Re: [IMail Forum] Open Servers

[Todd Lahman]

It would be helpful if IMail installed to only relay for IP addresses, and automatically setup the IP addresses bound to the install machines ethernet card/s as the default with a message notifying the installer that additional IP addresses would need to be setup if needed.  This would set IMail up to not relay as the default, and utilize its most effective anti-relay as its default.  There should be a chapter in the manual dedicated to relaying, and the first page should talk about relaying for IP addresses first rating each method in terms of effectiveness.  There should also be accompanying information regarding Spam in the same chapter following each relay/anti-relay method described.   Relaying was something e-mail servers did in the old days when networks were not part of one big network called the Internet, but now with so much Spam, relaying is no longer considered good practice due to the abuse and potential for abuse by the Spam community.  E-mail servers today are expected to know exactly where to send e-mail on their own without the need to relay through another e-mail server to deliver e-mail to the final destination.   In your case the default IMail settings caused you the problem.  I think if it was up to a vote everyone would opt for tighter anti-relay settings at the time of install until there was time to read the manual. ----- Original Message ----- From: Robert Hopkins To: Imal_Forum Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 7:29 AM Subject: [IMail Forum] Open Servers This may sound naive but what is the reason for email servers to relay mail?  I never gave it any thought when we installed iMal but we now we are getting spammed big time and I installed declude.exe which taught me a ton about spam and mail servers.  Ours was wide open and we shut that off yesterday.   So back to my question, why do mail servers relay mail?     Robert Hopkins Hopkins Mailing Services, Inc. 758 W Racquet Club Drive Addison, IL  60101-4324 (630) 628-0088 Ext. 11