What Guides Would You Like To See? Options

[Ryu Himora]

I would like to see a guide on how to acess files on a cd

[eradrix]

mail server install guide out of date?(about Part. 4, MailScanner install)


source: http://www.sng.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailscanner.../cache/382.html

MailScanner Faq-O-Matic : (Category) Postfix :
The Politics behind Postfix and Mailscanner
The Politics behind Postfix and Mailscanner 12/26/2004 by Avery Day. Thanks for the help Drew Marshall. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In no way are the opinions written here reflective of the Mailscanner team or its community. These are the opinions of just one individual and a one day quest set out to understand the delicate politics between the Mailscanner and Postfix communities. Postfix is a awesome piece of software, this writing is in no way intended to offend anyone, its only intended to inform the reader of some interesting information. I am almost certain that this article will draw fire from a lot of people. It's a Dirty Job, But Someone's Got to Do It.

Lets face the simple facts, the Postfix community (mailing list) doesn't think so highly of Mailscanner when used with Postfix. It wasn't the Postfix authors who complained but the users themselves which lead to this witch hunt. Try even mentioning the word Mailscanner on the Postfix mailing list and your likely to be slapped silly. Just search through the Postfix mailing list archives and you will see what I mean. So this was written to summarize some basic information that I have put together.

The problem in the past is this: the Postfix developers had a problem with the way in which Mailscanner accessed Postfix to do its scanning of emails. The Postfix developers complained of the possibility of duplicated or truncated emails when Postfix and Mailscanner were used together. Postfix was designed to only interface with other processes using traditional methods, such as SMTP or LMTP, MailScanner doesn't use these methods but instead sits between the incoming (SMTP) process and the delivery process of many popular MTAs. Using this design, and in common with other MTA installations, Postfix was originally designed with two instances. One just to receive mail and defer the delivery process and the other to just make delivery. MailScanner sits in the middle moving mail from one instance to the other. Unfortunately this required that the active Postfix queue files would be accessed directly by Mailscanner. By placing mail in the deferred queue (explained here http://www.postfix.org/OVERVIEW.html#delivering) Postfix would re-examine the messages to see if they could be delivered yet. This examination while MailScanner was scanning and moving the mail from one process to another could and often did cause duplications or truncated messages.

Basically the Postfix developers strongly advised against doing this. They suggested instead that Mailscanner have its own SMTP engine that could talk to Postfix like Amavis does (explained here http://www.postfix.org/FILTER_README.html#...#simple_filter). The Postfix developers offered no other alternative than this. In my opinion Mailscanner is not designed nor should be designed to speak SMTP. Simplicity has been the key to Mailscanners success. Why make things more complicated than they need to be. Now I am not claiming to be a security expert but wouldn't giving Mailscanner the ability to talk SMTP open up a security concern when having another SMTP engine thrown into the whole delivery process. Besides that, wouldn't this also require more resources for Mailscanner to run, and additionally Postfix, with possibly another transaction that would need to be made (depending on the design). IMHO Mailscanner is virus scanning software not an SMTP engine.

Recently however some changes have been made to allow for a different approach. This new approach does not require Mailscanner to access the active queue. Nor does it require Postfix to be split into two instances. It is still however acessing the Postfix queue but not the active queue, thats the key. Now Instead Postfix puts all incoming email into a hold queue for scanning. By putting a simple line into the Postfix /etc/Postfix/header_checks file (explained here http://www.sng.ecs.soton.ac.uk/Mailscanner.../Postfix.shtml) all email is put into the hold queue where from what has been explained to me, this is a safe quiet place that Postfix is no longer actively accessing or changing. Its basically frozen in the process as far as Postfix is concerned. As stated in the man pages for the qmgr: hold = Messages that are kept "on hold" are kept here until someone sets them free (also see man header_checks). Now Mailscanner can safely access these emails in the Postfix hold queue for scanning and then pass it back into Postfix active queue for delivery. To me and a lot of other people this makes perfect sense. This is much simpler approach and takes far less resources and time than to have Mailscanner running its own SMTP engine just so it can talk to Postfix. But the Postfix community and possibly even the developers are still insisting that Mailscanner is not a viable AV scanner for Postfix systems. Respectively, if this is still the case then the Postfix developers need to say something so other solutions can be worked out. The idea behind putting the incoming emails into the hold queue for scanning has eliminated all of the risks that were associated with using Mailscanner and Postfix together in the past. The Postfix website is still insisting that Mailscanner is a risk http://www.Postfix.org/addon.html. With the new single instance Postfix setup configuration, I have not seen any proof that would lead me to believe that any problems may arise. After 2 months of using Mailscanner with postfix in the single instance setup design I have not experienced any problems.

Questions or comments, I can be reached here: schrock(at)dayzed.com

[bearwood]

Pretty much what Hughjr would like to see but a twist to newbies, espeacially using programs like Guidedog and Guarddog as simpler alternatives to using command line

[cowdudy]

I would like to see some emphasis on server security, configuring firwall and virus software. I am using
smoothwall currently, which is way too easy to configure and basically getting borring. I need to experiment with something new. I have a server running WBEL that I would like to incorporate security services into.

[kingyoun]

i would like to see a guide on write program.

[Termina]

Seeing all these duplicate posts, tommorow (no school! ) I'm going to write the following guides, if I have time. Otherwise, I'll be sure to post them before the end of the weekend:

1) Wireless/ndiswrapper linux guide
2) Limewire/Java/JRE guide

[Hapi]

how to set up most internet connections including wireless

[Robert83]

Hapi :

you should do the same thing what I'm doing right now :

read this book (it's worth it...and you'll be suprised how much you'll learn after a few chapters, and it's NOT that complicated 2)

http://tldp.virtuality.hu/LDP/nag2/index.html

Sincerely
Robert B

[nECrO1967]

I will echo (pun intended) the request of the other newbies. A simple step-by-step guide on installing apps/games would be greatly appreciated. If it's not too much to ask, a few different install guides that are vendor specific would be the best! TIA for any work you do on this........

[newmoon]

Hi:

Thanks for asking! I'd like to see clear guides on:

1. Mounting drives

2. Basics of compiling (both drivers and the kernel).


I'd love it if the guide would include a little theory.
It's very easy to find many guides for both of the above, but I haven't found any
yet that are easy enough for a newbie to understand.


newmoon

[cturtle]

Hello,

Most things are mentioned before or are already there but my wishlist consists of:
- How to setup a virtual private network using OpenVPN?
- How to setup a firewall/router?
- How to setup a secure webserver?
- How to to setup a webserver (including virtual domains)?
- Simple HOWTO's. Although I'm new to Linux I've spend a good deal of my life with this other OS. When I want to setup a mail server it is very possible I do not want to use 9 or more applications to read my mail. Just like with this other OS it would be nice to install and configure only one application which does the job. In case I have to use more than one program I would like to be given some troubleshooting tips to see where I went wrong. Today I tried to follow a 9 pages HOWTO installing an mail system which uses 9 program. I guess no one is very surprised that in the end things are not working like I expected. What does not help is that in 9 pages of help there is not one single line helping me to troubleshoot. I know this sounds very ungradefull and this is not how I mean it. What I really would like (in fact it is what I need) is to get a little more help in case things go wrong.

Not only would I like to see these HOWTO's but also like to see them maintained. While I was looking for a decent HOWTO to help me setting up a mail server supporting virtual domains I noticed how much HOWTO's are outdated. Although I'm very gratefull to all these people spending there free time helping me solving MY problems, it really is of no help at all when I keep stumbling over documents that are last updated in 2001. Fortunately most documents on linuxhelp are more up to date :-)

Regards,

Jan

[has to b androst...]

hi
i would like to see a post on installing software on fedora
based upon the irratibly new idiot whos knowledge of linux
is as bad as a sneeze in a hurricaine
ive searched all tutorials and they expect a basic knowledge
i was born after dos
so i got spoon fed windows
id like to escape
without reading the unleashed books cover 2 cover
yet what im saying is
point and click is a world away from fed core 3
any explaination of anything would be great
chris
thanks in advance

[has to b androst...]

OK ... A guide that I think might be good is this:

1. How to obtain domain a name and register it. (How to point it to ZoneEdit.com if it is not a static IP.)

2. Setup a fully fuctional gateway server (Home / Small Business) that contains everything you need to make it do the following:

a. Be a Firewall (2 NICs, one connected to your cable/DSL modem ... the other to your internal network). Allow all your internal PCs go to the internet.

b. Be a Webserver. Serve pages for your new domain name.

c. Be an E-mail server for your newly obtained domain. Have Spam and Anti Virus protection and webmail.

e. Be a DHCP server for your internal Network.

f. Be a Caching DNS server (if you had to use zone edit) or your Primary Master DNS server (if you have a static IP) ... and be the DNS server for your internal network.

g. Be a Samba Primary Domain Controller (PDC) for your Windows computers on your internal network.

I am going to be working on such a guide ... with pieces of it already being done and posted here (the following are already done - Webserver {which needs some work}, the Mail server, the DNS server and Samba PDC).

May next part of it will be the DHCP server...then the firewall. Then a document to tie it all together.

there is no difference between a static and a dynamic ip if you dont switch your pc off
if you are a uk user
cable or usa
most pcs are designed to run constantly
dont turn it off
hence dont pay for a static ip

[docmur]

Well I currently working on Fluxbox. It would be nice to have some guides on fluxbox configuration and setup and scripts and what not. I find that the other wikki's out there are confusing. It would be nice to gave a little place here where people who need help with windows managers.

Thanks DOCMUR

[DS2K3]

there is no difference between a static and a dynamic ip if you dont switch your pc off
if you are a uk user
cable or usa
most pcs are designed to run constantly
dont turn it off
hence dont pay for a static ip

Maybe so, but routers crash, computers freeze, power cuts happen. And with a DNS system that allows 72 hours for propogations, it is best to use services specifically for dynamic IP addresses. Not to mention that some ISPs will drop the conenction after a certain amount of inactivity.

[Roger]

Hi all you Linux experts,
I would like to see a plain language guide, in the form of a list of commands, for installing an x windows system and a GUI, into a newly installed Linux system. For a Linux newbie, Howtos might as well be written in Greek, and questions posed on help forums usually receive answers that assume that the enquirer fully understands the command line and how to use it.
I have stalled twice now on Debian because of this problem, and I am sure that it would be very easy for the complilers of Debian to include an x-server and desktop, and give the person installing a choice of GUI or command line on the first reboot.
So, for now it's back to Windows and Ubunto!

Roger

[evanw]

how to dual boot

[evanw]

I�d like to se just a basic quick start guide.

[beltranix]

not too sound lame, i am a newb, there i said it, but i would like to see a pictoral guide with real world examples, like your guide for newbs, but with pics, or screen shots as the process progresses as i feel i have typed everything exactly but i still cant figure out my problem, after installing an rpm i still cant find or use the program ( i know that was a gimme but.... lol, i have to keep my humor, it is my goal to learn linux and if i wasnt lauphing i would be crying)

thank you

[Jim]

The problem with trying to do a "pictorial" guide is that there isn't enough standardization accross systems. Not only differences between GNOME, KDE and the others, but differences between the distros. If you're having troubles with following a guide, post a question in the suppor section and we would be glad to help you.

Still, that being said, I will look into maybe doing some pictorial guides for basic things.