Frequently Asked Questions
about MayFlower Software SpamSentinel Server Install
Which version of Domino do you support?
SpamSentinel supports versions 6, 6.5, 7, 8 and 8.5 of the IBM Lotus Domino server, both 32 and 64 bits versions.
What platforms do you support?
Currently, we support Windows versions of Domino, Linux and AS/400 (versions V5 R1 R2 & R3), Solaris and RS Unix.
How long does a server install take?
It takes about 10-15 minutes to install the IBM Lotus Domino server version.
Do I have to reboot my server after installation?
You will need to restart your Domino server. You do not need to reboot your server. You can do all of the install completely before doing a quick "restart server" command to at the Domino server console.
What is the server performance hit with this product?
Our trials have found the server performance actually improves slightly with our product, mostly due to the fact that when we block the spam to ex-employees, your SMTP server spends a lot less time replying to false addresses.
How can server performance improve after you install new software?
Because we stop and quarantine the Spam to users that are no longer with the company, your Domino server does not spend the next 24 to 48 hours trying to reply to a bogus sender with a message like:
User ex_employee (ex_employee@acme.com) not listed in public Name & Address Book
What Ports do you use to access your database of known spam?
Port 80 or Port 2703 needs to be open for outbound traffic for your server to access our catalog of known spam.
Do you download the spam catalog to my server?
We do not download the catalog due to its size and the real-time nature. Approximately 1,000,000 new messages are being reported every hour. We check each mail against this real-time database.
Can I Whitelist domains myself?
You can whitelist names and domains by making an entry in our administrator database, all in real-time. The entry takes effect immediately, and supersedes all other entries.
Can I blacklist other domains myself?
Absolutely. We allow you to blacklist any user or domain in real time. We create one Notes document per domain, so you can mange it. As soon as you save the document, that domain is blacklisted.
Is there a limit to the number of domains that we can blacklist?
There is no limit. You could easily list 10,000 domains (although our service handles most of your spam problems without blacklisting a single domain).
Do I have to restart my server after entering a blacklist name like when I modify the NAB?
No, our list is read by SpamSentinel in real-time, so no server restart is necessary.
What is the order of evaluation of Whitelist, blacklists and your catalog of known spam?
Your whitelists are examined first, then the blacklists, and then we check SpamNet.
| What percentage of Spam messages do you block?
We block approximately 99.4% of spam messages.
Do you get many false positives?
The biggest problem with most spam filtering and blocking for Domino is false positives. Keyword filters create them. Domain rules create them. Subject filtering creates them.
For starters, we do not look at Notes mail generated internally, only mail from the SMTP gateway. So, there is 0% chance of false positives from internal Notes mail.
We have almost no false positives on the remaining SMTP mail because of our approach of listing all known spam signatures in a database just like virus signatures are stored. A message would have to be sent to thousands of external email addresses, and blocked by many of our users before it makes it to our real-time database.
Can users check the quarantine database for false positives?
Yes, we put reader names on all caught messages, so only the intended recipient can see them in the quarantine database (and the Notes administrator, or course).
Do you have a daily report of caught Spam?
We have a reporting tool that send each user a summary report of all spam caught, and it sends an Excel bar graph to the Notes Administrator showing spam caught during the last week. Read more about the reporting tool.
Is SpamSentinel compatible with GroupShield?
Our testing has shown excellent compatibility with all the major anti-virus packages.
We use multiple mail.box files. Do you work with that?
Yes, our standard install supports:
mail.box, mail1.box, mail2.box, mail3.box, mail4.box, mail5.box
If you use other names, you can edit the server preference document and add those to the list, up to the 10 mail.boxes supported by Domino.
What DNS lists do you block? Is my company on that list?
We do not use DNS block lists because of that issue. We block individual messages, not IP addresses or DNS entries.
|
|
"The install was a piece of cake, and yes I'm very impressed with it so far."
Joe B, System Engineer
"We are satisfied with the product, and would like to place an initial order for two licenses"
Jim S
"Can I get the full version? I HATE having that spam still in my mail box, yuck :-(D
-Wayne
"This client is great. It is just what some of us have been looking for. I am the IS guy within an engineering department and as such have influence with the engineering group. I have mentioned the product to our larger IS group"
David T., System Coordinator
"So far so good I have to say. It works well"
Jim M.,
"I'm now blocking about 75% of spam - which is already a great relief"
John P.
"I like this product very much and would like to see how it runs on the server."
Jon S. |
Ask a Question of MayFlower |
|
|