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This couldn't have happened at a worse time... I'll start from the beginning.
On Saturday, I decided to migrate my desktop equipment to my server. This involved upgrading from an Athlon XP to a dual Athlon MP and doubling the RAM. Nothing more.
I run FreeBSD 5.4 on the server. Prior to the upgrade, I did a "make buildworld && make installworld," which worked fine.
After the upgrade, I re-compiled a new kernel with SMP support. Again, no issues.
Upon completion, I noted some issues with my e-mail. I had not received any e-mail since the night of the upgrade, though I could still check my e-mail with no problems. Initially, I forgot I did a "make installworld" to the machine and started tracking the problem with the assumption it had something to do with the hardware upgrade. Found a few more things to tweak in the kernel config after poring through the docs with a fine-tooth comb, and things did speed up a bit... but still no new e-mails.
Then I remembered that I did a "make installworld" and double checked my e-mail settings. Turned out that spam assassin had changed the location of its configuration files, and inserted some blank ones. Fixed that. Also, I had used a custom-built version of clamav, and it had gone out of date. Installed the port (it was current) so it will be synced also at the next world build. Still had e-mail problems.
Tried to telnet to port 25 from my server to see what was going on. Everything seemed to be working fine from that interface... I was able to spoof a test message to my e-mail account.
Then, ssh'ed to a friend's machine and tried to telnet to port 25 on my server from there... no response. Tried another friend's machine on another ISP. Again, no response. Tried this with 5 different accounts on 5 different ISPs with the same result. My ISP was the culprit.
Apparently, they had started blocking port 25 during the same time period I was doing my upgrades. Now, the user agreement clearly states that they do allow people to use home servers of any type (at least, that was the agreement I signed on to). However, they apparently have a policy change. They are blocking port 25 to prevent their customers from inadvertently spamming the crap out of the world. A noble cause.
So I think, OK, I'll compromise. I'll use your servers to send mail (spoofing my actual e-mail address) if you allow me to receive traffic on port 25 (receive only - no transmit). No go (they claimed that their firewalls were not complex enough to allow one-way communication, when clearly they are - they allow me to send to port 25 only to them). Well, then, I suppose I'll have to terminate service and find an alternative ISP. After 5 minutes of them frantically trying to find alternative solutions, they eventually gave up and we both agreed they would no longer work for me. I do have to admit they strained their indian brains hard to find creative alternatives, such as changing every server on the planet to use a different port to communicate with my e-mail server (that was my favorite).
Well, anyways, I was about to switch to another ISP that "claimed" to not be blocking anything when a friend offered to let me share his co-lo server... which solves the problem nicely. In the mean-time, I need to frantically set up the server on a Solaris 10 machine (of which I have no experience with thus far), then transfer all my current e-mail data over to it (thankfully, qmail is compatible with Solaris), and set up my DNS service to forward mail traffic to that server rather than warfaresdl.com... I hope to have it done by tomorrow night (preferably before all my mail from Saturday and afterwards starts bouncing).
On Saturday, I decided to migrate my desktop equipment to my server. This involved upgrading from an Athlon XP to a dual Athlon MP and doubling the RAM. Nothing more.
I run FreeBSD 5.4 on the server. Prior to the upgrade, I did a "make buildworld && make installworld," which worked fine.
After the upgrade, I re-compiled a new kernel with SMP support. Again, no issues.
Upon completion, I noted some issues with my e-mail. I had not received any e-mail since the night of the upgrade, though I could still check my e-mail with no problems. Initially, I forgot I did a "make installworld" to the machine and started tracking the problem with the assumption it had something to do with the hardware upgrade. Found a few more things to tweak in the kernel config after poring through the docs with a fine-tooth comb, and things did speed up a bit... but still no new e-mails.
Then I remembered that I did a "make installworld" and double checked my e-mail settings. Turned out that spam assassin had changed the location of its configuration files, and inserted some blank ones. Fixed that. Also, I had used a custom-built version of clamav, and it had gone out of date. Installed the port (it was current) so it will be synced also at the next world build. Still had e-mail problems.
Tried to telnet to port 25 from my server to see what was going on. Everything seemed to be working fine from that interface... I was able to spoof a test message to my e-mail account.
Then, ssh'ed to a friend's machine and tried to telnet to port 25 on my server from there... no response. Tried another friend's machine on another ISP. Again, no response. Tried this with 5 different accounts on 5 different ISPs with the same result. My ISP was the culprit.
Apparently, they had started blocking port 25 during the same time period I was doing my upgrades. Now, the user agreement clearly states that they do allow people to use home servers of any type (at least, that was the agreement I signed on to). However, they apparently have a policy change. They are blocking port 25 to prevent their customers from inadvertently spamming the crap out of the world. A noble cause.
So I think, OK, I'll compromise. I'll use your servers to send mail (spoofing my actual e-mail address) if you allow me to receive traffic on port 25 (receive only - no transmit). No go (they claimed that their firewalls were not complex enough to allow one-way communication, when clearly they are - they allow me to send to port 25 only to them). Well, then, I suppose I'll have to terminate service and find an alternative ISP. After 5 minutes of them frantically trying to find alternative solutions, they eventually gave up and we both agreed they would no longer work for me. I do have to admit they strained their indian brains hard to find creative alternatives, such as changing every server on the planet to use a different port to communicate with my e-mail server (that was my favorite).
Well, anyways, I was about to switch to another ISP that "claimed" to not be blocking anything when a friend offered to let me share his co-lo server... which solves the problem nicely. In the mean-time, I need to frantically set up the server on a Solaris 10 machine (of which I have no experience with thus far), then transfer all my current e-mail data over to it (thankfully, qmail is compatible with Solaris), and set up my DNS service to forward mail traffic to that server rather than warfaresdl.com... I hope to have it done by tomorrow night (preferably before all my mail from Saturday and afterwards starts bouncing).
