RE: email/SMTP validation

I had exactly this same scenario recently.

We ended up taking the "white list" they send to the external email
provider (ATT), which has all the valid company email addresses, and
having them schedule a script on their servers to FTP it to lone of our
i5/OS boxes, which we then copy out to our other boxes.

Any email server should include functionality for the -->ldapdiff<--
command which will copy any subset (or the complete set) of valid email
addresses to a file. It's usually a really small file.

Then you can parse the file to a keyed file to validate your email.

I would have rather used the LDAP client, which I know would have worked
if not for the security (and some turf) issues on the Exchange side.

---Alan





-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Armbruster, Tom
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 9:03 PM
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries; RPG programming on the AS400
/ iSeries
Subject: RE: email/SMTP validation

Tim,

I'm sure you will get plenty of suggestions about methods or software to
accomplish this. The issues you may run into are recipient server
security levels which will render these methods useless. Most external
SMTP commands can be restricted by the mail server administrator,
especially those that aid spammers. Before exploring the plethora of
options, I would weigh the benefits against the possible issues that
could arise. If your plans are to reject email addresses that can not
be authenticated, it may hinder your goals. Also keep in mind that a
valid address does not constitute a valid recipient. If your
recipient's mailbox is full, for example, authenticating the address
will not guarantee delivery.

Have you considered a DNS lookup alternative? Rather than relying on
the SMTP server for a response, you could lookup the DNS record for the
domain to determine if there is a valid MX (Mail Exchange) entry. If
either lookup fails, you'll know that the domain is invalid for mail
delivery.

Tom Armbruster


________________________________

From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of tim
Sent: Fri 1/11/2008 7:24 AM
To: 'RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries'
Subject: email/SMTP validation



I am interested in validating an email address. No just the syntax but
if it's a valid email address. I've heard that that's called "smtp
validation".




Has anyone done this who can give some suggestions?



Thanks