Sendmail - Qmail - A question of differances

They have: 120 posts

Joined: Apr 1999

Hi,

I am quite new to the Linux and webmaster issues, but in a post in alt.www.webmaster I found a post about a server being hacked.

A lot of the responses gave the poster the advice to change from sendmail to qmail for added security.

What's the differance between the two? Why is qmail better?

Thanks,

Jes

They have: 15 posts

Joined: Apr 1999

Qmail doesn't toy with security issues.... it was made in such a way that it demands things be done correctly... as such it will not allow anything that doesn't 'follow the rules' to pass through it... sendmail has been hacked on by so many that it allows a great deal of 'broken protocols' to go through it..

You'll find most of the answers I could give you by reading the text on this site http://freebsd.ntu.edu.tw/djb/qmail.html where they give a general overview on qmail and show some of the reasons why it is felt to be a faster, more secure, more stable system.

For details on security and part of the reason we chose Qmail check out http://www.qmail.org/man/misc/SECURITY.txt

Deb

They have: 2,390 posts

Joined: Nov 1998

Deb,
The irony (well not much of one I admit) is that sendmail is not working on the forums for the moment because someone hacked it (from what I understand) Sad
JP

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The Webmaster Promotion and Resource Center.
http://www.what-next.com

They have: 120 posts

Joined: Apr 1999

Deb,

thanks a million. I'll be sure to check those sites out.

Anymore standard-Linux-parts I should stay clear of from a security point of view?

Jes

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