Re: [BackupPC-users] Email Notifications - Via another MTA rather than sendmail

[ken <ke...@go...>]

> On 07/11 08:17 , ken wrote:
>> I use qmail on fedora.  I would like to be able to use a
>> username/password
>> to send mail and I cannot find where you would enter the password in
>> backuppc, or if it is possible.  Any ideas?
>
> AFAICT, you're misunderstanding how mail works on Unix.
>
> Backuppc calls some executable program (the Mail Transport Agent, or MTA)
> and hands it a big chunk of text (your message). No authentication is
> necessary for this step, since it's on the local box.
>
> The MTA then tries to deliver that message to the next machine in the SMTP
> chain. This may be the destination machine (where the intended recipient's
> mailbox is hosted). If that is the case, there's still no authentication
> needed, since that's not part of communication between SMTP servers on the
> Internet (this is why you can't easily stop spammers from bombarding you).
>
> On the other hand, if all the machines on your network go through another
> mail server (a 'smarthost'); that machine *may* have SMTP Auth turned on.
> In
> that case, you'd need to configure your MTA (qmail in this case) to send
> the
> username/password combination to authenticate to that server so it can
> send
> mail.
>
> Usually tho, the smarthost is just set up to accept mail from the client's
> IP address (since it's not likely to change, and if the machine is
> compromised then the username & password are available to the attacker
> anyway so it really doesn't do any good).
>
> Does this make things a bit more clear?
>
> Considering that qmail hasn't been updated since 1997 last I knew; it may
> not be possible to set up SMTP Auth on it. (Unless someone wrote a patch).
> SMTP Auth is really intended for roaming users who are trying to relay
> mail
> through your mailserver remotely. Not for machines on your local network.
>
> Without SMTP Auth; no password is needed to send mail. (Remember that this
> was all designed back in the day when you could personally *know* all the
> admins on the Internet; so they didn't think you needed authentication).
>
> --
> Carl Soderstrom
> Systems Administrator
> Real-Time Enterprises
> www.real-time.com
>
>
Carl - Thanks for the detailed explaination, so no SMTP Athentication -
okay  - I'll see what I can work out.
Cheers!
Ken