[ltp] Sending email from laptops?

John Locke linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org
Tue, 02 Nov 2004 10:00:56 -0800


On Tue, 2004-11-02 at 10:00 +0100, Tino Keitel wrote:
> On Sun, Oct 31, 2004 at 11:32:41 -0700, ben wrote:
> > Hi!  Apologies for the non-Thinkpad-specific question, but it's
> > definitely a laptop question, and I'm writing this from a Thinkpad :)
> > 
> > What kinds of solutions do y'all use for sending email from the
> > laptop?  Often I can't send because the receiver recognises that I'm
> > spoofing my outgoing address (among things) and (wisely) bounces my
> > mail.  What I think I'd like is something like this: my MTA (currently
> > Postfix) logs me in to the pop3 server from which I retrieve my email,
> > and use that as an authenticated relay.

I run a mail server on a static IP address, and provide SMTP Auth to my
users (and me) on both ports 25 and 465. Lots of free wireless zones
block port 25 (or intercept it and route through a local MTA they
provide), but port 465 is almost always available. I give my users
instructions to configure their email software to use port 465 with SSL
and SMTP Auth, and it's solved many road warrior problems. 

>From /etc/services:
smtps           465/tcp                         # SMTP over SSL (TLS)

Most email programs default to port 465 if you tell it to always use
SSL. TLS and "encrypt if available" settings usually default to 25.

Cheers,

-- 
John Locke
"Open Source Solutions for Small Business Problems"
published by Charles River Media, June 2004
http://www.freelock.com