Thinking about a change..

And I'd like to get some reactions.

Currently I've got 3 domains hosted, and ADSL and of course news with
claranet, and two BT phone lines one of which is business.

And ADSL on the line whose number I would like to lose.

My plan would be:

1/. Put new ADSL on the line I want to keep..helps migration as well as
can run the two in parallel, and transfer it to an all in one
phone/broadband supplier.

2/. Ditch the second line

3/. Transfer the hosting to a simple domain registration..

4/. Handle all incoming mail on my own server (linux)

5/. Handle all hosting on the same server..it already does that..the
domains are really for email anyway, not hosting.

6/. Move news to a giganews account. we don't use it for massive
bandwidth..way less than 1GB a month so the cheapest service works here.

I can see few problems apart from having an incoming port 25 open for
spammers..I would hope that a bit of tomfoolery with the email server
would solve that to prevent its use as a relay..i.e. only accept mail to
local mail domains etc. etc. and only specific users in that domain. Or
only from local IP addresses when going 'to the world'

I am running about 7GB/month total downloads, and phone calls would seem
to be about an hour and a half daily, if that..

Strongly tempted to go IDnet...

Any advice? better ideas, hidden gotchas?

On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:17:03 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
[...]
> 4/. Handle all incoming mail on my own server (linux)

Using it for incoming mail should be fine, but you might encounter problems
using it as an outgoing mail server (some mail servers might refuse to
accept mail from ADSL IP addresses) - although IDNet gives you a static IP
address, by default you only get a generic reverse DNS entry which might be
enough to trigger a blacklist on some mail servers. I am not sure if IDNet
would be willing to set up a custom reverse DNS record for your IP address.

> 6/. Move news to a giganews account. we don't use it for massive
> bandwidth..way less than 1GB a month so the cheapest service works here.

Are you interested in binary Usenet or just text-only? If it's text-only,
then news.individual.net or one of the free servers (motzarella.org,
albasani.net, solani.org, ...) might also be worth considering.


> I can see few problems apart from having an incoming port 25 open for
> spammers..I would hope that a bit of tomfoolery with the email server
> would solve that to prevent its use as a relay..i.e. only accept mail to
> local mail domains etc. etc. and only specific users in that domain. Or
> only from local IP addresses when going 'to the world'

Any e-mail software that has been relased in the past 10 years should be set
up that way by default. But you'll still have to deal with spam to your own
users.


> Strongly tempted to go IDnet...

Just in case you are not already aware of this one:
http://www.idnet.net/news/article.jsp?id=4


Christof

--
http://cmeerw.org sip:cmeerw at cmeerw.org
mailto:cmeerw at cmeerw.org xmpp:cmeerw at cmeerw.org

On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:17:03 UTC, The Natural Philosopher <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> And I'd like to get some reactions.
>
> Currently I've got 3 domains hosted, and ADSL and of course news with
> claranet, and two BT phone lines one of which is business.
>
> And ADSL on the line whose number I would like to lose.

OK...look at AAISP. And ignore the nay-sayers who say it's expensive.
The data transfer limits are mostly only for use during working hours.

> 3/. Transfer the hosting to a simple domain registration..

They can do that...as much or as little as you want (i.e. just
registration, or more)

> 4/. Handle all incoming mail on my own server (linux)

No problem at all. I do this (but on FreeBSD....linux...pah!). Outgoing
mail works fine too, and the AAISP ranges are not generally blacklisted.
You have full control over reverse DNS, and can even run your own DNS
server and have forward and reverse DNS delegated to it.

> 5/. Handle all hosting on the same server..it already does that..the
> domains are really for email anyway, not hosting.

No problem.

> 6/. Move news to a giganews account. we don't use it for massive
> bandwidth..way less than 1GB a month so the cheapest service works here.

AAISP give a free text news service.

> I can see few problems apart from having an incoming port 25 open for
> spammers..I would hope that a bit of tomfoolery with the email server
> would solve that to prevent its use as a relay..i.e. only accept mail to
> local mail domains etc. etc. and only specific users in that domain. Or
> only from local IP addresses when going 'to the world'

Just make sure it's set up right. And use of of the sites that check
this for you!

> I am running about 7GB/month total downloads, and phone calls would seem
> to be about an hour and a half daily, if that..

AAISP limits vary, but apply only to downloads 0900-1800 five days a
week.
--
Bob Eager
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

Christof Meerwald wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:17:03 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> [...]
>> 4/. Handle all incoming mail on my own server (linux)
>
> Using it for incoming mail should be fine, but you might encounter problems
> using it as an outgoing mail server (some mail servers might refuse to
> accept mail from ADSL IP addresses) - although IDNet gives you a static IP
> address, by default you only get a generic reverse DNS entry which might be
> enough to trigger a blacklist on some mail servers. I am not sure if IDNet
> would be willing to set up a custom reverse DNS record for your IP address.
>

Oh no, Use idnets SMTP relay. I don't have issues with that.

>> 6/. Move news to a giganews account. we don't use it for massive
>> bandwidth..way less than 1GB a month so the cheapest service works here.
>
> Are you interested in binary Usenet or just text-only? If it's text-only,
> then news.individual.net or one of the free servers (motzarella.org,
> albasani.net, solani.org, ...) might also be worth considering.
>

Thanks. Text only. A bit of technical and political and social chat only.
>
>> I can see few problems apart from having an incoming port 25 open for
>> spammers..I would hope that a bit of tomfoolery with the email server
>> would solve that to prevent its use as a relay..i.e. only accept mail to
>> local mail domains etc. etc. and only specific users in that domain. Or
>> only from local IP addresses when going 'to the world'
>
> Any e-mail software that has been relased in the past 10 years should be set
> up that way by default. But you'll still have to deal with spam to your own
> users.
>
exactly. That's where the tomfoolery comes in..
>
>> Strongly tempted to go IDnet...
>
> Just in case you are not already aware of this one:
> http://www.idnet.net/news/article.jsp?id=4
>

Ho hum. Yes, I have a suitable friend to recommend me..


>
> Christof
>

Bob Eager wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:17:03 UTC, The Natural Philosopher <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> And I'd like to get some reactions.
>>
>> Currently I've got 3 domains hosted, and ADSL and of course news with
>> claranet, and two BT phone lines one of which is business.
>>
>> And ADSL on the line whose number I would like to lose.
>
> OK...look at AAISP. And ignore the nay-sayers who say it's expensive.
> The data transfer limits are mostly only for use during working hours.
>
Ok..worth a shot..phone calls with them as well?

>> 3/. Transfer the hosting to a simple domain registration..
>
> They can do that...as much or as little as you want (i.e. just
> registration, or more)
>
Could be good..
>> 4/. Handle all incoming mail on my own server (linux)
>
> No problem at all. I do this (but on FreeBSD....linux...pah!). Outgoing
> mail works fine too, and the AAISP ranges are not generally blacklisted.
> You have full control over reverse DNS, and can even run your own DNS
> server and have forward and reverse DNS delegated to it.
>
Hmm. No. Because the internal BIND server to work around issues with the
router-which-doesnt-route -and-NAT needs to have its own local DNS with
several public domains being masqueraded for local clients.


>> 5/. Handle all hosting on the same server..it already does that..the
>> domains are really for email anyway, not hosting.
>
> No problem.
>
>> 6/. Move news to a giganews account. we don't use it for massive
>> bandwidth..way less than 1GB a month so the cheapest service works here.
>
> AAISP give a free text news service.
>
>> I can see few problems apart from having an incoming port 25 open for
>> spammers..I would hope that a bit of tomfoolery with the email server
>> would solve that to prevent its use as a relay..i.e. only accept mail to
>> local mail domains etc. etc. and only specific users in that domain. Or
>> only from local IP addresses when going 'to the world'
>
> Just make sure it's set up right. And use of of the sites that check
> this for you!
>
>> I am running about 7GB/month total downloads, and phone calls would seem
>> to be about an hour and a half daily, if that..
>
> AAISP limits vary, but apply only to downloads 0900-1800 five days a
> week.

majority of the downloads are business hours, sadly..

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> And I'd like to get some reactions.
>
> Currently I've got 3 domains hosted, and ADSL and of course news with
> claranet, and two BT phone lines one of which is business.
>
> And ADSL on the line whose number I would like to lose.
>
> My plan would be:
>
> 1/. Put new ADSL on the line I want to keep..helps migration as well as
> can run the two in parallel, and transfer it to an all in one
> phone/broadband supplier.
>
> 2/. Ditch the second line
>
> 3/. Transfer the hosting to a simple domain registration..
>
> 4/. Handle all incoming mail on my own server (linux)
>
> 5/. Handle all hosting on the same server..it already does that..the
> domains are really for email anyway, not hosting.
>
> 6/. Move news to a giganews account. we don't use it for massive
> bandwidth..way less than 1GB a month so the cheapest service works here.
>
> I can see few problems apart from having an incoming port 25 open for
> spammers..I would hope that a bit of tomfoolery with the email server
> would solve that to prevent its use as a relay..i.e. only accept mail to
> local mail domains etc. etc. and only specific users in that domain. Or
> only from local IP addresses when going 'to the world'
>
> I am running about 7GB/month total downloads, and phone calls would seem
> to be about an hour and a half daily, if that..
>
> Strongly tempted to go IDnet...
>
> Any advice? better ideas, hidden gotchas?

I can recommend my brother-in-law for inexpensive site hosting. He's a
genuine IT expert and you will get true personal service. Mail me on the
address in my headers for info.

Idnet are of course excellent. If you want to move to them could you mention
me, as we'll both benefit to the tune of £10 !

Graham

Christof Meerwald wrote:

> On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:17:03 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> [...]
> > 4/. Handle all incoming mail on my own server (linux)
>
> Using it for incoming mail should be fine, but you might encounter problems
> using it as an outgoing mail server (some mail servers might refuse to
> accept mail from ADSL IP addresses) - although IDNet gives you a static IP
> address, by default you only get a generic reverse DNS entry which might be
> enough to trigger a blacklist on some mail servers. I am not sure if IDNet
> would be willing to set up a custom reverse DNS record for your IP address.

I use the Idnet outgoing server with not a glitch ever.


> > 6/. Move news to a giganews account. we don't use it for massive
> > bandwidth..way less than 1GB a month so the cheapest service works here.
>
> Are you interested in binary Usenet or just text-only? If it's text-only,
> then news.individual.net or one of the free servers (motzarella.org,
> albasani.net, solani.org, ...) might also be worth considering.

Astraweb whom I use do a stunning 'pre-pay' deal. 25GB for $10 IIRC. Only
downside, crossposting is limited to 3 groups.

Graham

can't help thinking that you shouldn't try and run a mailserver off a
dsl connection, they are just too unreliable

if your technically minded and want to administer the server your self
then get dedicated or virtual server from a company like tagadab, ovh or
rackspace, they all have basic deals for around £10 a month which should
be fine for most mailserver duties.

this way when your dsl connection goes down (even just for an hour
though usually with dsl problems tend to persist) your mailserver is
sitting happily in a datacenter somewhere chugging along....

also its debatable but having the box in the datacenter is supposed to
better for the environment (especially if the server is virtualized), if
you care about that sort of thing...

Eps wrote:

> can't help thinking that you shouldn't try and run a mailserver off a
> dsl connection, they are just too unreliable
>
> if your technically minded and want to administer the server your self
> then get dedicated or virtual server from a company like tagadab, ovh or
> rackspace, they all have basic deals for around £10 a month which should
> be fine for most mailserver duties.
>
> this way when your dsl connection goes down (even just for an hour
> though usually with dsl problems tend to persist) your mailserver is
> sitting happily in a datacenter somewhere chugging along....
>
> also its debatable but having the box in the datacenter is supposed to
> better for the environment (especially if the server is virtualized), if
> you care about that sort of thing...

Exactly. My brother-in-law leases several servers ( including virtual ones
IIRC ) in Telehouse.

Graham

Eeyore wrote:
>
> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> And I'd like to get some reactions.
>>
>> Currently I've got 3 domains hosted, and ADSL and of course news with
>> claranet, and two BT phone lines one of which is business.
>>
>> And ADSL on the line whose number I would like to lose.
>>
>> My plan would be:
>>
>> 1/. Put new ADSL on the line I want to keep..helps migration as well as
>> can run the two in parallel, and transfer it to an all in one
>> phone/broadband supplier.
>>
>> 2/. Ditch the second line
>>
>> 3/. Transfer the hosting to a simple domain registration..
>>
>> 4/. Handle all incoming mail on my own server (linux)
>>
>> 5/. Handle all hosting on the same server..it already does that..the
>> domains are really for email anyway, not hosting.
>>
>> 6/. Move news to a giganews account. we don't use it for massive
>> bandwidth..way less than 1GB a month so the cheapest service works here.
>>
>> I can see few problems apart from having an incoming port 25 open for
>> spammers..I would hope that a bit of tomfoolery with the email server
>> would solve that to prevent its use as a relay..i.e. only accept mail to
>> local mail domains etc. etc. and only specific users in that domain. Or
>> only from local IP addresses when going 'to the world'
>>
>> I am running about 7GB/month total downloads, and phone calls would seem
>> to be about an hour and a half daily, if that..
>>
>> Strongly tempted to go IDnet...
>>
>> Any advice? better ideas, hidden gotchas?
>
> I can recommend my brother-in-law for inexpensive site hosting. He's a
> genuine IT expert and you will get true personal service. Mail me on the
> address in my headers for info.

I am a genuine IT expert myself, thanks. I can host all I need here on
my tacky old linux box.


>
> Idnet are of course excellent. If you want to move to them could you mention
> me, as we'll both benefit to the tune of £10 !
>

Hmm.
> Graham
>
>