Problems with forwarded mail

Discussion in 'Email' started by Mike Therien, May 23, 2008.

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  1. Mike Therien

    Mike Therien

    I am one of many people that do not like SmarterMail. Ever since I was migrated to SmarterMail I have been having lots of problems, some which I have worked around.

    It is getting to a point where I am considering moving away from DASP.

    I have been using SpamCop as a spam filter. Why? Because the DASP spam filter does not filter the spam and those it does filter are kept in my in-box, but that is another issue.

    To use SpamCop, you setup your e-mail account to automatically forward your e-mail to your SpamCop address. The SpamCop server scans the message and then sends it back to you on a different e-mail account. (so I have two e-mail accounts, a public one where all my mail goes to and a private one that I only use and get my e-mail from) This setup was working fine with Squirell. Ever since SmarterMail was introduced, I have not been getting all of my e-mails.

    I discovered that some web sites verify your e-mail address by first sending a SMTPVRFY command to the server. If the server responds negatively, then the web site assumes the e-mail account is invalid. I found that SmarterMail responds negatively to this request when the e-mail account is an alias, so I changed my "public" account from an alias to an actual e-mail address that forwards all messages to SpamCop. (In Squirell this was setup as an alias, which worked) This seemed to improve the number of e-mails that were received.

    However, this wasn't enough. For some reason, that I cannot determine why, not all e-mails are being forwarded. For example, some e-mails from Microsoft and all e-mails from Geicko, are not forwarded. Instead, some how, the Microsoft and Geicko servers are getting a message that the e-mail address is invalid. As a result, these web sites think my account is invalid. I have not figured out how they are doing this. However, when I turn off the forwarding, I do get my e-mails. I also found this to be the case with the e-mail that came from this forum's software when I forgot my user name and password. (Note, this doesn't happen with all Microsoft e-mails, it appears only certain types of e-mails don't go through)

    One other thing to note, Greylisting is turned off, as I found this was preventing some websites from re-sending the e-mail.

    So two questions:
    1. Why is SmarterMail responding negatively on a VRFY command for an alias?
    2. Why are some messages not being forwarded?

    I think DASP should look at a better spam filter system than SmarterMail's, something like Postini, which my company uses as well as an old ISP I had.
     
    Mike Therien, May 23, 2008
    #1
  2. Bruce

    Bruce DiscountASP.NET Staff

    I think the problem with the forwarding is a greylisting issue. With SmarterMail 4, you cannot turn off greylisting on an Alias, we disable greylist on the whole domain if you want. With the new version of SM, you can disable GL on alias ( we are planning the upgrade now)

    As for Spam filtering, we configured SmarterMail to use

    - Spam Assassin
    - RBL - SpamCop / SpamHaus
    - RDNS check

    >>Why? Because the DASP spam filter does not filter the spam and those it does filter are kept in my in-box, but that is another issue.

    Did you know you can configure the Spam action with the SM interface? By default, it just tag the subject line but you can tell the system to delete the mail.

    I can't see how SmarterMail's Spam filtering is worse than our legacy mail system. Most customers report a drastic decrease in spam once moved over to SmarterMail. I personally get about 90% less spam.

    As for something like Postini / Cloudmark, etc., we tested these devices but it won't work for us because it sits in front of the mail system and it takes away one of the MOST requested feature, ie. the ability to bypass spam filtering. Believe it or not, a lot of people want to be get every piece of email sent to their domain whether it is spam or not.

    Bruce

    DiscountASP.NET
    www.DiscountASP.NET
     
    Bruce, May 23, 2008
    #2
  3. wisemx

    wisemx

    Good points bro.
    Just for the record, my own preferences are shared by a lot of Microsoft Devs.
    I love Smartermail and I want all of the mail, regardless.
    Why? Because Outlook 2007 Pro on Vista can handle it. [​IMG]
    Salute,
    Mark
     
    wisemx, May 23, 2008
    #3
  4. Mike Therien

    Mike Therien

     
    Mike Therien, May 24, 2008
    #4
  5. Bruce

    Bruce DiscountASP.NET Staff

    > Yes, I am aware you can configure the Spam action, but it is limited. I would like to move the message to another folder rather than tag it in my inbox.

    There's an option to move the mail to the Junk folder.

    > How is Smartemail using these? Can they be configured?

    Yes. These can be configured.

    Did you get a chance to read the SmarterMail documentation?

    Check it out at http://help.smartertools.com/smartermail/v4/Default.aspx. Goto Help for Domain Admins (you) -> Domain Settings -> Domain Spam filtering. This page gives you an idea on how the filtering works.

    Bruce

    DiscountASP.NET
    www.DiscountASP.NET
     
    Bruce, May 27, 2008
    #5
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