
This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition
Copyright © 2007 O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sendmail
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257
Securing Your MTA
Now we come to the specifics: how to configure SMTP server software securely. But
which software should you use?
My own favorite MTA is Postfix. Wietse Venema, its creator, has outstanding
credentials as an expert and pioneer in TCP/IP application security, making security
one of the primary design goals. What’s more, Postfix has a very low learning curve:
simplicity is another design goal. Finally, Postfix is extremely fast and reliable. I’ve
never had a bad experience with Postfix in any context (except the self-inflicted
kind).
Qmail also has an enthusiastic user base. Even though it’s only slightly less difficult
to configure than Sendmail, it’s worth considering for its excellent security and
performance. D. J. Bernstein’s official Qmail web site is at http://cr.yp.to/qmail.html.
Exim, another highly regarded mailer, is the default MTA in Debian GNU/Linux.
The official Exim home page is http://www.exim.org, and its creator, Philip Hazel,
has written a book on it, Exim: The Mail Transfer Agent (O’Reilly).
I mention Qmail and Exim because they each have their proponents, including some
people I respect a great deal. But as I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter,
Sendmail and Postfix are the MTAs we’re going to cover in depth here. So if you’re
interested ...