[Mimedefang] MIMEDefang HOWTO

[Albert E. Whale]

Lisa Casey wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm planning to follow the MIMEDefang HOWTO at
> http://www.rudolphtire.com/mimedefang-howto/#ss1.2
> to get anti-spam/virus protection on my Redhat 7.2 server. It is currently
> an 8.11 version of
> Sendmail so my first step will be to upgrade that. (Actually I have already
> followed the procedure up to creating the devtools/Site/site.config.m4
> file).
>
> I'm concerned about one thing though. I'm planning to do this on a "live"
> server. Is there any point in this that I could disrupt  my customers
> e-mail? Suppose I only had time today to upgrade Sendmail with the email
> filter interface, but had to leave doing the rest of this until another day.
> Will there be a problem in that I am now running Sendmail 8.12.6 with a
> filter interface but no filters yet?
>
> I apologise if this sounds somewhat naive. I'm perhaps not as confidant of
> this as I ought to be.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Lisa Casey
> Webmaster & SysAdmin
> Netlink 2000, Inc.
> lisa at jellico.net

Lisa,

You should consider performing this upgrade in two Steps.

1. Upgrade Sendmail to 8.12.6, w/o MILTER or the site.config.m4 file.  Upgrading
the Sendmail software is not Rocket Science, but it's also not intended for the
Novice as well.  Make sure that you understand how to build your <site>.mc file
to build sendmail.cf and submit.cf, this is sometimes a challenge in itself.

2. when you are comfortable that all of the Sendmail Updates are operational,
and you can afford the time, you can then Compile the Mimedefang software and
install.  After that is successful, I would recommend that you install the
site.config.m4 file and update your <site>.mc configuration file to begin
calling Mimedefang.

HTH.

--
Albert E. Whale - CISSP
http://www.abs-comptech.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ABS Computer Technology, Inc. - ESM, Computer & Networking Specialists
Sr. Security, Network, and Systems Consultant
Board of Directors - InfraGard - Pittsburgh, PA