PB WITH SENDMAIL

[Ayman Altounji]

The neoserver 150 includes "Sendmail 8.8.8" as mail server.
This version of Sendmail present an important failure in the mail relaying function : anybody connected to the interned by any SIP can call the PI address of the mail server by tenet and send all messages he wants to anybody !
There is no security protection !
This problem is well known by sendmail.org but we are unable to update our Sendmail version because we can only use the "admin friendly web interface".
If anybody has already had this problem, please help me.
PS : We are using our neoserver 150 with a permanent ADSL connection and we manage ourselves our mail. (Full messaging system).

[Ayman Altounji]

We haven't experienced this problem but I concur with your frustration regarding your ability to properly manage the server. I would feel more comfortable if Compaq was to offer a "root" login for power users to allow us to self-manage the system to correct problems such as this - surely there are up to date versions of sendmail available for SCO Unix?

Sorry I can't be of any help - hope you can get it sorted.

Cheers, Mark B

[Ayman Altounji]

The Neoserver was not designed to support such a change in the field. It's not a general purpose computer, it's an appliance that was designed from the ground up to fill a specific need. Product engineering MAY update the acos operating system, maybe not. The neoserver was intended for small office/home office non power users who need a simple mail/file sharing system.

[Ayman Altounji]

This is more for Phil. I think you missed the point Phil. The user here is worried about security. There is a known flaw in the security implemented in sendmail 8.8.8 which is used by the NeoServer OS. It boils down to if this thing is attached to the internet in anyway a third party can use your server to spam the world and you cant stop them. The user only wants to know what can be done about it, if anything. Your answer tells us that Compaq doesn't care. I hope I am wrong in this and you can possibly give us a real answer.

[Ayman Altounji]

I'm interested in this for more than one reason: First, I can't even connect to the Internet, although I wasted US$1800 on the "Internet Plus" model, just to find out that GTE is the ONLY ISP that supports this thing. Compaq tech support's verbatim response: "Oh, well, then sign up with GTE." So the "specific need" that it is supposed to fill isn't even being filled.

Second, I have two more of these things, one of them is dead due to a problem with the Compaq upgrade. If I connect a monitor, I can see that this thing is a PC, even if it does have a "specially designed BIOS and OS". A look inside shows that it is simply a Celeron 366-based system that would probably boot Windows.

Fine, but it is a "paperweight appliance" at this point. I have another that I would like to run the publicly available version of Windows NT Server or SCO Open Server 5.0.5(or.6). But everyone at Compaq acts like it isn't even a computer. I was even told once that plugging in a monitor to the box "voided the entire warranty." But if this thing isn't a computer, why does it have ports for mouse, keyboard, monitor, parallel, and serial? And, since Compaq has declared my warranty completely void, how about giving me access to the system, so I can use it and maybe get some real support for it?

[Ayman Altounji]

Transform the Neoserver into a PC...

OK, first of all I got MANY Neoserver 150 as there was a promotion where I live and Compaq was giving them away almost for free (only 300 USD each one).

I sold many of them and kept one for myself.

As I'm tired of the Neoserver I decided to expermient a little with one of them, now it has a 30GB aditional storage drive.
If you want to get a compatible drive case get a Lian-Li removable drive case, I can't remember the exact model, but you can find it at their website.
Don't be affraid, the neoserver will recognize any hard drive.

How does the Neoserver's 150 guts look like? Well, it is nothing more than a PC, a well built PC.
Intel i810E chipset, with integrated graphics. A lucent Winmodem, 2 intel based nics, etc.
I would install Linux on mine, but there is only one thing that the Neoserver does fine, look nice, and I don't know how the front panel lights are controlled, and I don't want to lose those "nice lights".
By the way... The neoserver 150 graphics work, PS2 mouse and Keyboard port also work fine.

By now I think that for all of us that got a Neoserver for all the wrong reasons the only solution to our problems is to install a real OS and get rid of that "imitation" of OS that Compaq installed on them