There have been a couple of requests for the cidr file I'm using to block spam in postfix. This only works if you know you'll likley never recieve mail from outside the US (or you don't want to). Further, it only works for fairly low traffic mail servers. If you really want to use it for a high traffic site, change the 451s to REJECTs. If you have a lot of users or recieve mail from outside the US often you won't want to use this approach. Use the personal_cidr file to keep a list of your personal blocks, or to OK clients.

This is the real file I use, so it will be updated over time. You could wget it in a cron every 2-3 months for example. If you have any updates to it - please send them along. Also, this list may be out of date. Any corrections/removals would be very welcome.

http://ryansimpkins.com/regional_cidr

In main.cf, add this (I also do these RBLs which really help):

smtpd_client_restrictions =
    cidr:/etc/postfix/personal_cidr,
    cidr:/etc/postfix/regional_cidr,
    reject_rbl_client zen.spamhaus.org,
    reject_rbl_client bl.spamcop.net,
    reject_rbl_client dnsbl.njabl.org

Don't forget to run postmap & restart.

postmap /etc/postfix/personal_cidr
postmap /etc/postfix/regional_cidr
/etc/init.d/postfix restart

Incidently, I had to unblock a server in Euorpe last night. Since I sent 451's back instead of REJECTs, adding the MX to my whitelist was all that I had to do. The mail came through a few minutes later.

A new server has been provisioned for ryansimpkins.com. Main upgrades include a better storage array, lower bandwidth costs, and faster gear. Things have been changing rapidly on the backend over the last six months. To keep up with the latest on what I am doing, you might follow me better over at my LinkedIn profile.

Recently I installed CGI::IRC to provide basic IRC access to those who wish to contact me for use by those that might not be familiar with IRC clients. It uses a very well thought out interface that runs in nearly all browsers (including Opera, which is why I chose it). Here is a brief overview of how I configured it:

In order to ease the management of RyanSimpkins.com I have moved it to Drupal instead of Mambo/Joomla. I have also chosen a stock template. Drupal is not nearly as complex and featureful as Mambo, but loosing the complexity will hopefully let me more easily manage the simple content I have. So far I have been mostly impressed with Drupal. Only a few minor issues stand out, such as the organization of the settings, and missing options like new line filtering in the content creation and edit windows. I have enjoyed the ease in deploying new content in to the site. Nearly all of the content from Mamo was easily moved in to Drupal with a few copy/pastes.

Nutshell: The content control in Drupal isn't as exacting as Mambo, and that makes it easier to use and mantain small amounts of content.