1. Home
  2. How To
  3. Dedicated Server
  4. SmarterMail
  5. SmarterMail 10.x Recommended SPAM Settings

SmarterMail 10.x Recommended SPAM Settings

Follow these steps to review your spam settings:

STEP 1: Log in to SmarterMail as the system administrator.

STEP 2: Click the Security icon.

STEP 3: Click Antispam Administration in the navigation pane.

STEP 4: Click Spam Checks tab.

We recommend using increments of 10 when assigning weights to the various spam checks. To enable a spam check, click the check box associated with the various filtering option you want applied to your incoming emails. In order to adjust the weights of the various spam checks, click on the Edit link on the right of each SPAM Test item.  You can edit the values and then click Save to implement the changes or clicking Cancel to close the Edit dialog without saving changes.

Declude (Leave unchecked if you not have Declude)

Low Probability of Spam weight = 10
Medium Probability of Spam weight = 20
High Probability of Spam weight = 30

SpamAssassin based Pattern Matching

This is a multi-threaded, proprietary client based on SpamAssassin technology.  If your server processes a lot of messages, then you may want to consider using SpamAssassin in a stand-alone Linux configuration.

Bayesian Filter

Weight = 10 (spam weight assigned to a message if it fails Bayesian filter test)
Max. Memory to allocate for filtering = 10MB
Message required for filter update  = 500

SPF

Pass weight = 0 Senders IP is valid for senders domain
Fail weight = 30 Senders IP is not valid for senders domain
Soft Fail weight = 10 Senders IP is questionable for senders domain
Neutral weight = 0 No strong statement can be made for or against senders IP
PermError weight = 0 The SPF record could not be processed.
None weight = 0 SPF is not commonly adopted therefore, we suggest setting this to 0

Reverse DNS

weight = 10

RBL: SpamCop

Weight = 10

RBL: SpamHaus SBL

Weight = 10

RBL: SpamHaus XBL

Weight = 10

Additional RBLs can be added and weights applied.

You can also enable “blocking” of emails that fail individual spam checks.  For example, enable blocking for Reverse DNS if an incoming email message fails only the Reverse DNS test then, the message is assigned a weight of 10, if the SMTP Blocking Weight Threshold is set to 10 then the message is blocked.

In addition, the defaults for the Filtering tab are as follows:

Low Probability of Spam weight = 10 

Default Action: Prefix subject with text
Text to Add: SPAM-LOW

Medium Probability of Spam weight = 20 

Default Action: Move to Junk E-Mail folder
Text to Add: SPAM-Medium

High Probability of Spam weight = 30 

Default Action: Move to Junk E-Mail folder
Text to Add: SPAM-High

Once, you are comfortable with your SPAM settings you may want to change the default action on the High Probability from “Prefix subject with text” to “Delete the Message”.

Enable Greylisting

This feature delays unrecognized incoming emails that are not included in either the Trusted Sender list or the Whitelists.

If the incoming message is received by an unknown sender, the server will reject the initial message and ask the sending server to retry at a later time. When a valid email server retries sending the message after the block period (default 12 minutes) and within the past period (default = 240 minutes), the email is accepted. This creates a record expiration for that email which is by default = 36 days. If another email is received from this same sender, then this resets the record expiration to 36 days.

If the message is received by someone in the Trusted Sender list or the Whitelists, then the message bypasses greylisting and is only processed by only antivirus settings before delivery.

SMTP Blocking

The idea behind SMTP blocking of incoming and outgoing email is to filter out spam messages before they are delivered to the spool. Enabling Incoming SMTP Blocking can apply spam filter checks such as SPF, Reverse DNS, and RealTime Blacklist.

To configure blocking of Incoming SMTP connections, select the spam checks you want applied to Incoming email from the Spam Checks tab. Once your selections are made, click the SMTP Blocking tab.  The spam filtering checks that were selected on the Spam Checks tab will be displayed under the Current Incoming Weights.  In order to actually enable the blocking feature, click the Spam Blocking Enabled CheckBox.  Next, you can edit the Weight Threshold under Incoming Options, so that when an email arrives and it exceeds the Weight Threshold value the email is blocked and never delivered to the Spool.

For the SMTP Blocking of Outgoing email, Spam filter checks are applied to outgoing email prior to being put in the Spool.  There are additional Spam checks that can be selected such as: Declude, SpamAssassin, Custom Headers, and the Bayesian Filters in addition to those available for blocking of Incoming SMTP connections. To configure the blocking of Outgoing SMTP connections, select the Spam checks you want applied to outgoing email from the Spam Checks page. Once, your selections are made, click the SMTP Blocking tab.  The Spam filtering checks that were selected on the Spam Checks page will then be displayed under the Current Outgoing Weights.  In order to actually enable the Blocking feature, click the Spam Blocking Enabled CheckBox.  Next, you can edit the Weight Threshold under the Outgoing Options, such that when an outgoing email exceeds the Weight Threshold value the email is blocked and never delivered to the Spool.

Once completed, click Save.

Updated on March 15, 2019

Was this article helpful?

Related Articles

Leave a Comment

Need Help?
Submit a ticket to us and let our professional team assists you

Support Billing Sales
Support
Billing
Sales