Frequently Asked Questions about SpamSentinel Server
Q: Which version of Domino is supported?
A: SpamSentinel supports Domino R5, ND6, R7 and R8 servers.

Q: What platforms are supportted?
A: Currently, SpamSentinel supports Windows versions of Domino, Linux and AS/400 (versions V5 R1 R2 & R3), Solaris and RS Unix.

Q: How long does a server install take?
A: It takes about 10-15 minutes to install the server version.

Q: Do I have to reboot my server after installation?
A: You will need to restart your Domino server. You do not need to reboot your server. You can do all of the install completely before doing a quick "restart server" command to at the Domino server console.

Q: What is the server performance hit with this product?
A: Trials by Mayflower Software have found the server performance actually improves slightly with the product, mostly due to the fact that when spam is blocked to ex-employees, your SMTP server spends a lot less time replying to false addresses.

Q: How can server performance improve after you install new software?
A: Because SpamSentinel stop and quarantine the Spam to users that are no longer with the company, your Domino server does not spend the next 24 to 48 hours trying to reply to a bogus sender with a message like:
User ex_employee (ex_employee@acme.com) not listed in public Name & Address Book

Q: What Ports does SpamSentinel use to access the database of known spam?
A: Port 80 or Port 2703 needs to be open for outbound traffic for your server to access our catalog of known spam.

Q: Does SpamSentinel download the spam catalog to my server?
A: SpamSentinel does not download the catalog due to its size and the real-time nature. Approximately 1,000,000 new messages are being reported every hour. SpamSentinel checks each mail against this real-time database.

Q: Can I Whitelist domains myself?
A: You can whitelist names and domains by making an entry in our administrator database, all in real-time. The entry takes effect immediately, and supersedes all other entries.

Q: Can I blacklist other domains myself?
A: Absolutely. We allow you to blacklist any user or domain in real time. We create one Notes document per domain, so you can mange it. As soon as you save the document, that domain is blacklisted.

Q: Is there a limit to the number of domains that we can blacklist?
A: There is no limit. You could easily list 10,000 domains (although our service handles most of your spam problems without blacklisting a single domain).

Q: Do I have to restart my server after entering a blacklist name like when I modify the NAB?
A: No, our list is read by SpamSentinel in real-time, so no server restart is necessary.

Q: What is the order of evaluation of Whitelist, blacklists and your catalog of known spam?
A: Your whitelists are examined first, then the blacklists, and then we check SpamNet.
Q: What percentage of Spam messages do you block?
A: SpamSentinels block approximately 98.2% of spam messages.

Q: Does SpamSentinel work with RBLs?
A: Yes, SpamSentinel combines the best of SpamNet with the best of RBLs to maximize the percentage of Spam that you catch. In our tests, we catch 98% of Spam with this hybrid methodology with almost "0" false positives. SpamSentinel gives you a single server console that allows your whitelists to take precedence over SpamNet and RBLs. All caught Spam goes into the Quarantine database, where users can inspect it and release it, or receive a daily report of all new messages in the Quarantine database.

Q: Does SpamSentinel get many false positives?
A: The biggest problem with most spam filtering and blocking for Domino is false positives. Keyword filters create them. Domain rules create them. Subject filtering creates them.

For starters, we do not look at Notes mail generated internally, only mail from the SMTP gateway. So, there is 0% chance of false positives from internal Notes mail.

SpamSentinel has almost no false positives on the remaining SMTP mail because of our approach of listing all known spam signatures in a database just like virus signatures are stored. A message would have to be sent to thousands of external email addresses, and blocked by many of our users before it makes it to our real-time database.

Q: Can users check the quarantine database for false positives?
A: Yes, caught messages are protected with reader names, so only the intended recipient can see them in the quarantine database (and the Notes administrator, or course).

Q: Do you have a daily report of caught Spam?
A: SpamSentinel has a reporting tool that send each user a summary report of all spam caught.

Q: Is SpamSentinel compatible with GroupShield?
A: Testing has shown excellent compatibility with all the major anti-virus packages.

Q: We use multiple mail.box files. Do you work with that?
A: Yes, the standard install supports:
mail.box, mail1.box, mail2.box, mail3.box, mail4.box, mail5.box
If you use other names, you can edit the server preference document and add those to the list, up to the 10 mail.boxes supported by Domino.

Q: What DNS lists do you block? Is my company on that list?
A: SpamSentinel does not use DNS block lists because of that issue. It blocks individual messages, not IP addresses or DNS entries.
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