ramblings of a network administrator

Using Namo WebEditor with WordPress

clevadog — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 11:39:41 +0000

To use Namo WebEditor to edit and post blogs on WordPress:

Click File > Blog > Blog Management
Click Add
Fill in the server information window as shown:

Where Your Blog Name is any name you want to appear in Namo representing your blog account, yourblog refers to the name appearing in your blog URL, and enter your WordPress ID and password in user account.

There you go. Info on posting and importing blogs into WebEditor are given in the WebEditor help.

SMTP Server Remote Queue Length

clevadog — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 11:11:37 +0000

Over the last few mornings, we’d been having a problem with the SMTP Server Remote Queue Length. I had previously checked for an open relay, but (naturally) I became suspicious. Once again I checked for an open relay using spamhelp.org and still no open relay. To be on the safe side, I attempted a remote test using telnet as described in KB324958. Nope.

So here is the problem diagnosis and solution…

Symptoms

SMTP Server Remote Queue Length error in Server Performance Report.
ESM > Servers > My server > Queues shows many Small Business SMTP Connectors with typically spam likes names. Right click on them and finding messages shows one or more emails from postmaster@yourdomain.com.

It could be that this is a non-delivery report (NDR) attack (KB886208), or just that you’re receiving a lot of spam to addresses which are not recognised in your company.

Solution

A good description to fix this problem is given in KB886208. Basically, you want to pass the problem of creating delivery reports on from your receiving server to the spammer’s sending server. Full steps are given (this time quite clearly) in the KB article. By default, Exchange accepts the email, looks up an address in Active Directory and then sends a non-delivery report if that address is not found.

This approach prevents Exchange from accepting the mail in the first place, but makes the system more vulnerable from attacks intended on finding legitimate email addresses on your system. Therefore, it’s probably best to enable SMTP tar-pitting, as described in KB842851. Tar-pitting introduces a delay in the SMTP response to invalid requests and vastly increases the time necessary to gain access to valid email addresses. Unfortunately, it may also slow legitimate email.

bored yet?

clevadog — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:59:32 +0000

Hello one and all. This is going to be, primarily, boring. I wanted a way of keeping a diary as I try to solve problems and develop systems within a small company in South Wales, UK. If my findings, mistakes, fortunes and misfortunes are of help to anyone else, then that is a bonus.

So why write it publically? Well I can’t imagine anyone is likely to read through all this for entertainment. But blogs are becomming increasingly useful when it comes to searching for other peoples’ solutions to problems. After spending hours of endless searching for seemingly common problems, I have decided to report back to the world.

Have fun all,

Dr David Clark.