Filtering/storing outgoing mail...

[Andrea Giuliano]

Dear all,

I would like to filter, or at least just store, any outgoing mail 
message, not at a client level, but eventually at a lower level.

For instance, it would be enough to instruct postfix some way so that it 
stores outgoing messages permanently somewhere before sendind them. They 
usually stay for a while in /var/spool/mqueue, but when they are 
actually send are removed from there.

I don't want to rely on the client, because I could change it sometime 
(and I actually did it many times). I rather prefer a "system" solution. 
Clearly, a per-user solution would be better in order to prevent users 
to look at each other's mail, just like it happens with 
/var/spool/mail/<user>.

Many thanks in advance.

-- 
Andrea Giuliano, Ph. D.
ICCU - Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico
Viale Castro Pretorio 105, Rome - ITALY
Tel. [phone], Fax [phone]

[HaJo Schatz]

On Fri, 2004-09-03 at 00:27, Andrea Giuliano wrote:
>  Dear all,
>  
>  I would like to filter, or at least just store, any outgoing mail 
>  message, not at a client level, but eventually at a lower level.
>  
>  For instance, it would be enough to instruct postfix some way so that it 
>  stores outgoing messages permanently somewhere before sendind them. They 
>  usually stay for a while in /var/spool/mqueue, but when they are 
>  actually send are removed from there.
>  
>  I don't want to rely on the client, because I could change it sometime 
>  (and I actually did it many times). I rather prefer a "system" solution. 
>  Clearly, a per-user solution would be better in order to prevent users 
>  to look at each other's mail, just like it happens with 
>  /var/spool/mail/<user>. 
Consider installing an IMAP server, holding all your
mail. Create a
directory "Sent" there and instruct your client to store a copy of sent
mail in that folder. Any (IMAP compliant) client you might use in the
future will then be able to see that folder.

-- 
HaJo Schatz <hajo(a)hajo.net&gt;
http://www.HaJo.Net

PGP-Key:  http://www.hajo.net/hajonet/keys/pgpkey_hajo.txt

[Alexander Dalloz]

Am Do, den 02.09.2004 schrieb Andrea Giuliano um 18:27:

>  I would like to filter, or at least just store, any outgoing mail 
>  message, not at a client level, but eventually at a lower level.
>  
>  For instance, it would be enough to instruct postfix some way so that it 
>  stores outgoing messages permanently somewhere before sendind them. They 
>  usually stay for a while in /var/spool/mqueue, but when they are 
>  actually send are removed from there. 
>  Andrea Giuliano, Ph. D. 
http://www.postfix.org/postconf.5.html#always_bcc

Alexander


-- 
Alexander Dalloz | Enger, Germany | GPG key 1024D/ED695653 1999-07-13
Fedora GNU/Linux Core 2 (Tettnang) kernel 2.6.8-1.521smp 
Serendipity 18:29:24 up 3 days, 15:46, load average: 2.52, 2.24, 1.53

[Scot L. Harris]

On Thu, 2004-09-02 at 12:27, Andrea Giuliano wrote:
>  Dear all,
>  
>  I would like to filter, or at least just store, any outgoing mail 
>  message, not at a client level, but eventually at a lower level.
>  
>  For instance, it would be enough to instruct postfix some way so that it 
>  stores outgoing messages permanently somewhere before sendind them. They 
>  usually stay for a while in /var/spool/mqueue, but when they are 
>  actually send are removed from there.
>  
>  I don't want to rely on the client, because I could change it sometime 
>  (and I actually did it many times). I rather prefer a "system" solution. 
>  Clearly, a per-user solution would be better in order to prevent users 
>  to look at each other's mail, just like it happens with 
>  /var/spool/mail/<user>.
>  
>  Many thanks in advance. 
I had to implement something similar recently.  In my case I am using
sendmail.  The solution I used was milter-bcc.

  http://www.milter.info/milter-bcc/index.shtml

This allows you to save messages from specific users.  Done at the
system level using the access file.  Worked well for my site.





-- 
Scot L. Harris
webid(a)cfl.rr.com

I find you lack of faith in the forth dithturbing.
- Darse ("Darth") Vader

[Harry Putnam]

"Scot L. Harris" <webid(a)cfl.rr.com&gt; writes:

> > I don't want to rely on the client, because I could change it
> sometime 
> > (and I actually did it many times). I rather prefer a "system" solution. 
> > Clearly, a per-user solution would be better in order to prevent users 
> > to look at each other's mail, just like it happens with 
> > /var/spool/mail/<user>.
> > 
> > Many thanks in advance.
>
>  I had to implement something similar recently.  In my case I am using
>  sendmail.  The solution I used was milter-bcc.
>
>    http://www.milter.info/milter-bcc/index.shtml 
Another milter that will copy all outgoing and incoming is
Synonym.   http://www.modulo.ro/synonym/

[Tom Mitchell]

On Thu, Sep 02, 2004 at 06:27:49PM +0200, Andrea Giuliano wrote:
....
>  I would like to filter, or at least just store, any outgoing mail 
>  message, not at a client level, but eventually at a lower level.
>  
>  For instance, it would be enough to instruct postfix some way so that it 
>  stores outgoing messages permanently somewhere before sendind them. They 
>  usually stay for a while in /var/spool/mqueue, but when they are 
>  actually send are removed from there.
>  
>  I don't want to rely on the client, because I could change it sometime 
>  (and I actually did it many times). I rather prefer a "system" solution. 
>  Clearly, a per-user solution would be better in order to prevent users 
>  to look at each other's mail, just like it happens with 
>  /var/spool/mail/<user>. 
Is this a single box or is this a network with multiple boxes.

Bottom line, what you are asking is possibly hard if you
cannot force all mail to flow through a central tool.

i.e. if a user can telnet to port 25 (and 465/tcp ) someplace on the
net you cannot begin to impose (with an iron hand) a system solution.
This will require a firewall and mail relay/gateway solution.

Since sendmail can be instructed to use ports other than the standard
ones if there is a 'serious requirement' for this then more
interesting solutions need to be managed.

Many clients are capable of making a direct connection for outgoing
mail and fall back to localhost:25 where you can define your smart
archiving host.  i.e.  The existence of clients that can bypass your
MTA can require you to manage a firewall.

One value in this is that many worms and viruses contain their own
smtp (simple mail transport protocol) engine.  Blocking port 25
connections can keep any infected hosts from being bad actors.

Others have posted solutions with more modest scope.  Start
there.... 

The good news is that postfix has common configuration tools like this
to help: 

   sender_bcc_maps:
      Optional BCC (blind carbon-copy) address lookup tables, indexed
      by sender address. The BCC address (multiple results are not
      supported) is added when mail enters from outside of Postfix.

Note with caution that a BCC failure will bounce back to the sender
so this is not a 'stealth' trick in the presence of an error.


-- 
	T o m  M i t c h e l l 
	Just say no to 74LS73 in 2004