RE: I got those SMTP high CPU blues - guess why

>Does SMTP check? Or just POP?

POP had password authentication built into it from the beginning, but SMTP
didn't. Then again SMTP was designed when there were several hundred
machines on the 'net and a 56K like was high speed. Part of the original
design of SMTP was the ability to relay messages. Company 1 would only have
a connection to company 2 (all point to point then) and so it would send
mail to company 3 by asking company 2 to relay it.

There have been extensions to SMTP to require a user to login before
relaying messages, and most clients support sending a userid and password to
SMTP. I don't know if OS/400's SMTP server supports authentication, but it
may (should.)

-Walden

------------
Walden H Leverich III
President
Tech Software
(516) 627-3800 x11
(208) 692-3308 eFax
WaldenL@TechSoftInc.com
http://www.TechSoftInc.com

Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
(Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)



-----Original Message-----
From: William A.(Tony) Corbett [mailto:corbett@ASRESOURCES.COM]
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 14:18
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange. com
Subject: Re: I got those SMTP high CPU blues - guess why


Jeff, they got me about a month ago.  I turned off relay blocking several
months ago to test something (I don't remember what), and forgot to set it
back up. One day I got a bounced email saying that an NT email server had
rejected me as an open relay.  I forgot about killing relay blocking and
just kinda blew it off as NT, then that afternoon, I was at the console
doing something, after hours, and the CPU started working like mad.  There
shouldn't have been anything going on, so I checked.  SMTP was real high on
CPU.  I suspected what it was, checked netstat, and ended SMTP long enough
to freak out whatever was abusing me, then restarted it and re-set up relay
blocking.

I had to get ORDB to re-check me to get me un-blacklisted.

Can I just go out and set up my smtp server in an email client as just
anybody, without a userid/password on their system?  Does SMTP check? Or
just POP?  Or is there some more "hacker-type" stuff I'd have to know.  It
just seems like it'd be harder for a "professional" spammer to peddle his
trash.

AS/Resources, Inc.
William A.(Tony) Corbett
IBM Certified Specialist - AS/400 Developer http://www.asresources.com
corbett@asresources.com 770-587-4812 (office) 678-935-5006 (mobile)
fax:  404-663-4737



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