Removing the Spam: E-mail Processing and Filtering (Addison-Wesley Networking Basics Series) [Paperback]

Geoff Mulligan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Addison-Wesley Networking Basics Series | Publication Date: March 16, 1999

Written for network and system administrators, this concise, practical guide offers step-by-step instructions for installing and configuring an effective email system for your organization. The specific book focus is on the growing problem of spam--unwanted electronic junk mail. This book shows how to utilize mail-filtering tools and techniques to keep your system and users as spam-free as possible. Centered around real-world problems and issues, Removing the Spam will save you hours of frustration as you get your email system up and running. You will find in-depth coverage of major email systems and subsystems--sendmail, Procmail, Majordomo, and SmartList--and essential information about the following: *How to stop spam at the mail server and user levels *The most simple and effective way of generating the sendmail configuration file *Maintaining your sendmail configuration *Building and managing simple sendmail aliases and filters *Virtual domains *Filtering and sorting mail with Procmail *Procmail recipe files *Creating and administrating automated and manual mailing lists with Majordomo and SmartList *How to spot and combat mailing list abuse by spammers and list terrorists The book's numerous practical examples (compatible with Solaris and FreeBSD) include controlling the procmailrc file, sorting mail, working with auto-responders, and many others. With this book you will be well equipped to install and run an efficient email system that won't be overrun by spam. 0201379570B04062001

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

No one likes unsolicited electronic mail. Even though you can easily delete messages describing ways to MAKE MONEY FAST, they take a toll on network bandwidth and reduce your productivity. The key to gaining the upper hand in the battle against spam is to understand the tools at your disposal. In Removing the Spam, Geoff Mulligan names those tools and then describes how to use several of them.

Mulligan begins explaining the operation and management of two widely distributed Unix e-mail tools: Sendmail and Procmail. In his section on Sendmail, the author answers the question asked by everyone who's ever been harassed on e-mail: How do I automatically trash mail from X? He shows you how to block mail based on mail attributes like sender, subject line, message size and several other parameters.

Coverage of Procmail in Removing the Spam includes the essentials of recipe files, but more ready-to-use mail-management recipes would be welcome. In addition to covering Sendmail and Procmail, the author addresses mailing lists under Majordomo and SmartList. He also provides a handy guide to the user and administrator commands that control these popular programs--just the thing you need the next time you're on a list and want to unsubscribe.

If you're generally unfamiliar with Unix and use a Unix-based Internet Service Provider (ISP), you will find this book to be an adequate orientation to how Unix machines manage e-mail. If you're more familiar with Unix mail programs, you'll find this book to be too elementary and lacking in details. It's a matter of your perspective. --David Wall

Review

"This book should be required reading for all mail administrators. The usefulness is not restricted to Spam, since admins will find brief discussions of a variety of common mail problems." -- Rob Slade, author of Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses

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Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1st edition (March 16, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201379570
• ISBN-13: 978-0201379570
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #617,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the generic book its title claims, April 4, 2000

By 

Christopher Barbay (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Removing the Spam: E-mail Processing and Filtering (Addison-Wesley Networking Basics Series) (Paperback)

Here is a book worthy of the saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover." In this case, you may judge this book to address the general topic of email spam, processing and filtering. Not so. This books focuses on the unix tools, sendmail and procmail. If you are looking for a book to guide you through the process of installing and configuring sendmail and procmail, this may be the book you're looking for. I couldn't tell you because I quit reading at that point. But, if you are looking for a general source on email spam and techniques for reducing or eliminating it, look elsewhere. A better title for this book would have been, "Sendmail and Procmail: Installation and Configuration."

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice try, but a disappointment, April 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Removing the Spam: E-mail Processing and Filtering (Addison-Wesley Networking Basics Series) (Paperback)

This is really a book about setting up some Unix mail tools: sendmail, procmail, majordomo, and smartlist, with modest amounts of spam fighting advice included. Unfortunately, a lot of the spam fighting advice is wrong, and many of the procmail examples have editing errors that keep them from doing what they are supposed to do.

In a corrected edition, this could be a useful book, but as it stands, you're better off with the O'Reilly Sendmail book and the on-line documentation for the various packages.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful, but flawed by errors, July 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Removing the Spam: E-mail Processing and Filtering (Addison-Wesley Networking Basics Series) (Paperback)

I bought this book for the procmail chapter (Chapter 3) but the other chapters, on sendmail and mailing lists, are also very useful. There is also an enlightening chapter on the history of email. The bulk of the book is a collection clear recipes along with explanatory text, in a practical how-to-get-tasks-done approach. In contrast to other encyclopedic books (in the case of sendmail) or disorganized masses of inconsistent web information (in the case of mailing lists), this book cuts to the chase and gives the key information you need.

Unfortunately, however, in the chapter I needed most (and the chapter I have scrutinized most), I found there are serious flaws. For example, the first two procmail recipes given under 3.5.2 on page 102 resulted in several days worth of my email getting deleted; they simply do not work as described on my system; when I removed these two recipes my email again worked fine.

If you are going to buy this book, wait for the author to put up an errata page, and then be sure to check that page before relying on the recipes in the book. In the meantime I still think the book has its merits since it explains things clearly.