From: mouss (moussnetoyen.net)
Date: Tue Apr 01 2008 - 13:17:52 CDT

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Carlos Williams wrote:
> Thanks Ezra...I guess there is just an overwhelming amount of ways one can
> go about setting this up and that is where I get confused.
>
> Right now Postfix and Dovecot are the only guys really working even though
> everything else noted above is installed. It appears that I still don't yet
> understand Amavisd-new's role in all of this. It appears that most recommend
> I use Amavisd-new but my question is if there is an order or operation to
> any of this? I mean I obviously have a test domain and test email server
> running now. I can send and receive email from inside and outside perfect
> with Postfix and Dovecot so basically email works 100%. So is the next thing
> I should configure Amavisd-new or Spamassassin or does it not matter at all?
>
> I did order The Book of Postfix as well as another "Linux Email" I found on
> Amazon.com.
>
> Trying not to sound like a broken record or take anyones advice for granted
> but I feel I am at the best basic configuration right now and have backed
> everything up. Now I just need to pick a plan and find out what order to
> move on.
>
>

If you are motivated and you have the time and skills, you can learn
quickly. but if this is not your cup of tea, you should not spend too
much time on it. if you are not convinced that you will reach the
target, move to another one. there should be fun for everyone.

First of all, you should learn not to top post. google will you tell you
what this means. in short, put your replies after the text you reply to.
top posting is not appreciated on most public lists. using bottom
posting will help you look "better" on such lists. Please don't debate
this (discussing it is considered a loss of time and energy!).

Regarding spam filtering, you need both postfix and a content filter.
you should setup amavisd-new with spamassassin NOW. there is no time to
wait. See
    http://www.ijs.si/software/amavisd/README.postfix.html
for how to configure amavisd-new (please follow this document and ignore
any howto you see on the web, unless you know what you are doing).

at the postfix level, you need to understand the basics. It is not
reasonable to reproduce the informations found on
    http://www.postfix.org/documentation.html
here.

once you have postfix working correctly, then you can start with
something like this:

smtpd_recipient_restrictions =
    permit_mynetworks
    permit_sasl_authenticated
    reject_unauth_destination
    reject_invalid_helo_hostname
    reject_unknown_sender_domain
    reject_rbl_client zen.spamhaus.org

This blocks a lot of junk traffic without real risks of false positives.
Other checks are available in the documentation. some are more or less
safe depending on your site. ask here if you have a particular question
regarding such checks.

Feel free to ask specific questions here, but do follow
    http://www.postfix.org/DEBUG_README.html#mail
make your questions as precise as possible. general questions get
general answers.

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