490 lines
16 KiB
HTML
490 lines
16 KiB
HTML
<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
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"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
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<html>
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<head>
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<title>Postfix Address Verification </title>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1><img src="postfix-logo.jpg" width="203" height="98" ALT="">Postfix Address Verification Howto</h1>
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<hr>
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<h2>WARNING WARNING WARNING </h2>
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<p> The sender/recipient address verification feature described in this
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document is suitable only for low-traffic sites. It performs poorly
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under high load and may cause your site to be blacklisted by some
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providers. See the "<a href="#limitations">Limitations</a>" section
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below for details. </p>
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<h2><a name="summary">What Postfix address verification can do for you</a></h2>
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<p> Address verification is a feature that allows the Postfix SMTP
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server to block a sender (MAIL FROM) or recipient (RCPT TO) address
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until the address has been verified to be deliverable. </p>
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<p> The technique has obvious uses in order to reject junk mail
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with an unreplyable sender address. </p>
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<p> The technique may also be useful to block mail for undeliverable
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recipients, for example on a mail relay host that does not have a
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list of all the valid recipient addresses. This prevents undeliverable
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junk mail from entering the queue, so that Postfix doesn't have to
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waste resources trying to send MAILER-DAEMON messages back. </p>
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<p> This feature is available in Postfix version 2.1 and later. </p>
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<p> Topics covered in this document: </p>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#how"> How address verification works</a>
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<li><a href="#limitations">Limitations of address verification</a>
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<li><a href="#recipient">Recipient address verification</a>
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<li><a href="#forged_sender">Sender address verification for mail
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from frequently forged domains</a>
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<li><a href="#sender_always">Sender address verification for all
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email</a>
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<li><a href="#caching">Address verification database</a>
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<li><a href="#dirty_secret">Managing the address verification
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database</a>
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<li><a href="#probe_routing">Controlling the routing of address
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verification probes</a>
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<li><a href="#forced_examples">Forced probe routing examples</a>
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<li><a href="#forced_limitations">Limitations of forced probe routing</a>
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="how">How address verification works</a></h2>
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<p> A sender or recipient address is verified by probing the nearest
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MTA for that address, without actually delivering mail. The nearest
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MTA could be Postfix itself, or it could be a remote MTA (SMTP
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interruptus). Probe messages are like normal mail, except that
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they are never delivered, deferred or bounced; probe messages are
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always discarded. </p>
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<blockquote>
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<table>
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<tr>
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<td bgcolor="#f0f0ff" align="center" valign="middle"> Internet
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</td>
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<td align="center" valign="middle"> <tt> -> </tt> </td>
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<td bgcolor="#f0f0ff" align="center" valign="middle"> <a
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href="smtpd.8.html">Postfix<br> SMTP<br> server</a> </td>
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<td align="center" valign="middle"> <tt> <-> </tt> </td>
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<td bgcolor="#f0f0ff" align="center" valign="middle"> <a
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href="verify.8.html">Postfix<br> verify<br> server</a>
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</td>
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<td align="center" valign="middle"> <tt> <-> </tt> </td>
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<td bgcolor="#f0f0ff" align="center" valign="middle">
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Address<br> verification<br> database </td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td> </td>
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<td> </td>
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<td align="center" valign="middle"> <tt> |</tt><br> probe<br>
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messages<br> <tt> v </tt> </td>
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<td> </td>
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<td align="center" valign="middle"> ^<br> delivery<br>
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status<br> <tt> | </tt> </td>
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<td> </td>
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<td> </td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td> </td>
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<td> </td>
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<td bgcolor="#f0f0ff" align="center" valign="middle"> Postfix<br>
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queue </td>
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<td align="center" valign="middle"> <tt> -> </tt> </td>
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<td bgcolor="#f0f0ff" align="center" valign="middle"> Postfix<br>
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delivery<br> agents </td>
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<td> </td>
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<td> </td>
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</table>
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</blockquote>
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<p> With Postfix address verification turned on, normal mail will
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suffer only a short delay of up to 6 seconds while an address is
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being verified for the first time. Once an address status is known,
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the status is cached and Postfix replies immediately. </p>
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<p> When verification takes too long the Postfix SMTP server defers
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the sender or recipient address with a 450 reply. Normal mail
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clients will connect again after some delay. The address verification
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delay is configurable with the main.cf address_verify_poll_count
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and address_verify_poll_delay parameters. See postconf(5) for
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details. </p>
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<h2><a name="limitations">Limitations of address verification</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<li> <p> Postfix probes the nearest MTA for the address that is
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being verified, without actually sending mail to that address. If
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the nearest MTA accepts the address, then Postfix assumes that the
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address is deliverable, even when the address will bounce AFTER
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that MTA accepts it. </p>
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<li> <p> Sites like AOL may blacklist you when you are probing them
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too often (a probe is an SMTP session that does not deliver mail),
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or when you are probing them too often for a non-existent address.
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</p>
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<li> <p> Normally, address verification probe messages follow the
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same path as regular mail. However, some sites send mail to the
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Internet via an intermediate relayhost; this breaks address
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verification. See below, section <a href="#probe_routing">"Controlling
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the routing of address verification probes"</a>, for how to override
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mail routing and for possible limitations when you have to do this.
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</p>
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<li> <p> Postfix assumes that an address is undeliverable when the
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nearest MTA for the address rejects the probe, regardless of the
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reason for rejection (client rejected, HELO rejected, MAIL FROM
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rejected, etc.). Thus, Postfix rejects mail when the sender's MTA
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rejects mail from your machine. This is a good thing. </p>
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<li> <p> Unfortunately, some major sites such as YAHOO do not reject
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unknown addresses in reply to the RCPT TO command, but report a
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delivery failure in response to end of DATA after a message is
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transferred. Postfix address verification does not work with such
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sites. </p>
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<li> <p> By default, Postfix probe messages have "postmaster@$myorigin"
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as the sender address. This is SAFE because the Postfix SMTP server
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does not reject mail for this address. </p>
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<p> You can change this into the null address ("address_verify_sender
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="). This is UNSAFE because address probes will fail with
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mis-configured sites that reject MAIL FROM: <>, while
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probes from "postmaster@$myorigin" would succeed. </p>
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="recipient">Recipient address verification</a></h2>
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<p> As mentioned earlier, recipient address verification may be
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useful to block mail for undeliverable recipients on a mail relay
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host that does not have a list of all valid recipient addresses.
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This can help to prevent the mail queue from filling up with
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MAILER-DAEMON messages. </p>
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<p> Recipient address verification is relatively straightforward
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and there are no surprises. If a recipient probe fails, then Postfix
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rejects mail for the recipient address. If a recipient probe
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succeeds, then Postfix accepts mail for the recipient address. </p>
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<blockquote>
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<pre>
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/etc/postfix/main.cf:
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smtpd_recipient_restrictions =
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permit_mynetworks
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reject_unauth_destination
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...
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reject_unknown_recipient_domain
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reject_unverified_recipient
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...
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</pre>
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</blockquote>
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<p> The "reject_unknown_recipient_domain" restriction blocks mail
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for non-existent domains. Putting this before "reject_unverified_recipient"
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avoids the overhead of generating unnecessary probe messages. </p>
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<p> The unverified_recipient_reject_code parameter (default 450)
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specifies how Postfix replies when a recipient address is known to
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bounce. Change this setting into 550 when you trust Postfix's
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judgments. </p>
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<h2><a name="forged_sender">Sender address verification for mail from frequently forged domains</a></h2>
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<p> It is relatively safe to turn on sender address verification for
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specific domains that often appear in forged email. </p>
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<blockquote>
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<pre>
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/etc/postfix/main.cf:
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smtpd_sender_restrictions = hash:/etc/postfix/sender_access
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unverified_sender_reject_code = 550
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# Note 1: Be sure to read the "<a href="#caching">Caching</a>" section below!
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# Note 2: Avoid hash files here. Use btree instead.
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address_verify_map = btree:/var/mta/verify
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/etc/postfix/sender_access:
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aol.com reject_unverified_sender
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hotmail.com reject_unverified_sender
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bigfoot.com reject_unverified_sender
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... etcetera ...
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</pre>
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</blockquote>
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<p> A list of frequently forged MAIL FROM domains can be found at
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http://www.monkeys.com/anti-spam/filtering/sender-domain-validate.in.
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</p>
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<p> NOTE: One of the first things you might want to do is to turn
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on sender address verification for all your own domains. </p>
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<h2><a name="sender_always">Sender address verification for all
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email</a></h2>
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<p> Unfortunately, sender address verification cannot simply be
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turned on for all email - you are likely to lose legitimate mail
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from mis-configured systems. You almost certainly will have to set
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up white lists for specific addresses, or even for entire domains.
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</p>
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<p> To find out how sender address verification would affect your
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mail, specify "warn_if_reject reject_unverified_sender" so that
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you can see what mail would be blocked: </p>
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<blockquote>
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<pre>
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/etc/postfix/main.cf:
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smtpd_sender_restrictions =
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permit_mynetworks
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...
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check_sender_access hash:/etc/postfix/sender_access
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reject_unknown_sender_domain
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warn_if_reject reject_unverified_sender
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...
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# Note 1: Be sure to read the "<a href="#caching">Caching</a>" section below!
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# Note 2: Avoid hash files here. Use btree instead.
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address_verify_map = btree:/var/mta/verify
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</pre>
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</blockquote>
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<p> This is also a good way to populate your cache with address
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verification results before you start to actually reject mail. </p>
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<p> The sender_access restriction is needed to whitelist domains
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or addresses that are known to be OK. Although Postfix will not
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mark a known-to-be-good address as bad after a probe fails, it is
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better to be safe than sorry. </p>
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<p> NOTE: You will have to whitelist sites such as securityfocus.com
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and other sites that operate mailing lists that use a different
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sender address for each posting (VERP). Such addresses pollute
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the address verification cache quickly, and generate unnecessary
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sender verification probes. </p>
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<blockquote>
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<pre>
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/etc/postfix/sender_access
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securityfocus.com OK
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...
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</pre>
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</blockquote>
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<p> The "reject_unknown_sender_domain" restriction blocks mail from
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non-existent domains. Putting this before "reject_unverified_sender"
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avoids the overhead of generating unnecessary probe messages. </p>
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<p> The unverified_sender_reject_code parameter (default 450)
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specifies how Postfix replies when a sender address is known to
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bounce. Change this setting into 550 when you trust Postfix's
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judgments. </p>
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<h2><a name="caching">Address verification database</a></h2>
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<p> NOTE: By default, address verification information is not stored
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in a persistent file. You have to specify one in main.cf (see
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below). Persistent storage is off by default because it may need
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more disk space than is available in your file system. </p>
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<p> Address verification information is cached by the Postfix verify
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daemon. Postfix has a bunch of parameters that control the caching
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of positive and negative results. Refer to the verify(8) manual
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page for details. </p>
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<p> The address_verify_map (NOTE: singular) configuration parameter
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specifies an optional persistent database for sender address
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verification results. If you don't specify a file, all address
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verification information is lost after "postfix reload" or "postfix
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stop". </p>
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<p> If your /var file system has sufficient space, try: </p>
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<blockquote>
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<pre>
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/etc/postfix/main.cf:
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# Note: avoid hash files here. Use btree instead.
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address_verify_map = btree:/var/mta/verify
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</pre>
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</blockquote>
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<p> NOTE: Do not put this file in a file system that may run out
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of space. When the address verification table gets corrupted the
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world comes to an end and YOU will have to MANUALLY fix things as
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described in the next section. Meanwhile, you will not receive mail
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via SMTP. </p>
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<p> The verify(8) daemon process will create a new database when
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none exists, and will open/create the file before it enters the
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chroot jail and before it drops root privileges. </p>
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<h2><a name="dirty_secret">Managing the address verification
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database</a></h2>
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<p> The verify(8) manual page describes parameters that control
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how long information remains cached before it needs to be refreshed,
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and how long information can remain "unrefreshed" before it expires.
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Postfix uses different controls for positive results (address was
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accepted) and for negative results (address was rejected). </p>
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<p> Right now, no tools are provided to manage the address verification
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database. If the file gets too big, or if it gets corrupted, you
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can manually rename or delete the file and run "postfix reload".
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The new verify daemon process will then create a new database. </p>
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<h2><a name="probe_routing">Controlling the routing of address
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verification probes</a></h2>
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<p> By default, Postfix sends address verification probe messages
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via the same route as regular mail, because that normally produces
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the most accurate result. It's no good to verify a local address
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by connecting to your own SMTP port; that just triggers all kinds
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of mailer loop alarms. The same is true for any destination that
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your machine is best MX host for: hidden domains, virtual domains,
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etc. </p>
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<p> However, some sites have a complex infrastructure where mail
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is not sent directly to the Internet, but is instead given to an
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intermediate relayhost. This is a problem for address verification,
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because remote Internet addresses can be verified only when Postfix
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can access remote destinations directly. </p>
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<p> For this reason, Postfix allows you to override the routing
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parameters when it delivers an address verification probe message.
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</p>
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<p> First, the address_verify_relayhost parameter allows you to
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override the relayhost setting, and the address_verify_transport_maps
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parameter allows you to override the transport_maps setting. </p>
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<p> Second, each address class is given its own address verification
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version of the message delivery transport, as shown in the table
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below. Address classes are defined in the ADDRESS_CLASS_README
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file. </p>
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<blockquote>
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<table border="1">
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<tr> <th> Domain list </th> <th> Regular transport</th> <th> Verify
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transport </th> </tr>
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<tr> <td> mydestination </td> <td> local_transport </td> <td>
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address_verify_local_transport </td> </tr>
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<tr> <td> virtual_alias_domains </td> <td> (not applicable) </td>
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<td> (not applicable) </td> </tr>
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<tr> <td> virtual_mailbox_domains </td> <td> virtual_transport
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</td> <td> address_verify_virtual_transport </td> </tr>
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<tr> <td> relay_domains </td> <td> relay_transport </td> <td>
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address_verify_relay_transport </td> </tr>
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<tr> <td> (not applicable) </td> <td> default_transport </td> <td>
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address_verify_default_transport </td> </tr>
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</table>
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</blockquote>
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<p> By default, the parameters that control delivery of address
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probes have the same value as the parameters that control normal
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mail delivery. </p>
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<h2><a name="forced_examples">Forced probe routing examples</a></h2>
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<p> In a typical scenario one would override the relayhost setting
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for address verification probes and leave everything else alone:
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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<pre>
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/etc/postfix/main.cf:
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relayhost = $mydomain
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address_verify_relayhost =
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...
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</pre>
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</blockquote>
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<p> Sites behind a network address translation box might have to
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use a different SMTP client that sends the correct hostname
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information: </p>
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<blockquote>
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<pre>
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/etc/postfix/main.cf:
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relayhost = $mydomain
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address_verify_relayhost =
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address_verify_default_transport = direct_smtp
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/etc/postfix/master.cf:
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direct_smtp .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. smtp
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-o smtp_helo_name=nat.box.tld
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</pre>
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</blockquote>
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<h2><a name="forced_limitations">Limitations of forced probe routing</a></h2>
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<p> Inconsistencies can happen when probe messages don't follow
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the same path as regular mail. For example, a message can be
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accepted when it follows the regular route while an otherwise
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identical probe message is rejected when it follows the forced
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route. The opposite can happen, too, but is less likely. </p>
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</body>
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</html>
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