[Sderby] Home server query

[Adrian Wood]

>From: Ashley Heath <aheath@clikmail.net>
>Reply-To: sderby@mailman.lug.org.uk
>To: sderby@mailman.lug.org.uk
>Subject: Re: [Sderby] Home server query
>Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 19:56:04 +0100
>
>On Sun, 27 Apr 2003 12:05:18 +0000
>"Adrian Wood" <adrianwood3@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > >From: Ashley Heath <aheath@clikmail.net>
> > >Reply-To: sderby@mailman.lug.org.uk
> > >To: sderby@mailman.lug.org.uk
> > >Subject: Re: [Sderby] Home server query
> > >Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 12:32:31 +0100
> > >
> > >On Sun, 27 Apr 2003 12:06:05 +0100
> > >"Adrian Wood" <adrianwood3@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > I'm hoping to run a permanent FTP server, as well as my own e-mail
> > >server,
> > > > and I was wondering if anyone had any advice that could help me?
> > > >
> > > > It will be connected to the internet through a Linksys hub/router. 
>It
> > >will
> > > > need to allow external access to the server features, but without
> > > > interfering with the other PCs (which all run Windows, I'm afraid) 
>use
> > >of
> > > > FTP and e-mail from other sources.
> > >
> > >Restrict the FTP and email, only relay mail to and from your domain, 
>you
> > >don't want to become an open relay and get blacklisted.
> >
> > There's the rub; I don't have a domain. I'm hoping that, as I'm only 
>going
> > to be using it rarely for a select group of people to contact me on, it
> > shouldn't be a problem.  There may well be only one e-mail on the 
>server,
> > ine. I have to admit, I wasn't aware that this would be a problem, could 
>you
> > elaborate on this?
>
>If you will be running an SMTP server it is vital that you lock down who 
>the server will relay mail for. Normally SMTP servers are configured to 
>relay mail from users@yourdomains to everyone and everyone to 
>users@yourdomains only. Spammers actively look for open relays, ie servers 
>that are configured to relay mail for all domains. If your server is used 
>by spammers and the recpient reports it, your server could end up on one of 
>the RBL's (Realtime Blacklists). A lot of mail servers are configured to 
>reject connections from blacklisted servers. The other downside to a 
>spammer using your mail server is the amount of diskspace and bandwidth 
>they use.

Ahh, I see. I was actually asking about whether it would be a probelm that I 
didn't have a domain, I always planned to have the email restricted to just 
a few set accounts :)

As an aside, I installed Linux on the box (after quite a few false starts 
due to not one, but *two* broken CD drives,) set it up for the network, and 
got webmin up and running. And thanks to some advice about www.myip.org from 
a friend, it looks like I'll have a domain anyway.

Thanks again for your advice, it's come in most useful!


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