-class  IT  (if not in all enterprise IT). It is not so in SMB
IT,  to  be  sure,  but for your (presumably) SMB clients, we are
likelytalkingaboutmakingDNS   _as   available   as   a
single-point-of-failure  MX_. That can mean running caching DNS on the same
box.  If  an admin can't keep a modern DNS daemon running on the mailserver,
then their mail should be outsourced. Period.

 Yes,  things  may  be slowed down a bit by using a DNS server over a 
 WAN,

Will  certainly  be slowed down, no may, let's please be clear about this.

 but  in my experience, it's more reliable to use the OpenDNS servers 
 with Declude because they are configured properly for use of the RBL 
 tests.

An  OpenDNS  server  is not more reliable for RBL lookups than local
recursive  DNS  servers. It is more reliable than overloaded ISP DNS
servers. That is not the same statement.

 You'd  be suprised how many people i talk to in a week who have very 
 little  understanding about the role DNS plays in having these tests 
 work properly.

I  wouldn't be surprised at all... and I wouldn't be surprised if, nnn
months  after they magically switch to OpenDNS, they _still_ have very
little  understanding  of DNS and how to troubleshoot SMTP sending and
receiving  problems.  Because  you've  patched  the  problem,  but you
haven't  educated them one bit by telling them that DNS -- rather than being
the  mail-critical,  distributed,  scaleable, high-performance, learnable,
fairly  brilliant protocol that it is -- is something they should get from a
free provider over the WAN.

By   the   way,  I  completely  support  shops  that  outsource  their
anti-spam/anti-virus  +  their  mailboxes  (and  just about everything
else)  using OpenDNS for web browsing, since otherwise they would have to
support  their first reliable, recursive DNS server(s). But if you are
capable  of  supporting  your own anti-abuse and mailbox servers, _you  are
capable  of supporting a recursive DNS server_. Or you lied about the first
part.

 I  don't  consider  the questions that are asked by our customers as 
 stupid stuff that is not our fault, especially the questions about 
 how  DNS  plays  an  important  role in our product.

But you know very well what I mean by stupid stuff These are the
issues  you  have  to  deal  with  that cause collateral damage to the
reputation  of your product or service, even though you have no direct
control over the problem area. In my password example, people with bad
memories  or  unstuck  post-it notes are not your fault. But you don't yell
at  them,  and  you  don't  tell them to rely on somebody else's account.
You do the smart thing and reset their password. Likewise for people  that
can't  open  their corporate e-mail account because they forgot to plug in
their LAN cable when they came back from a trip. You don't  hang  up  on
them,  and you don't tell to go down to the local coffee  shop  and  use
their GMail account. You tell them how to deal with the problem, not how to
avoid it.

 When  a  customer comes to me in a panic about their mail backing up 
 and  causing  delays, they are quite happy when we diagnose, fix and 
 educate them about the issue, DNS related or otherwise. I do not see 
 that  as  bad  service.  We  provide  some  of  the  best  support 
 available.  If you would like to see the thank you letters and cards 
 that  i  receive  each  year, i will gladly show them to you.

I'm  not  debating  whether people are pleased with your service. I am sure
they are pleased as punch to have avoided learning something new and
nonetheless brought their mailserver back to life (albeit at lower
performance).  That  does  not change the fact that by suggesting that the
right  thing  to  do  for  DNS  is  use a free service, you are pretending
that  

re: Re[6]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

2008-10-09 Thread Linda Pagillo
Sandy,

A single physical DNS server may go down, sure, whatever. The DNS
config (redundant DNS servers or load-balanced on a virtual IP) used
by a mail infrastructure _must_ be 100% as available as the
mailservers themselves. I'm certain that everybody on this list who
runs a hosting provider or supports a large company completely agrees
and has built their infrastructure accordingly.

Sandy, i agree on the importance of having a well-designed DNS server in a 
network infrastructure. You and I are both intelligent and experienced enough 
to realize that although both of us feel this way, it does not mean that people 
want to take the time to educate themselves accordingly to implement one, no 
matter how simple a task. There is not much we can do about this. 

My clients always have DNS resolution -- yes, _100% of the time that
they are connected to the internet_ -- as is commonplace in
enterprise-class IT (if not in all enterprise IT). It is not so in
SMB IT, to be sure, but for your (presumably) SMB clients, we are
likely talking about making DNS _as available as a
single-point-of-failure MX_. That can mean running caching DNS on the
same box. If an admin can't keep a modern DNS daemon running on the
mailserver, then their mail should be outsourced. Period.

It is great that your clients always have DNS resolution. Unfortuantley this is 
not true of many Declude customers. The issue here is not how much you know but 
rather how educated our customers are. Sandy, we talking old school vs noobs. 
We cannot spend the time explaining DNS to certain customers who barley know 
how to get a cmd prompt. In this case the suggestion to use a reliable external 
DNS. This is the best we can do. If you would like to take the time to educate 
these users feel free. I can certainly direct them to the lists or you 
personally.  

 Yes, things may be slowed down a bit by using a DNS server over a
 WAN,

Will certainly be slowed down, no may, let's please be clear about
this.

Excuse me, things WILL be slowed down by using a DNS server over a WAN. 
However, where our product is concerned, a slow-down is much better than a 
serious backup of email which we see almost everyday due to in-house DNS server 
issues.

An OpenDNS server is not more reliable for RBL lookups than local
recursive DNS servers. It is more reliable than overloaded ISP DNS
servers. That is not the same statement.

You are correct. In all cases, a local, recursive DNS server is a better 
choice. However, An OpenDNS server is more reliable in running the RBL tests 
than having an in-house DNS server that is configured incorrectly and frankly, 
the truth is, it's not our job to teach people how to set up, run or manage a 
DNS server.

I wouldn't be surprised at all... and I wouldn't be surprised if, nnn
months after they magically switch to OpenDNS, they _still_ have very
little understanding of DNS and how to troubleshoot SMTP sending and
receiving problems. Because you've patched the problem, but you
haven't educated them one bit by telling them that DNS -- rather than
being the mail-critical, distributed, scaleable, high-performance,
learnable, fairly brilliant protocol that it is -- is something they
should get from a free provider over the WAN.

I educate all of our customers who are having DNS issues. I explain how DNS 
works with Declude and why a working, properly configured, recusrive, in-house 
server would be better to use (faster and more controllable). After hearing a 
hundred times a month that they do not want to or do not have the time to 
set one up, i start feeling like my lessons are falling on dead ears. Most of 
our customers don't care about how it works. They simply want it to work. 
When i tell them about how recursive DNS servers work with Declude, they ASK ME 
if i know of any open dns servers that will do this. What would you like us to 
do? We can't force our users to listen, and we surely will not force them to 
use an in-house DNS server.

By the way, I completely support shops that outsource their
anti-spam/anti-virus + their mailboxes (and just about everything
else) using OpenDNS for web browsing, since otherwise they would have
to support their first reliable, recursive DNS server(s). But if you
are capable of supporting your own anti-abuse and mailbox servers,
_you are capable of supporting a recursive DNS server_. Or you lied
about the first part.

Alot of our customers were thrown into the job of running their own mail 
servers and they are learning as they go. There are plenty of different 
circumstances which cause this to happen and i'm sure you're aware of that.

But you know very well what I mean by stupid stuff These are the
issues you have to deal with that cause collateral damage to the
reputation of your product or service, even though you have no direct
control over the problem area. In my password example, people with bad
memories or unstuck post-it notes are not your fault. But you don't
yell at them, 

[Declude.JunkMail] Project Honeypot

2008-10-09 Thread David Dodell

Anyone using Project Honeypot as a spam database lookup?

If so, what do you have in your declude configuration for the setup?

Thanks

David


---
This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list.  To
unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and
type unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail.  The archives can be found
at http://www.mail-archive.com.



RE: Re[6]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

2008-10-09 Thread Linda Pagillo
Thanks Kevin. I will be sure to pass this info on to the customers that i speak 
with.



From: Kevin Bilbee [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 2:19 PM
To: declude.junkmail@declude.com
Subject: RE: Re[6]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes 

I have a suggestion since DNS is so critical to Declude. A secure recursive 
bind implementation can be setup in less than 5 minutes. 
 
How is this difficult? There is no learning DNS.
 
Steps - Tested with Bind 9.5.0-P2 Windows XP/2003/2008 Binary Kit
1)  Download BIND
http://www.isc.org/index.pl?/sw/bind/index.php
2)  Install Bind
a.   Unzip and run BINDInstall.exe
b.  Give the service account a strong password
c.   Do not start bind service after install
3)  Configure Bind
a.   Go to c:\windows\system32\dns and give the service account named 
read\write permissions to the etc folder
b.  Place the attached files into the etc folder.
c.   Open a command propmt
   i.  CD to 
c:\windows\system32\dns\bin
 ii.  Run 
rndc-confgen -a
d.  Change the first line of the named.conf file to your IP range that 
needs recursive DNS. I would use the ip address of the mail server and 
12.0.0.1. change the 169.14.238.0/24 to the IP of your mail server.
acl dmz { 169.14.238.0/24; 127.0.0.1; };
4)  Start bind and make some queries
 
 
This process takes less than 5 minutes. You now have a reliable easily 
upgradeable recursive DNS dedicated to your mail server.
 
 
 
 
Kevin Bilbee
 

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Linda Pagillo
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 8:47 AM
To: declude.junkmail@declude.com
Subject: re: Re[6]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes
 
Sandy,

A single physical DNS server may go down, sure, whatever. The DNS
config (redundant DNS servers or load-balanced on a virtual IP) used
by a mail infrastructure _must_ be 100% as available as the
mailservers themselves. I'm certain that everybody on this list who
runs a hosting provider or supports a large company completely agrees
and has built their infrastructure accordingly.

Sandy, i agree on the importance of having a well-designed DNS server in a 
network infrastructure. You and I are both intelligent and experienced enough 
to realize that although both of us feel this way, it does not mean that people 
want to take the time to educate themselves accordingly to implement one, no 
matter how simple a task. There is not much we can do about this. 

My clients always have DNS resolution -- yes, _100% of the time that
they are connected to the internet_ -- as is commonplace in
enterprise-class IT (if not in all enterprise IT). It is not so in
SMB IT, to be sure, but for your (presumably) SMB clients, we are
likely talking about making DNS _as available as a
single-point-of-failure MX_. That can mean running caching DNS on the
same box. If an admin can't keep a modern DNS daemon running on the
mailserver, then their mail should be outsourced. Period.

It is great that your clients always have DNS resolution. Unfortuantley this is 
not true of many Declude customers. The issue here is not how much you know but 
rather how educated our customers are. Sandy, we talking old school vs noobs. 
We cannot spend the time explaining DNS to certain customers who barley know 
how to get a cmd prompt. In this case the suggestion to use a reliable external 
DNS. This is the best we can do. If you would like to take the time to educate 
these users feel free. I can certainly direct them to the lists or you 
personally.

 Yes, things may be slowed down a bit by using a DNS server over a
 WAN,

Will certainly be slowed down, no may, let's please be clear about
this.

Excuse me, things WILL be slowed down by using a DNS server over a WAN. 
However, where our product is concerned, a slow-down is much better than a 
serious backup of email which we see almost everyday due to in-house DNS server 
issues.

An OpenDNS server is not more reliable for RBL lookups than local
recursive DNS servers. It is more reliable than overloaded ISP DNS
servers. That is not the same statement.

You are correct. In all cases, a local, recursive DNS server is a better 
choice. However, An OpenDNS server is more reliable in running the RBL tests 
than having an in-house DNS server that is configured incorrectly and frankly, 
the truth is, it's not our job to teach people how to set up, run or manage a 
DNS server.

I wouldn't be surprised at all... and I wouldn't be surprised if, nnn
months after they magically switch to OpenDNS, they _still_ have very
little understanding of DNS and how to troubleshoot SMTP sending and
receiving problems. Because you've patched the problem, but you
haven't educated them one bit by telling them that DNS -- rather than
being the mail-critical, distributed, scaleable, 

Re[8]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

2008-10-09 Thread Sanford Whiteman
 I have a suggestion since DNS is so critical to Declude. A secure recursive
 bind implementation can be setup in less than 5 minutes. 

Kevin, thank you very much for proving the absurd ease with which this
one  (of  many)  DNS  servers  can  be set up for this purpose, and to
everybody  else who voiced their agreement. I expect the voices of the
qualified sysadmins here are unified.

--Sandy



Sanford Whiteman, Chief Technologist
Broadleaf Systems, a division of
Cypress Integrated Systems, Inc.
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

SpamAssassin plugs into Declude!
  http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/SPAMC32/download/release/

Defuse Dictionary Attacks: Turn Exchange or IMail mailboxes into IMail Aliases!
  
http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/exchange2aliases/download/release/
  
http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/ldap2aliases/download/release/



---
This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list.  To
unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and
type unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail.  The archives can be found
at http://www.mail-archive.com.



RE: Re[8]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

2008-10-09 Thread Kevin Bilbee
I will admit, Bind is not the easiest thing to setup if you are a new admin.
The first time I tried to setup bind it took me about 3 hours, but to me the
benefits outweigh commercial packages. Including reading on-line
documentation and eliminating one error at a time, making sure it was
secure. But now that I have the minimal settings it is a 5 minute setup.

I have passed these instructions on to many other not so experienced admins.
These instructions work on any platform bind will run on. Just change the
paths to suit the OS.


Kevin Bilbee


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sanford
Whiteman
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 11:48 AM
To: Kevin Bilbee
Subject: Re[8]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

 I have a suggestion since DNS is so critical to Declude. A secure
recursive
 bind implementation can be setup in less than 5 minutes. 

Kevin, thank you very much for proving the absurd ease with which this
one  (of  many)  DNS  servers  can  be set up for this purpose, and to
everybody  else who voiced their agreement. I expect the voices of the
qualified sysadmins here are unified.

--Sandy



Sanford Whiteman, Chief Technologist
Broadleaf Systems, a division of
Cypress Integrated Systems, Inc.
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

SpamAssassin plugs into Declude!
 
http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/SPAMC32/download/release
/

Defuse Dictionary Attacks: Turn Exchange or IMail mailboxes into IMail
Aliases!
 
http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/exchange2aliases/downloa
d/release/
 
http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/ldap2aliases/download/re
lease/



---
This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list.  To
unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and
type unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail.  The archives can be found
at http://www.mail-archive.com.




---
This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list.  To
unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and
type unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail.  The archives can be found
at http://www.mail-archive.com.



Re[8]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

2008-10-09 Thread Sanford Whiteman
 Yeah, that would surprise me utterly, since they wouldn't be able to
 do _anything else_ with said servers that would lead them to believe
 they were suitable for Declude's use.

 I  worked  for  an  ISP  for a long time before joining Declude. DNS
 servers  are NOT useless without the recursive DNS option turned on.
 I  don't  know  where  you're  getting  your  information, but it is
 incorrect.

What  I  said  was  (it's  right  there above, please reread) there is
nothing  else they could do with said servers _that would lead them to
believe  they were suitable for Declude's use_. That is obvious. There
is  no  reason anyone should think that authoritative-only nameservers
are  their  DNS  servers. Such servers could not be the servers they
use  to  surf  the  web, for example. The only reason they would enter
such  a  server  into the Declude config is because they have not been
sufficiently  briefed  on  the  characteristics  of the server that is
suitable  for  Declude vs. one that may not be used. The test can you
run  'nslookup  -q=mx gmail.com 1.2.3.4' is enough to tell people that
the 1.2.3.4 is or isn't valid.

--Sandy




Sanford Whiteman, Chief Technologist
Broadleaf Systems, a division of
Cypress Integrated Systems, Inc.
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

SpamAssassin plugs into Declude!
  http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/SPAMC32/download/release/

Defuse Dictionary Attacks: Turn Exchange or IMail mailboxes into IMail Aliases!
  
http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/exchange2aliases/download/release/
  
http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/ldap2aliases/download/release/



---
This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list.  To
unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and
type unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail.  The archives can be found
at http://www.mail-archive.com.



RE: Re[8]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

2008-10-09 Thread Kevin Bilbee
Not to be picky but run this query instead

nslookup -q=mx gmail.com. 1.2.3.4

If you do not include the dot it may append the default domain for the
windows box to the query. If there is no default domain specified then all
is good. But the extra do will always work.



Kevin Bilbee

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sanford
Whiteman
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 1:35 PM
To: Linda Pagillo
Subject: Re[8]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

 Yeah, that would surprise me utterly, since they wouldn't be able to
 do _anything else_ with said servers that would lead them to believe
 they were suitable for Declude's use.

 I  worked  for  an  ISP  for a long time before joining Declude. DNS
 servers  are NOT useless without the recursive DNS option turned on.
 I  don't  know  where  you're  getting  your  information, but it is
 incorrect.

What  I  said  was  (it's  right  there above, please reread) there is
nothing  else they could do with said servers _that would lead them to
believe  they were suitable for Declude's use_. That is obvious. There
is  no  reason anyone should think that authoritative-only nameservers
are  their  DNS  servers. Such servers could not be the servers they
use  to  surf  the  web, for example. The only reason they would enter
such  a  server  into the Declude config is because they have not been
sufficiently  briefed  on  the  characteristics  of the server that is
suitable  for  Declude vs. one that may not be used. The test can you
run  'nslookup  -q=mx gmail.com 1.2.3.4' is enough to tell people that
the 1.2.3.4 is or isn't valid.

--Sandy




Sanford Whiteman, Chief Technologist
Broadleaf Systems, a division of
Cypress Integrated Systems, Inc.
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

SpamAssassin plugs into Declude!
 
http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/SPAMC32/download/release
/

Defuse Dictionary Attacks: Turn Exchange or IMail mailboxes into IMail
Aliases!
 
http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/exchange2aliases/downloa
d/release/
 
http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/ldap2aliases/download/re
lease/



---
This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list.  To
unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and
type unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail.  The archives can be found
at http://www.mail-archive.com.




---
This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list.  To
unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and
type unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail.  The archives can be found
at http://www.mail-archive.com.



RE: Re[8]: [Declude.JunkMail] DNS Changes

2008-10-09 Thread Sanford Whiteman [Mobile]
Thanks, K.  ipconfig from a mailserver that can surf the net is another duh 
quickie... .

--Sandy  



---
This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list.  To
unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and
type unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail.  The archives can be found
at http://www.mail-archive.com.



[Declude.JunkMail] automated response

2008-10-09 Thread Richardson, John E.
 
I am out of the office until Wed. Oct 19.

Thank you for your message, I will get back to you as soon as I can after I 
return. 


John Richardson



---
This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list.  To
unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and
type unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail.  The archives can be found
at http://www.mail-archive.com.