Linux System Administration

The Postfix SMTP Mail Server on Debian

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security advances have been made in the fee-based version of the product. Aaron

Weiss helps clear up some of the confusion about the free and fee-based Sendmail

versions in his article, “The Fee vs. Free Divide” (http://www.serverwatch.com/

tutorials/article.php/3580006):

To commercialize Sendmail and offer value-added products that significantly enhance

its deployment, Sendmail, Inc. was formed. The leading product, Sendmail Switch, is

built on the free Sendmail. It sits on top of the Sendmail core and adds a centralized,

graphical management console; ongoing security maintenance; round-the-clock sup-

port; content management filters (including anti-spam and anti-virus defenses); sup-

port for SSL, SASL, and LDAP directories; and auditing, clustering, and remote

management capabilities. All of this is wrapped up with a graphical installer and task-

based wizards.

In sum, the Sendmail Consortium (responsible for the free, open source Sendmail

MTA) is sponsored by Sendmail, Inc., which provides anti-spam, anti-virus, and pol-

icy management add-ons for that MTA. Following is a description of Sendmail, Inc.’s

business model (from http://www.sendmail.com/company):

Sendmail provides enterprise solutions for secure, dependable, compliant messaging

including email, voice, and instant messaging. Sendmail solutions control inbound,

outbound and intra-bound email ...