FAQ - SPAMfighter Exchange Module

Index:

Help Manual

Before installing SEM:
* What operating systems does SPAMfighter Exchange Module support?
* What versions of Exchange Server does SPAMfighter Exchange Module support?
* Can we try SEM for free?
* What does SEM cost?
* Do you have a White Paper for SEM?
* Is there a direct link to the SEM file?
* Is there any risk that installing that installing SEM will interfere with my Exchange Server?
* What impact will SPAMfighter have on my network security?
* What does SEM send to SPAMfighter and what does SEM receive from the outside world?
* What happens if the installation fails?
* What happens if the application fails?
* SEM requires IIS as part of the installation, can this be disabled?
* How does SPAMfighter Exchange Module work?
* How is privacy protected?
* How many email accounts does SPAMfighter Exchange Module support?
* How is an email determined to be spam?
* When an email is determined to be spam, what happens?
* Can you disable filtering on a single mailbox?
* Can SEM work with Antivirus software installed on the Exchange Server?
* Is SPAMfighter Microsoft Certified?
* Who are you SPAMfighters anyway?
* How do I know I can trust you SPAMfighters?
* Where are you located?

Installing SEM:
* SEM requires IIS as part of the installation, can this be disabled?
* MDAC is not installed, what to do?
* .NET Framework what is that?
* How to use SEM with Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server)
* How to use SEM with a proxy server other than Microsoft ISA Server
* Custom Action did not return as expected, what to do?
* The underlying connection was closed: Unable to connect to the remote server, what to do?
* Registration - Email is used, why?
* Service account - Cannot verify user, what to do?

How to Use SEM:
* Can I redirect spam to the administrator account?
* I can't see the SPAMfighter folder, why?

Troubleshooter:
* Accessing SPAMfighter Administration gives me “Configuration Error, Access is denied” error, what to do?


Before installing SEM:

What operating systems does SPAMfighter Exchange Module support?
SEM supports Microsoft Windows Server 2000 and later.
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What versions of Exchange Server does SPAMfighter Exchange Module support?
SEM supports Microsoft Exchange Server 2000, 2003 and 2007 or Microsoft Small Business Server..
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Can we try SEM for free?
Yes you can. You can test SEM for one month free of charge at no obligations. Download it here.
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What does SEM cost?
Take a look at our price list here.
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Do you have a White Paper for SEM?
Yes we do, take a look here. (PDF document)

Is there a direct link to the SEM file?
Yes, you can access it here.
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Is there any risk that installing SEM will interfere with my Exchange Server?
No, certainly not!
The worst case scenario is that the installation fails (not likely!) and SEM lets spam through to the users. In other words, the users receive the spam they are used to receiving. On top of that, SEM is very easy to uninstall completely, but our guess is that you wont want to after trying it out.
Bottom line, you can safely install the free trial and test it as much as you want without worrying about down time or other complications.
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What impact will SPAMfighter have on my network security?
SEM needs access to the Internet, but SEM limits the connection to TCP/2409 and UDP/2409 for servers.backend.spamfighter.com, TCP/80 to sem.licensing.spamfighter.com and TCP/80 to sem.errors.spamfighter.com. This allows the network administrator to secure network traffic by disabling all other connections than the ones listed.
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What does SEM send to SPAMfighter and what does SEM receive from the outside world?
SEM sends installation details at registration, login information when running, debug information if failing and email compiled hash values when testing mails. SEM never sends information sensitive to the network. Also all information send and received is validated to avoid tampering.
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What happens if the installation fails?
If the SEM installation fails, there will have been no interaction with the Exchange Server hence it has no impact on your configuration.
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What happens if the application fails?
Since SEM utilizes the Exchange server interface, emails are not deleted but only moved. If SEM should unexpectedly fail during the analysis, processing or redirection of a mail item, the transaction will be rolled back and the system remain intact.
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SEM requires IIS as part of the installation, can this be disabled?
No it can not - but W3SVC can if necessary. SEM is dependent on the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) service which is part of IIS - likewise Exchange is dependant on IIS.

SEM also uses the World Wide Web Publishing service to publish the administration interface. When the configuration has been completed the W3SVC service can be disabled if necessary. Likewise the W3SVC service can be enabled if further configuration is needed.
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How does SPAMfighter Exchange Module work?
SPAMfighter Exchange Server Module seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Exchange Server and that makes the solution very fast.
As email arrives and the Exchange Server routes it to its addressees, SEM makes a unique signature for each message and sends it to the SPAMfighter Server for evaluation. If the SPAMfighter Server determines that a message is spam, it notifies SEM and the spam mail is moved to the users spam folder.
SPAMfighter Exchange Server Module also offers reporting, so administrators can review statistics on how many messages SEM has filtered, how many users are enabled and more.
In addition, SEM is simple to use for end users as spam is automatically moved to the Spam folder. While SEM simplifies administration and keeps software and configuration off the employee's desktop, it also provides individual control for end users if the administrators decide they want this.
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How is privacy protected?
SEM gives you the highest level of confidentiality. Your email privacy and security are our top priority. Legitimate email on the server is never transmitted or shared with anyone - your legitimate email never leaves your server. Only a few encrypted blocks of data encoded with MD5 (a one way encryption algorithm also called a checksum) and the unique URLs are sent to the SPAMfighter Server.
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How many email accounts does SPAMfighter Exchange Module support?
SEM can support between 5 - 50.000 email accounts.
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How is an email determined to be spam?
SEM creates a unique irreversible signature for each email and its elements, and sends the signatures to the SPAMfighter Server for processing. The server then returns a score determining if the message is spam or not. The original mail message never leaves the server during SEM filtering.
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When an email is determined to be spam, what happens?
If an email is determined to be spam, SEM moves the message to a folder named SPAMfighter in the users mailbox. If the folder does not exist, it will be recreated automatically. The move process is transactional and will rollback if it fails.
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Can you disable filtering on a single mailbox?
Yes, using the administration interface it is simple to disable spam filtering on a single mailbox.
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Can SEM work with Antivirus software installed on the Exchange Server?
Yes it can. SEM works with most common Antivirus software. Since SEM is integrated in the Exchange Server, it does not impact on the functionality of any Antivirus software.

SEM also integrates fully with VIRUSfighter for Exchange - an addon product for SEM.
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Is SPAMfighter Microsoft Certified?
SPAMfighter is a Microsoft Partner and SEM is Microsoft ".net connected" certified. SEM is also VeriTest®, "Designed for Microsoft Windows 2003 Server" certified.

The SPAMfighter client is "Designed for Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP" certified.
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Who are you SPAMfighters anyway?
SPAMfighter was started by four Danish guys, who started SPAMfighter and we have worked together for five years now. Two of us created the largest Danish Internet portal back in 1995, which we sold to Lycos Europe in 2000.
We are based in Copenhagen, Denmark's beautiful capital city and our "workforce" is spread as far as Canada USA, Russia and Denmark.
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How do I know I can trust you SPAMfighters?
Well first of all, we have been in the Internet business for 10 years now, and we are very well known in Scandinavia as honest people. On top of that, SPAMfighter is registered in Denmark, and as you might know, Danish laws are some of the strictest in the world. That is why you never see spam coming out of Denmark.
SPAMfighter is a viable business based in Denmark.
If you still feel concerned, why not try to Google us (Martin Thorborg, founder and head of Marketing/PR -SPAMfighter) and (Henrik Sorensen, founder and CEO - SPAMfighter)
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Where are you located?
We are based in Copenhagen, Denmark's beautiful capital city and our "workforce" is spread as far as Canada, USA, Russia, Grece and Denmark.
Our address is:
SPAMfighter
Nattergalevej 6,2
DK-2400 Copenhagen NV
Denmark

Phone: +45 7022 1551 (Remember we are in the Central European Time Zone, CET, so please don't call at night :-))
Fax : +45 3323 0376
Info@SPAMfighter.com
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Installing SEM:

SEM requires IIS as part of the installation, can this be disabled?
No it can not - but W3SVC can if necessary. SEM is dependent on the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) service which is part of IIS - likewise Exchange is dependant on IIS.

SEM also uses the World Wide Web Publishing service to publish the administration interface. When the configuration has been completed the W3SVC service can be disabled if necessary. Likewise the W3SVC service can be enabled if further configuration is needed.
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MDAC is not installed, what to do?
Get MDAC 2.7 from Microsoft here and install it on your server.
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.NET Framework what is that?
Read all about Microsoft .NET Framework here
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How to use SEM with Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server)
In order to use SPAMfighter Exchange Module (SEM) on a server which connects through an ISA server you need to allow unrestricted communication between your server and SPAMfighter endpoints.
This can be done by creating 2 packet filters in the ISA Server:

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How to use SEM with a proxy server other than Microsoft ISA Server
Make sure your proxy server does not handle the following connections:

• Port: 80, Protocol: TCP, Direction: Both, Endpoint: sem.licensing.spamfighter.com
• Port: 80, Protocol: TCP, Direction: Both, Endpoint: sem.errors.spamfighter.com
• Port: 2409, Protocol: UDP, Direction: Both, Endpoint: servers.backend.spamfighter.com

You can also download SocksCAP a redirection service through SOCKS proxies.
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Custom Action did not return as expected, what to do?
When you install SEM you must complete the registration and configuration before the installation is complete. Failing to do so will cause the installation to fail.
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The underlying connection was closed: Unable to connect to the remote server, what to do?
You server needs to contact SPAMfighter to complete the registration process. Please ensure the server has access to the INTERNET. Also if your server is behind a firewall, it needs to have port UDP/2409 open.
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Registration - Email is used, why?
If you have registered your installation before, you should skip the registration. If you have not registered before you should use a different email address.
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Service account - Cannot verify user, what to do?
On windows 2000 you have to have "Act as part of OS" rights before user validation is possible. If you are sure the account details you entered are correct, you can press "yes" and continue the installation.
You can also cancel the installation and login using the service account information and restart the installation from this account. This will allow the installation to verify the specified account information.
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How to Use SEM:

Can I redirect spam to the administrator account?
The current version of SPAMfighter Exchange Module does not support redirection of spam. Emails found to be spam will always be put in the users SPAMfighter folder.
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I can't see the SPAMfighter folder, why?
The SPAMfighter folder will appear in Outlook when SPAMfighter Exchange Module is active for the current user. If spam is found in the incoming email, it will be transferred to this folder.
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Troubleshooter:

Accessing SPAMfighter Administration gives me“Configuration Error, Access is denied? error, what to do”
Run the following command from a command prompt or the start menu run: “%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\aspnet_regiis” -i

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