[vps-mail] Sendmail - going from spammers.db to access.db

[Marjolein Katsma <tfyj8lv02@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

Now that I've got a brand-new sendmail.cf (generated this time) which also rejects spam from IP addresses in the SpamCop BL (38 rejects already in less than 12 hours), I'm ready for the next spam-handling step.

I've noticed that the current sendmail version provides access.db as a (more powerful) alternative to spammers.db; I'd like to "migrate" from spammers.db to access.db. I've been reading documentation for access.db on the sendmail.org website, understand most of it (I think) but it leaves me with a few questions. Some help would be appreciated before I dive in:

1. Can I gradually migrate from spammers.db to access.db? Or, put differently, will there be interference when I have both? I'd prefer a gradual transition if possible.

2. Currently I have some addresses defined in a virtmaps/aliases combination that dev/null's spam sent to a number of particular addresses which are not actually used by me / by the accounts on my server but _are_ used by spammers to send mail to. I've long wished I could send rejects for these ("no spam accepted at this address" or something) instead of silently discarding the mails.
- Am I correct in understanding that I can now do this by using To: rules in access? (To:nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxx REJECT ...)
- If so, would this "catch" only mails where the particular address is used in the To: header, or would it also apply to mails using the same address in a Cc: or Bcc: header?

3. For some accounts/personalities I've set up in my client Eudora, I had the smtp server set to that on the server (smtp.mydomain.com) instead of that of my access provider (used to be dial-up; ADSL now). This has always worked - until the new sendmail.cf was put into place; now this is rejected with a message like:
<nodeaddress.tld> [IP] did not issue MAIL/EXPN/VRFY/ETRN during connection to stdin
It looks like teh new sendmail (config) is mor estrict in this (which is good) - but I'd like to continue use my old method fo rat least some accounts.
- Am I correct in thinking this could be resolved by added a Connect:IP RELAY rule in access.db (where IP is the fixed IP address for my ADSL node)? Or is there some other problem?

4. I generate spammers.db from spammers by issuing 'vnewspammers'; should I generate a (new) access.db from access using 'vnewaccess'? 

Thanks,

-- 
Marjolein Katsma

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