On Wed, 28 Apr 2004, Manny Amador wrote: > Is there a way for an ISP to block mail being sent through the localhost > SMTP? > > I have one RH 9 Linux box in Cebu where I use pine to send mail. The SMTP > servier is set to localhost. I run postifx. It works fine when sending > email through Mozcom and another satellite office's dialup (they have a > DSL line to connect to the internet and we dialup to them for internet > connection). > > On the other hand, I have another RH 9 Linux box Manila configured in a > similar fashion (pine, localhost SMTP, postifx). It uses a dialup to a > Manila ISP. The problem is that every time I send mail, everything looks > fine (no error messages or bounce) but the mail never gets sent. Could my > ISP in Manila be blocking the mail? > > Also, I tried to fix the Manila box by configuring pine to use the SMTP > server of my ISP. It works, and the mail gets sent. But there's a long > delay between sending the mail in pine and regaining control. It takes > 10-15 seconds after I hit CTRL-x in pine untill I can regain control and > work on my mail again. is this normal? >
Most ISPs that know what they are doing WILL BLOCK direct SMTP from dialup connections. This is to prevent spammers from directly broadcasting spam off their dialup connections. If you come across an ISP which doesn't block direct SMTP, then beware, their dial-up IP pool may already be block by different anti-spam RBLs. Your mail may not arrive at all. The reason why there is a delay between the time you press ^X in pine and when you regain control is because the data needs to move between your dialup connection to your ISPs SMTP server first, which is not always that fast especially if you are doing some other stull (like surfing). What you can do to solve your problem is to configure your local postfix to relay directly to your ISPs SMTP relay. The config parameter is relayhost = [nn.nn.nn.nn:25] This way you can have the best of both worlds. Your pine will immediately return (as its just a localhost connection between pine and postfix) and you can let your local postfix worry about delivering your mail to the ISP's mail relay. HTH - ian -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [EMAIL PROTECTED] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
