[wplug] FreeBSD help?

[Chris Romano]

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 17:47:43 -0400, Bill Moran <wmoran at potentialtech.com> wrote:
> terry mcintyre <terrymcintyre at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> > Right now, I'm trying to do something about a qmail /
> > vpopmail server, running FreeBSD 4.5, which is
> > bogging down rather badly.
> >
> 
> Have a look at those messages to see if a lot of them are bounces and
> double-bounces.  If so, it's quite possible that you're accepting mail
> for accounts that don't exist, then trying to bounce it back to accounts
> that don't exist, thus generating a double-bounce.
> 
> If you get a lot of spam with a From address that doesn't exist, to a
> nonexistant account on your server, this can bog things down very
> quickly, as each one of these spams results in 3 messages going through
> the queue (the original, bounce, and finally the double-bounce).
> 
> If that's the problem, the best solution is to make sure qmail refuses
> to accept mail for accounts that don't exist (instead of accepting it,
> then bouncing it).  It's been a while since I've worked with qmail, so
> I'm not sure how to configure this, but I know it can be done.
> 

I can't verify this right now, but you can probably check on
www.lifewithqmail.com.  Under the control directory you can create a
file called "doublebounce".  In that file just put "#".  This way a
triple bounce will not be generated.

There a a few patches out there for qmail that does exactly what Bill
says about spam coming to non-existing addresses.  There are two
approaches.  First is where you basically create a list of good
addresses and the second you can create a list of bad addresses.  I
forget the name of the patches.  You should be able to find it pretty
quickly in the qmail list archive. http://www-archive.ornl.gov:8000

I would suggest not to quickly ask on the qmail list because they are
just going to say check on the FreeBSD list.  Well, let me rephrase
that.  If you did not install qmail from source, then they will tell
you to check on the FreeBSD list.

Chris