FW: BYTE Newsletter 10/6/2003 (fwd)

[Raymond Dijkxhoorn]

Hi!

MS made it into BYTE magazine.

=============================================
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|| A BYTE Newsletter
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|| October 6th, 2003
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|| http://www.byte.com
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|| A CMP Service
||
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==== This Week's Table Of Contents =======================

1. INTRO

Special Feature, Alexander Prohorenko: Fighting Viruses with
MailScanner

2. THIS WEEK'S TOP STORIES

* Advanced Software and Technologies, Bill Nicholls: High
Performance Systems Get Simpler

* Gigglebytes, Lincoln Spector: The Sporting Life

* Chaos Manor, Jerry Pournelle: Pretty as a Picture

3. NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION


- - - - - - - - - - - This Week's Sponsor - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Security is an ever-present challenge for developers. To help keep you up to
date on security issues and solutions, CMP Media is proud to present a
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Download today (registration required):
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Special Feature: Fighting Viruses with MailScanner
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

by Alexander Prohorenko

So, one day you get tired of Klez-s viruses and you decide to put anti-virus
software on your servers, so no viruses will be able to get to users'
mailboxes, and will not from there continue populating into the corporate
network, creating headaches for you and all your employees. Good choice! But
what will you install? From all the anti-virus products available I choose
the open source MailScanner utility--it works, and it works nicely in
partnership with other virus-fighting tools.

MailScanner is actually just a list of Perl scripts, which can be used with
any combination of 14 different virus scanners such as Sophos or McAfee.
MailScanner also works as a spam filter. This article will walk through
installation and setup of MailScanner on SuSE Linux 7.2. This Linux
distribution came with the anti-virus interface Amavis, but that requires
modification of the Mail Transport Agent's configuration files. Not very
scary, but why should we do that, if we have another way?

In theory, all anti-virus interfaces work the same way as the others: First
of all it puts the incoming message somewhere, then it checks the message
with MailScanner or Amavis, then a clean letter goes back to the MTA for
delivery to the user. Whether infected messages will be deleted or
disinfected depends on your settings. This setup can work by adding rules
into the MTA configuration script, or by running the MTA with special
arguments--it doesn't matter.

Well, so as mentioned above, we have SuSE Linux 7.2, sendmail as the MTA,
McAfee as the virus scanner and MailScanner for message handling. First of
all we have to install McAfee. That's easy--by using the default settings of
the installation script, McAfee will install itself into /usr/local/uvscan.
We will not change anything. Then, we will download MailScanner 4.24 and
unpack it somewhere. After that we have to copy the "mailscanner" directory
into, for example, /opt. When finished with this, we will copy all scripts
from McAfee to the directory where MailScanner is installed. In our case
it's /usr/local/uvscan.

Now, let's make a symbolic link "autoupdate," which points to the script
"autoupdate.linux," and another "mcafeewrapper" link that points to
"mcafeewrapper.linux." The first file is the script for updating anti-virus
databases, and second one is the script to run McAfee (in our case the file
uvscan) with the correct arguments. Now we edit these files and set proper
arguments:

In "autoupdate," the line:

   my ($mcafeeroot) = 'something...';

needs to become

   my ($mcafeeroot) = '/usr/local/uvscan';

Save the file. Next, in "mcafeewrapper," the line:

   PackageDir = something...

changes to:

   PackageDir = /usr/local/uvscan

That's all. McAfee configuration is finished. Now, we need to configure
MailScanner.

** Read more at http://click.byte.email-publisher.com/maabwzeaa03tbbdwaXlb/
**

BYTE.com is a subscription-based Web site that requires registration.
Accessing BYTE.com costs $19.95 per year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2. THIS WEEK'S TOP STORIES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COLUMN: Bill Nicholls, Advanced Software and Technologies
"High Performance Systems Get Simpler"

Bill delves into the new designs driving supercomputer performance
forward.

http://click.byte.email-publisher.com/maabwzeaa03tcbdwaXlb/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COLUMN: Lincoln Spector, Gigglebytes
"The Sporting Life"

Setting up Windows? Just think of it as a game.

http://click.byte.email-publisher.com/maabwzeaa03tdbdwaXlb/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COLUMN: Jerry Pournelle, Chaos Manor #278, Installment 4
"Pretty as a Picture"

Jerry reviews the Canon S820 Photo Printer and names the books,
game and movie of the month.

http://click.byte.email-publisher.com/maabwzeaa03tebdwaXlb/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Bye,
Raymond.