External SMTP server


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Operating Systems Linux Red Hat External SMTP server
# 1  
Old 03-04-2015
External SMTP server

Hi,

We current use an email/hosted exchange server (provided by 3rd party company).

Our production DNS (RH5) server has got the MX rec configured for this 3rd party mail relay server. So in order to resolve hostnames to send outbound mails an A record entry is also required on the external DNS server based on individual servers public IP adddress (in order to relay mails outbound).

The following concern has been raised re security:
- Having public addresses on a public DNS; servers are advertised publically therefore security risk.

In my opinion the production servers are located in the DMZ and so no internet facing IP can traverse onto the LAN without hitting the DMZ.

With the outbound connection configured on the external fw to only allow certain IP address to connect to a certain destination address - so this should remove any risk, as no one would see it.

Question: Would it be better practice to create our own SMTP server and have one public IP address presented to the external DNS server or is this an unnecessary overkill?

...interested in your thoughts/opinions on this.

Regards,
D.
# 2  
Old 03-04-2015
It's normal to have the A records of MX records public.

There is an old saying "Security by Obscurity is NOT Security"

So, your goal would be to correctly secure the MX server, not hide it somehow.
This User Gave Thanks to Neo For This Post:
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. Web Development

SMTP Server Configuration

Hello list, I want to be able to send email directly from my linux box. I have both a CentOS and Debian installation. I am by no means an expert when it comes to all of the SMTP servers. I have been testing different configs by installing and uninstalling sendmail, postfix, and exim4. ... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: landossa
2 Replies

2. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Postfix as smtp server

hi guys I have to configure a SMTP server using Postfix, ok let me tell the domain is located at godaddy so my smtp postfix server has to use that domain let's say mycompany.com so anyone knows how to configure postfix using this way? or postfix is easy to configure? thanks a lot (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: karlochacon
3 Replies

3. Ubuntu

Any way we can create an SMTP server and use any scripting language to read emails from that server

Is there any way to create an SMTP mail server will all granular permissions to it so that I can read emails which that server receives through any scripting language and also reply from the same server automatically? (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: sandeepcm
3 Replies

4. Shell Programming and Scripting

php code - Sending mail with external SMTP server

Here is the code: <?php //new function function loadini($path) { $fp = fopen($path, "r"); $fpcontents = fread($fp, filesize($path)); fclose($fp); return $fpcontents; } $to = "test@test.com"; $nameto = "notme"; $from = "test"; $namefrom = "Who From"; ... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: galford
0 Replies

5. UNIX and Linux Applications

SMTP Server - dump email

Background: I am replicating a set of servers into a "bubble" for testing. Those systems cannot be aware they are in a "bubble" so I must replicate all external services. I have successfully replicated most of those services except SMTP. I would like to configure an SMTP server that collects... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: NFN_NLN
0 Replies

6. AIX

SMTP Server errors

Hey everyone, I have an issue where email is working fine in our Windows environments but is blowing up in our AIX environments. Here is the related functions that are getting called: int get_smtp_line( void ) { char ch = '.'; char in_data ; char * index; int retval = 0; ... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: ctote
4 Replies

7. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Can't configure sendmail to send mails to external SMTP Server

Hi all,I know, that this is very common issue, but I can't find where is the problem... I have Solaris 10 installed.I want to send mail to external SMTP server, like:echo "letter body"| mailx -s "subject" test@test.comBut I donno what kind of changes I have to do in /etc/hosts and sendmail.cf or... (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: nypreH
5 Replies

8. Shell Programming and Scripting

Send email from sendmail on AIX using exchange server as SMTP server

i am new in AIX i am trying to write a script to take a backup for specific files on server to and check error log if backup success send email to administrator , script done except for sending mail , i try to configure sendmail on aix to use our exchange server to send emails but still get error... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: ahmed_salah
0 Replies

9. AIX

AIX 6.1 SMTP Server ?

Hello, Looking for Document how to install / configure SMTP Server on AIX 6.1 is it through smitty menu ? (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: filosophizer
3 Replies

10. Solaris

SMTP server-denied

im running Solaris9. sendmail version 8.13 every now and then my smtp server is being blacklisted resulting to relay denied to some of my client. what is the very first thing i have to implement? thanks (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: uwagon
1 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question