sendmail help?

[Peter Risdon]

fbsd_user wrote:

>I think you are barking up the wrong tree.
>I don't think you  understand how your ISP works.
>ISP's do not allow direct smtp access to their email servers,
>they consider it an security risk to their environment.
>  
>
Sorry, this isn't true. But they don't operate open relays. There are a 
number of ways to limit use to valid customers, such as only relaying 
for computers with ip addresses in a particular range or subnet or, as 
in this case, some form of authentication. If you have a dsl connection, 
you sometimes _have to_ send outgoing mail via your ISP's smtp servers. 
Some ISPs actually block all outgoing smtp traffic that is NOT routed 
through one of their servers. In other cases, ip address blocks used for 
DSL connections get blacklisted. I've just come across an example where 
this has happened with a major US academic institution and to quote 
their security team anonymously:

<quote>

We've received many complaints from our staff about spam which came
directly from poorly administered/hacked machines in this particular
"domainname.obscured.com" range, so we've blocked it.  If you can arrange
with someone else (ISP-name-obscured, for instance) to have your outbound
e-mail sent through their mail servers, then we can accept your e-mail,
but we no longer accept e-mail sent directly to us from mail servers
sitting on dialup/DSL/cable/broadband/pooled connections.

</quote>

I've been routing outgoing e-mail via the smtp servers of various ISPs 
for years.

PWR.