[Wolves] I been asked a wierd question.

Kevanf1 kevanf1 at gmail.com
Wed May 24 12:33:51 BST 2006


On 24/05/06, Simon Morris <simon.morris at cmtww.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-05-24 at 11:24 +0100, David Morley wrote:
> > Can you rout all emails from a network through one machine in order to
> > be able to view whats going on.  I said yes set up a mail server but
> > he wants to be able to veiw the mails in something like outlook
> > express.  Strictly monitoring purposes not content.  He wants to be
> > able to view addresses etc I said just view the log files or setup a
> > cron job to print the log files .
>
> I think you should put your consultancy hat on and disregard the
> solution he is trying to suggest and get to the root of what his
> requirements are. The solution that will work will then be much more
> apparent.
>
> I'm sure it is possible to do some perl foo to convert Postfix logs to a
> format that could be read inside Outlook Express but that really isn't
> the best solution. (Or is it? Without a set of requirements we can't
> tell)
>
> You haven't mentioned (and maybe he hasn't told you) what it is he
> actually requires. Just general mail usage stats? Does he need to be
> able to produce some sort of audit trail?
>
> Thanks
>
> ~sm
>

I'm just wondering... does he suspect the employee to be conducting
illegal activity?  If so then the first port of call ought really be
the police.  Otherwise the company could easily find itself in the
dock too.  If it's merely using the mail system for personal e-mails
then a quiet chat has to be the best way of doing things.  It doesn't
have to be totally confrontational either.  Just a chat getting round
to the issue in a general way.  If the employee has any sort of access
that could mess things up for the company - privileged database access
for example - it's surely got to be best to tread lightly.
-- 
==============================================
I am only human, please forgive me if I make a mistake it is not deliberate.
==============================================
PLEASE DON'T drink and drive it's not clever, it's just stupid.

Kevan Farmer

Linux user #373362

Cheslyn Hay
Staffordshire
WS6 7HR



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