Android and sendmail

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And you probably read in my last post … I had a problem getting mail setup my new Android phone.

I could receive mail fine … but it failed (with a totally useless message) whenever I tried to send mail.  I was sure I had the settings right (userid, password, ssl, etc).

I have my mail server configured to do authenticated sending (as all good mail server admin’s should) … but for some reason the authentication wasn’t working correctly.

I tried various setting combinations to see what might be the problem … I verified the settings with my iPhone and Thunderbird.  Everything matched up.

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And Now I’m a Droid

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Android … to be specific.

I decided it was time to upgrade my phone … and switched to an Android based phone.  I got a Motorola ATRIX.

I was split between the ATRIX and the HTC Inspire … the Inspire has better battery life and a bigger screen, but the ATRIX has expandable memory and a front facing camera.

The primary reason for switching was so I could do mobile app development … I’ve got a few ideas for apps in my head and didn’t want to invest in a Mac just so I could develop them.  Android apps are developed in Java and the SDK is free (and Eclipse based).

It’s going to take a bit of time to get used to the new user interface … but so far I’m liking it a lot.

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DNS: Sends No Mail

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I really wish there was a way to indicate, in DNS, that a domain never sends mail.

That way, if a mail server recieves mail claiming to be from that domain, it can be discarded out of hand.

I’ve got a bunch of domains that JUST do web serving … they never send mail.  If the web server that they are hosted on does send mail, it’s sent from via the midrange.com mail server (and is identified as such).

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Sentient?

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I think most developers I know (and I know quite a few) will identify with this blog post.

Have you ever wondered why something on your computer will work fine while you’re working on it (or developing it) but, suddenly and without warning, fail to work properly when you’re showing someone what you are working on?

This often happens when someone asks you if there’s a way to accomplish something … and you say: “Sure, that’s easy”, and try to show them … failing miserably.

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DKIM Rule – SpamAssassin

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I put together a new SpamAssassin rule that will help identify spam from spoofed email addresses.

Some email providers always sign email with DKIM or DomainKeys … based on this assumption, if you get a message from one of those domains and it isn’t signed, you can assume its more likely to be spam.

This particular rule operates on the assumption that all mail from Yahoo & Gmail will be signed.  It does not, however, raise the score a huge amount … because it’s just more LIKELY to be spam if it’s not signed … it’s not guaranteed to be spam. Some people may use the Yahoo or Gmail account’s in the from address, but not actually send from that service.
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Xen, LVM, and Grub

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I ran into an interesting problem with my new server the other day.

Due to a hardware problem with an external USB hard drive, I had to reboot the XEN host.

I had to do the reboot remotely … so I couldn’t intervene if something went wrong.  Yes, you guessed it, something did go wrong.

When I finally got home I found the system trying to boot ‘bree’ … which is one of the XEN guest machines.

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New Internet Provider

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Although it took more a lot longer to actually get around to making the change than I had planned on … I have finally switched Internet providers.

Previously I was using Covad for the midrange.com Internet service and AT&T for personal Internet service.

The Covad service was 1mb SDSL (1mb down / 1mb up with 5 static IP addresses) and the AT&T service was 6mb down & 768k up (ADSL).

The new service, provided by Comcast, is 22mb down / 5mb up and includes 13 static IP addresses.  It’s replacing both the Covad and AT&T service.

In addition to the improved speed, I’ll be saving about $50 / month in cost.

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Washington

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Vacation time again …

This time to the pacific northwest … Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula.

We spent the first night in the holiday Inn near the airport … We were going to get in a little late and didn’t want to mess with getting the car an finding parking. Just as well too, ad our flight was delayed by two hours. We arrived at the motel around 1am.

The next morning we picked up the car (a nice ford escape, non hybrid) and headed to our first stop in Port Angeles … Colette’s Bed & Breakfast. Continue reading →

Blog Database Fixed

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Sorry it took so long, but other things had a higher priority.

I finally got around to writing a program that will update the current blog’s database with the content from the old database.

This is to correct the import problem that I discovered a few weeks ago.

I really should put together a bug report for wordpress.

Of course it would be even better if there were a mechanism to convert a single site wordpress blog to a multi-site blog, so these kind of issues would be avoided.