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Re: [ietf-smtp] Reject messages on backup mail exchangers when primary MX is online

2013-02-24 23:56:53
On 02/23/2013 02:34 PM, Evert Mouw wrote:
Ales, Keith:

Thanks for your comments.

I speculated that a backup MX would be placed on another network, so
many of the NAT / routing problems would result in the backup MX also
not able to contact the primary MX. That would then "activate" the
backup MX. Routing problems in the senders' network would indeed cause
the backup MX to behave rude, but then the sender should fix his faulty
network. In fact, the backup MX giving an error that the primary MX is
reachable from the backup MX could help detect routing problems. (This
all assumes network seperation between the primary and the backup MX.)

Note, though, that I agree that routing problems could cause problems
and that the backup MX is a great tool to have an alternate means of
delivery. But nowadays many organisations just give up the backup MX
because of spam, so something must be done.

The existence of spam is not an argument for changing well-established functionality that people are using and which basically works. In general, the debilitating effect of spam countermeasures is at least as bad as that of spam itself.

If "many organizations" don't want to support backup MXes, and deal with the consequences, that's their choice - not an imperative to recommend that they be disabled.

Keith

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