E-Mail Server Configuration For Dummies

Well; I feel like a wally.

SmartData‘s taking on a new client for a content-managed web site, web and e-mail hosting. In anticipation of the domain transfer going through without a hitch, I reconfigured our web and e-mail servers to already be ready to accept connections to their “new” web site and for e-mails to come through. This is a wise move, because not all of the computers on the internet appreciate moving domains at the same time, and so for a day or so, e-mails will be going to both the old e-mail server and the new one: the new one needs to be ready to catch these before the first computers start sending e-mail to it.

Unfortunatley, I underestimated the intelligence of the configuration tools and the anti-spam mechanisms of our e-mail server software.

So, I send an e-mail to our client, who we’ll call bob@our-new-client.com, from my @smartdata.co.uk address. It goes out through our mail server. This is where it all goes wrong. Normally what our mail server would do would be to look up where on the internet our-new-client.com’s e-mail is kept, connect to there, and deliver it, but our mail server is a little bit lazier than that. It thought to itself, “Hey, I am the e-mail server for our-new-client.com: I know this, because I’ve been configured to accept mail for them,” and so it happily filed all my mail to bob@our-new-client.com… on their new mail server.

And then the news came through that there were complications in the domain name transfer, and it would be a few more days before they could easily pick up said mail. So, I’ve happily e-mailed them a request for their deposit on their hosting package with us, and they’re wondering why we haven’t asked for it yet, so they e-mail us. Here’s what happens:

Their e-mail server contacts our e-mail server and says “I am our-new-client.com, and I have an e-mail for dans-real-address-goes-here@smartdata.co.uk.”
And our mail server thinks “Hang on, this server is pretending to be our-new-client.com, but I know that I am responsible for our-new-client.com’s e-mail. This must be a filthy spammer trick.”
But our mail server was configured by me, so it’s a little devious. It responds (to the real our-new-client.com mail server): “Okay, I believe you, give the the e-mail.” (so those filthy spammers have no idea whether their mail got through or not) Then it shreds the e-mail and buries it in virtual concrete.

And so, for the latter half of this week, neither our newest client or us have been able to e-mail one another, and it’s only today that I’ve noticed.

Bugger.

This Weekend’s Events

Just so those of you in Aber know, here’s some of this weekend’s highlights:

  • Geek Night tonight is cancelled, as JTA and I are building his new PC (possibly with the help of Paul and certainly while being hand-fed peeled grapes by Ruth).
  • A number of us are discussing seeing the 2:30pm matinee showing of Wallace & Gromit in The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit at the Commodore on Saturday, thereby still having time for our usual film programme in the evening. Want in?
  • Troma Night tomorrow is on as usual. Hopefully we’ll be finally having the long-promised “comic book night”. We shall see.
  • Claire is away for the weekend, helping out the Freshers at on the computer science activity weekends as they throw themselves off telegraph poles and otherwise get very muddy. This means you won’t be able to get in contact with her. This means you, Claire’s Dad.

Dan’s Dingbats Challenge III – Results

Thanks to everybody who played Dan’s Dingbats Challenge III; it was great to see some of your answers. Almost everybody did really well on points this time around, but many were let down by their times.

Here’s the final scoreboard and answers:

Position Player Time Taken Right Answers Total Time
1 Faye (Aber)
Very quick; every one right…
3mins, 44secs 14 3mins, 44secs
2 Count Gonzo van der Winklestein Jones 2mins, 45secs 12 4mins, 25secs
3 Binky
The fastest time to answer all the questions, but lost marks for wrong answers.
2mins, 28secs 10.5 5mins, 23secs
4 Claire 4mins, 5secs 12 5mins, 45secs
5 A Bowl Of Candy 3mins, 23secs 11 5mins, 53secs
6 Mister JTA 4mins, 14secs 12 5mins, 54secs
7 RockMonkey 5mins, 13secs 13 6mins, 3secs
8 Statto 4mins, 10secs 11.5 6mins, 15secs
9 Ruth 4mins, 43secs 12 6mins, 23secs
10 Pacifist 4mins, 11secs 11 6mins, 41secs
11 Matt In The Hat 5mins, 19secs 10 8mins, 39secs
12 Leu 5mins, 58secs 10.5 8mins, 53secs
13 Raz 6mins, 15secs 10.5 9mins, 10secs
14 Itsme (Gaz @ SmartData) 8mins, 23secs 12 10mins, 3secs
15 Chloe 7mins, 31secs 9 11mins, 41 secs
16 Sarah
Only answered one question; as a result, came last!
1mins, 18secs 1 12mins, 8secs

Apologies to “bleh” from 82.144.227.98; your answers arrived just too late to participate, but for your reference, you took 5mins, 14secs and got 13 right (give or take some interesting phrasing), for a total score of 6mins, 4secs.

Here are the answers. Click on a dingbat for a full-size version:
Charity begins at home
Charity begins at home
A nice simple one to begine with – the word “charity”, beginning inside a symbolic “home”. I also accepted “in the home”, “starts”, and any other derivitive of this basic phrase.

Fractional distillation
Fractional distillation
Yes, I know that this was ludicrously difficult, but a good number of people managed to get it. Incorrect answers included “distillation quarter”, “a quart of alcohol”, “Hooray! Distillation = Whisky!” (thanks, JTA), and “I have no idea”.

Back to basics
Back to basics
Another simple one: at least I thought so – the word “basic”, twice (“two basics”), written backwards (hence “back two/to basics”). Nonetheless, wrong answers included “basic backeards [sic] twice” and “two basic backwards”.

Actions speak louder than words
Actions speak louder than words
Several “actions” saying “blah” louder than their wordy friends. One wrong guess was “all talk and no action”: not sure where that one came from…

Every dog has it's day
Every dog has it’s day
Several “dogs”, each with a “day”. What more do you want? I accepted “a dog will have it’s day” (basically the same thing), and gave half-marks for “give a dog it’s day” (there’s no “giving” involved, I’m afraid). I also accepted Paul’s “I was going to say “Dog Day Afternoon” but I don’t think so. Every Dog Has His Day?” because he concluded the right answer in the end and he was very sweet to lose several seconds of his time writing me an essay about how he reached that decision.

Definately wrong answers included “dog days”, “dog day afternoon” (what?), “until dog days end” (huh?), “ground-dog day” (umm?), and JTA’s deluded “Hm. Something about the ‘Dog days’ at the arse end of August, I suspect. Er. Which means Sirius, but I can’t get it…”

Like father, like son
Like father, like son
The word “like” appears in the place of “father” and his son in this stylised family tree, and most players understood the connection. Wrong answers included the wonderful “your mum” and the great guess “I don’t like my mother (well? It’s true!)”

Look on the bright side
Look on the bright side
The word “look” appears on the bright (or light) side of this gradient. Most folks seemed to understand, but some guessed “look lighter on the other side” or even “the right look” (what???).

Love is blind
Love is blind
The word “love” is depicted here with a guide dog and cane. “Blind love” was also an acceptable answer. Half-marks were earned for “Love is like the blind leading the blind”, but I’m afraid I can’t give any points for “guide dog of love” (wasn’t that a song by Dire Straits)?

All that glitters is not gold
All that glitters is not gold
Decpicted are a bunch of metals, all of which are glittering, except for gold, which is not: hence, “all that glitters is not gold”. It’s not quite what I was looking for, but full marks go for “not everything that glitters is gold”, which still embodies the meaning of the phrase. However, no points for “black gold” or for “Something about gold being stronger or bolder or something than something. (thanks Chloe)”

Divide and rule
Divide and rule
It’s a divide symbol, a plus (“and”) symbol, and a rule(r). “Rule and divide”, despite turing the phrase on it’s head, was also acceptable. “Divide and measure” got half a mark, because it was clear that the player who wrote it knew where they were coming from but just hadn’t heard of the phrase before. However, Paul’s “Divide Plus Ruler? What?” doesn’t score on this question.

A picture is worth a thousand words
A picture is worth a thousand words
Well, a lot of words, anyway. No prizes for “weight of words”, though.

(It) takes two to tango
(It) takes two to tango
Probably ought to explain this one: the word “take” is repeated multiple times (“takes”); followed by the number 2 (“two”), followed by the word “tango” twice (“two/to tango”). Anything close got the mark, but “three takes to tango” is wrong and “right to tango oh fuck it” is way out.

All is fair in love and war
All is fair in love and war
Easy enough – the word “fair” is repeated throughout the words “love” and “war”. The only person to get this wrong wrote “nothing is fain in love and war”, which I don’t think is even close to accurate.

Blood is thicker than water
Blood is thicker than water
Easy: the word “blood” is written in a thicker typeface. Everybody got this one.

Well there you have it. Keep an eye out for Dan’s Dingbats Challenge IV!

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