I am new to this forum and have a few questions.

My colocated dedicated server is a RaQ3. Its been running smoothly for some time but I am worried about these issues -

(1) I now have 285 Virtual Sites on the RaQ (my own web-sites). They are all small sites, many of them only 1 or 2 htm pages. Does anyone know the limit, my servers tech supt dept does not have a clue.

(2) For a long time (over 1-yr) I get zillions of spams every day sent to myself or bounced spams in which my virtual sites are used as the senders address. It happens at a number of the virtual sites. This occurs approx' 200 times a week or more. Often the subject line will even quote something from my sites such as one of my product or service names, or even a subject/content of the website itself, etc. How is it possible?

(3) Some of my opt-in mail list clients send me angry emails asking why I sent them lots of odd spams on products I never heard of, and want to be deleted from my list. When I tell them I did not send it they do not believe it. What can I do?

(4) Most every day there are Klenz Worm32 viruses sent from my RaQ using my address as the sender and with my reply address too. Sometimes I get them myself from my own server and my anti-virus program catches them, or else they come to me as bounced or rejected emails. I get these on average about a dozen times a day or more. What can I do?

(5) Sometimes I get emails from a spam organization saying my server is an Open Relay (not sure what that is) and will be blacklisted unless it's changed. When I ask my server tech supt engineer about that he claims that is impossible as they do not allow any open relays. They also get mad when I ask about it and brush it off as nonsense. This is a very large well known firm.

Originally posted by RealNames
I am new to this forum and have a few questions.

My colocated dedicated server is a RaQ3. Its been running smoothly for some time but I am worried about these issues -

(1) I now have 285 Virtual Sites on the RaQ (my own web-sites). They are all small sites, many of them only 1 or 2 htm pages. Does anyone know the limit, my servers tech supt dept does not have a clue.

(2) For a long time (over 1-yr) I get zillions of spams every day sent to myself or bounced spams in which my virtual sites are used as the senders address. It happens at a number of the virtual sites. This occurs approx' 200 times a day or more. Often the subject line will even quote something from my sites such as one of my product or service names, or even a subject/content of the website itself, etc. How is it possible?

(3) Some of my opt-in mail list clients send me angry emails asking why I sent them lots of odd spams on products I never heard of, and want to be deleted from my list. When I tell them I did not send it they do not believe it. What can I do?

(5) Sometimes I get emails from a spam organization saying my server is an Open Relay (not sure what that is) and will be blacklisted unless it's changed. When I ask my server tech supt engineer about that he claims that is impossible as they do not allow any open relays. They also get mad when I ask about it and brush it off as nonsense. This is a very large well known firm.

Most people do not put more than 200 sites on a raq 3/4, and that depends greatly on the load.
For example, 10-20 active cgi script sites could consume the whole server, or 120 moderate sites, or 200 static sites.

Spam is a nasty reality. They can send you titles related to your site/products as they have spidered your sites. It is a common trick to send emails with from field of either the recievers email address or from a bogus address (you can examine the true source using advance email headers.) It would depend on many factors as to why you recieve so many (for example, depending on how much you sign up for using these emails account online with other services.)

Providing OPT-IN email is asking for trouble, and will put you in danger of being shut down by your host. Many people will not remember they signed up for your list, and will report you as spamming them.

You must check "pop-before-email" under your RAQ admin control panel, under "Control Panel" - "Email Parameters" to prevent open email relaying. Open Relay is when people can use your SMTP mailserver to send without logging into your server, without needing authorization to use the email server. Hence, spammers will use your email server to send mass emails. You can prevent this by using pop-before-smtp, which is a security feature that requires users to login to their pop account before sending. (Therefor, non registered users can not send, prevent spam relaying). I'm not sure if your colo can block this from the network side, or if they just don't know what they are talking about. Therefore, I would highly recommend you do it from the software end.

Also, if you provider is getting annoyed and rude with your concerns and questions, I would look elseware. There is a limit to unmanaged support(depending on your contract), of course, but they should always be professional and should provide support on the network side at the least.

Good luck,

1) Your RaQ shouldn't hold more than 250 sites; that's a limit coded into the box. I'm a little curious how you managed to get to 285 without changing the file than enforces this limit... (?)

2) It's a common occurence for spammers to automatically refer to products and content from your site.

3) Your best defense here is to proactive notify customers that your NEVER EVER give anyone else their information (You don't, do you!?) Most likely, they use the same address in multiple places and other sites are the source of the spam.

4) You can have anti-virus software installed on your RaQ to delete these emails before they're delivered. PM me for more information on this one.

5) This is VERY bad. If you don't take immediate action, you could find it impossible for you or your clients to send mail in the future. You MUST do as the previous poster indicated and enable pop-before-relay in your mail server settings control panel. FYI, an 'open relay' means ANYONE (spammers!) can send mail through your server. This is VERY bad. Whether or not your server is an open relay has nothing to do with your provider, whoever brushed you off is just trying to shut you up.

Hope this helps,

Brandon

Originally posted by cbtrussell 1) Your RaQ shouldn't hold more than 250 sites; that's a limit coded into the box. I'm a little curious how you managed to get to 285 without changing the file than enforces this limit...

No, nothing was ever changed allowing for more than 250 Virtual Sites. In fact, the firm told me the limit was 500 when I rented the RaQ3 more than a year ago.

Also, the Server reports it is "Lightly Loaded" and only using 10% of its space. It would seem that really means I could put up 2,850 small virtual sites on it. ;) Is this correct?

Brandon, Thanks for the advise and feedback, much appreciated. :)

The SPAMMINGs are because someone is putting your e-mail addresses into thier e-mail client

And Open Relay? Are there any SMTP sevrers on the box?

the Server reports it is "Lightly Loaded" and only using 10% of its space. It would seem that really means I could put up 2,850 small virtual sites on it. Is this correct?
Well, no. But I suspect you know that. The CPU is lightly loaded because it's only serving static pages, and the only 10% of the available disk is used for storage. I'd go ahead and move to box #2 now... surely with 285 sites this one is generating enough revenue to cover itself for a while. ;)

Brandon, Thanks for the advise and feedback, much appreciated. No problem! :cool:

And Open Relay? Are there any SMTP sevrers on the box? Of course, it's a RaQ isn't it!? Anyway, I think his original message makes it clear he's running mail services.

Brandon

Originally posted by cbtrussell Well, no. But I suspect you know that. The CPU is lightly loaded because it's only serving static pages, and the only 10% of the available disk is used for storage. I'd go ahead and move to box #2 now... surely with 285 sites this one is generating enough revenue to cover itself for a while. ;) No problem! :cool: Of course, it's a RaQ isn't it!? Anyway, I think his original message makes it clear he's running mail services. Brandon

I don't think so, most all of the sites (except for a few) make little or no money (yet).

Also, I really don't even know what SMTP and Mail Services is. LOL.