From: Giles Coochey <giles at coochey.net> > On 14/10/2010 09:11, Alexander Dalloz wrote: > >> i'm following online guides to secure my centos 5.4 > >> it's advised to turn off sendmail service among others. > >> but how can i forward my /var/log/mail to my webmail ? > > To update to CentOS 5.5 with current updates (especially the kernel!) > > would improve security much more than deactivating Sendmail. That said you > > are not bound to 5.4 by any specific usecase. > > > Agree with above. > >> any help would be greatly appreciated.. > > What is the rationale behind deactivating Sendmail. Just curious. Or is it > > the typical rant "Sendmail is insecure, see its history"? > > > If he just wants to send emails generated by internal programs on his > system and doesn't need a full blown MTA then something smaller with > SMTP capability would be a more fitting choice. > I run sendmail myself, but then run a full blown mail system, want spam > / anti-vrus checking and so on, but for ordinary systems > (non-mailservers) something simpler with a smaller footprint and > capability is probably better, not just from a security point of view. > I commend anyone who choses not to run a full-blown MTA if they are > technically uncertain about the security implications. What could be so insecure about using sendmail localy? Don't start the daemon, so it is not listening... Or the firewall will block the port anyway... If the mail is sent to a trusted mail server, there is no risks. Am I missing something? JD