spam assasin - configuring the subject line

[pkearney]

Hi,

I'm afriad I can't help you there (yet!). I'm still in very early stages. I'm trying to get SA to just tag all messages it thinks are spam (not to delete anything), then let the mail client file (or delete) stuff depending on the score.

I'm worried about automatic deletion as it is all to easy for false positives (tagging genuine e-mails as spam) and if they are getting deleted - you'll never know you were meant to get it!

Once we've bothed worked out what to do we should have a chat and see if we can't combine our knowledge to get the best setup

Regards

Paul

[Chrisp]

I've managed to get SA to tag all messages it thinks are spam (score above 5), and put the score in the subject line.

I found this a useful tool for creating the user_prefs file which goes in the /.spamassassin directory: www. yrex.com/spam/spamconfig.php

I think a useful filter might be to delete anything with a score above say 15, but still deliver (and mark as spam) anything that scores below this.

I'm unsure how to do this, as the filters in Cpanel don't seem to let you have a rule for finding a number in the subject line, and then deciding if it is higher or lower than a threshold.

[eUKhost.com]

Filter option in cpanel will allow you to delete emails of specific subject but you cannot setup a intelligent filter which will check if the subject line contains "spam score 16" and calculate if 16 is greater than 15.

You can either setup spamassassin to delete emails or send it to spambox or send it to inbox with score in the subject field. root user can configure spamassassin as per requirement but end users dont have this flexibility.

[Chrisp]

I've switched on the spam box. I would like to check this using pop3 as per the instructions:

If you wish to use pop3 to check the spam box, just add "/spam" (without the quotes) to the end of your pop3 login. (Example: user[@]domain.tld/spam)

However, when I change the username in Outlook to include "/spam", i get a login password box up - as though it doesn't recognise the username/ password.

Any ideas?

[eUKhost.com]

Just check if the spambox has got setup on the server or not. You can verify this by opening mail directory section from FTP or file manager.

You should see a separate directory names spam under mail/yourdomain.com/mailuser/spam

[Chrisp]

Ok, seems to be working now. I guess it just needed a few minutes to for the setting to take effect!

[Chrisp]

Does enabling the spam box mean that all email accounts will automatically have their spam redirected to their respective spam folders, or does it only become active on an email account when the mailbox is queried with the "/spam" suffix on the username?

I'ld quite like to have a spambox on my account, but i'ld rather it wasn't applied to the other email accounts... is this possible?

[eUKhost.com]

This setting would effect whole account. You cannot enable spambox for one email address and keep others without spambox.

[pkearney]

Hi,

I'm still experiencing problems, I've an open ticket but haven't had any response to it for a couplf of days...

GUX-37616-165

Regards

Paul

[eUKhost.com]

Hello Paul,

I am having one of our senior system admins to look into it. He will reply to your ticket.

[pkearney]

Hi,

I did get a reply from an admin, but it didn't really address my problem - inbound e-mail getting deleted before it gets to my SA configuration, and messages not getting retagged in the subject line. I sent a couple follow up e-mails to the ticket yesterday, but have had no reponse yet today. What is the best way of escalating this?

Thanks

Paul

[pkearney]

Hi,

Can you please have a look at the most resent postings on my ticket number,

GUX-37616-165

What sort of response times shoud I expect for tickets under normal circumstances?

Regards

Paul

[eUKhost.com]

Normal tickets are replied in 1 hour but your requirement needs changes on server which can disturb configuration of our antispam script.

Alex sorted this problem as he said that those who will enable spamassassin from cpanel wont be using default spam protection script which we have installed so you need to enable spamassassin from your control panel and you can setup custom subject modification as well.

I will ask Alex to look into the ticket once again.

[pkearney]

Hi,

Thanks for the quick response. I have had SA enabled from my Cpanel from the start and I have customised my user_prefs, but this has made no difference.

All I want is for all e-mail to be delivered and tagged as spam.

Regards

Paul

[pkearney]

Hi,

I've just placed another post under my ticket. Unfortunately I still have the same problem - e-mail getting deleted somewhere. I've included an attached txt file with the post showing all the messages I've received, against what I have actually received at eUKhosts in my inbox or my spam folder.

Regards

Paul

[eUKhost.com]

Hello Paul,

I'll see if something can be done from our end or not and if there's no way to make things as per your expectations then I will setup a shared account for you on a VPS which wont have any of our custom security and spam protection settings.

That would be the only way to allow all spams to reach your account.

[pkearney]

Hi,

Thanks for escalating this for me.

In Alex's last message he tols me that mails aren't deleted (good), but that they can be automatically refused by the server (bad) if they are on blacklists, invalid helos, etc. However I know there are valid (and in some cases important) e-mails that must have been rejected as they didn't arrive. And as they didn't arrive, under normal circumstanses I'd have no knowledge that they were ever sent.

Thank you for considering the shared VPS option. Would this still be working from the same rejection solution as the current linux package? If it was then I'm afriad it would be gaining me anything. I'd be willing to consider a small increase in monthly costs (perhaps for another package) to know that all mail could get through.

Regards

Paul

[eUKhost.com]

There wont be any custom spam protection script on VPS. Right now your account is on a shared server and by default we need to enable RBL's in exiim configuration due to which emails coming from blacklisted sources are rejected by the server.

We wont keep those RBL's on VPs so there wont be any problem with email service and you will have full access to the exim maillogs which will allow you to see the reason for rejection even if any email gets rejected.

[pkearney]

Hi,

OK - just to make sure before you go to any additional work, with a shared VPS you can configure it so I can have no automatic rejections (I'm completely new to Linux setups, so any pointers on how I chieck exom would be gratefully received). Can I still use Spam Assassin? I like the idea of retagging spam messages with a score as I can setup filters at the client end to handle these.

Will I still use WHM/Cpanel? Just started to get the hang of them

Will this have any affect on additional accounts I setup (or on my storage/bandwidth limits). For example, once we have everything setup so that all mail is going through (and getting retagged by SA hopefully), will I need to redo these changes for any additional accounts I setup within my plan (or sub domains I setup within an account). My plan is to create an account for each customer (some of which will have a number of domains within each account) and I'd obviously like to limit repetitve work. So if I can create settings that apply to all accounts as a default all the better.

What else do I get from transfering to a shared VPS? Will I still be able to use Fantastico for example (just trying out a few of the solutions there now). I am prepeared to pay a little extra for a shared VPS if it is going to work better for me.

Thanks again for your help - I think I can see the finishing line in sight for this problem now

Regards

Paul

[eUKhost.com]

Hello Paul,

There will be spamassassin on the shared vps but that would be configurable. You can configure it as per your requirements and you will need to configure it individually if you setup separate cpanel account for different domains.

If you do things from control panel of one account then it wont become server wide change. You will need to do same thing for all accounts under your reseller account.

Fantastico and all other features would be as it is. If you need full control of the vps and full access to space and bandwidth then you can consider full vps rather than shared as the price wont increase much. Additional advantage that you will get with full VPS is the ability to create accounts with unlimited space and bandwidth. As you are feeling comfortable with WHM cpanel so now you can make potential benefit from it once you get root access with the WHM.