Distributed James Server — SMTP Hooks

This documentation page lists and documents SMTP hooks that can be used within the Distributed Server SMTP protocol stack in order to customize the way your SMTP server behaves with out of the box components.

DNSRBLHandler

This command handler check against RBL-Lists (Real-time Blackhole List).

If getDetail is set to true it try to retrieve information from TXT Record why the ip was blocked. Default to false.

before you enable out the DNS RBL handler documented as an example below, please take a moment to review each block in the list. We have included some that various JAMES committers use, but you must decide which, if any, are appropriate for your environment.

The mail servers hosting @apache.org mailing lists, for example, use a slightly different list than we have included below. And it is likely that most JAMES committers also have slightly different sets of lists.

The SpamAssassin user’s list would be one good place to discuss the measured quality of various block lists.

NOTA BENE: the domain names, below, are terminated with '.' to ensure that they are absolute names in DNS lookups. Under some circumstances, names that are not explicitly absolute could be treated as relative names, leading to incorrect results. This has been observed on *nix and MS-Windows platforms by users of multiple mail servers, and is not JAMES specific. If you are unsure what this means for you, please speak with your local system/network admins.

This handler should be considered experimental.

Example configuration:

<handlerchain>
    <!-- ... -->
    <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.fastfail.DNSRBLHandler">
        <getDetail>false</getDetail>
        <rblservers>
            <whitelist>query.bondedsender.org.</whitelist>
            <blacklist>sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org.</blacklist>
            <blacklist>dul.dnsbl.sorbs.net.</blacklist>
            <blacklist>list.dsbl.org.</blacklist>
        </rblservers>
    </handler>
</handlerchain>

DSN hooks

The Distributed server has optional support for DSN (RFC-3461)

Please read carefully this page.

<smtpserver enabled="true">
    <...> <!-- The rest of your SMTP configuration, unchanged -->
    <handlerchain>
        <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.dsn.DSNEhloHook"/>
        <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.dsn.DSNMailParameterHook"/>
        <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.dsn.DSNRcptParameterHook"/>
        <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.dsn.DSNMessageHook"/>
        <...> <!-- other handlers, like: -->
        <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.CoreCmdHandlerLoader"/> <!-- for instance -->
    </handlerchain>
</smtpserver>

Note that a specific configuration of mailetcontainer.xml is required as well to be spec compliant.

MailPriorityHandler

This handler can add a hint to the mail which tells the MailQueue which email should get processed first.

Normally the MailQueue will just handles Mails in FIFO manner.

Valid priority values are 1,5,9 where 9 is the highest.

This handler should be considered experimental.

Example configuration:

<handlerchain>
    <!-- ... -->
    <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.MailPriorityHandler">
        <priorityEntries>
            <priorityEntry>
               <domain>yourdomain1</domain>
               <priority>1</priority>
            </priorityEntry>
            <priorityEntry>
               <domain>yourdomain2</domain>
               <priority>9</priority>
            </priorityEntry>
        <priorityEntries>
    </handler>
</handlerchain>

MaxRcptHandler

If activated you can limit the maximal recipients.

This handler should be considered experimental.

Example configuration:

<handlerchain>
    <!-- ... -->
    <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.fastfail.MaxRcptHandler">
        <maxRcpt>10</maxRcpt>
    </handler>
</handlerchain>

POP3BeforeSMTPHandler

This connect handler can be used to enable POP3 before SMTP support.

Please note that only the ip get stored to identify an authenticated client.

The expireTime is the time after which an ipAddress is handled as expired.

This handler should be considered as unsupported.

Example configuration:

<handlerchain>
    <!-- ... -->
    <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.POP3BeforeSMTPHandler">
        <expireTime>1 hour</expireTime>
    </handler>
</handlerchain>

ResolvableEhloHeloHandler

Checks for resolvable HELO/EHLO before accept the HELO/EHLO.

If checkAuthNetworks is set to true sender domain will be checked also for clients that are allowed to relay. Default is false.

This handler should be considered experimental.

Example configuration:

<handlerchain>
    <!-- ... -->
    <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.fastfail.ResolvableEhloHeloHandler"/>
</handlerchain>

ReverseEqualsEhloHeloHandler

Checks HELO/EHLO is equal the reverse of the connecting client before accept it If checkAuthNetworks is set to true sender domain will be checked also for clients that are allowed to relay. Default is false.

This handler should be considered experimental.

Example configuration:

<handlerchain>
    <!-- ... -->
    <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.fastfail.ReverseEqualsEhloHeloHandler"/>
</handlerchain>

SetMimeHeaderHandler

This handler allows you to add mime headers to the processed mails.

This handler should be considered experimental.

Example configuration:

<handlerchain>
    <!-- ... -->
    <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.SetMimeHeaderHandler">
        <headername>SPF-test</headername>
        <headervalue>passed</headervalue>
    </handler>
</handlerchain>

SpamAssassinHandler

This MessageHandler could be used to check message against spamd before accept the email. So its possible to reject a message on smtplevel if a configured hits amount is reached.

This handler should be considered experimental.

Example configuration:

<handlerchain>
    <!-- ... -->
    <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.fastfail.SpamAssassinHandler">
        <spamdHost>127.0.0.1</spamdHost>
        <spamdPort>783</spamdPort>
        <spamdRejectionHits>10</spamdRejectionHits>
    </handler>
</handlerchain>

SPFHandler

This command handler can be used to reject emails with not match the SPF record of the sender domain.

If checkAuthNetworks is set to true sender domain will be checked also for clients that are allowed to relay. Default is false.

This handler should be considered experimental.

Example configuration:

<handlerchain>
    <!-- ... -->
    <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.fastfail.SPFHandler">
        <blockSoftFail>false</blockSoftFail>
        <blockPermError>true</blockPermError>
    </handler>
</handlerchain>

URIRBLHandler

This MessageHandler could be used to extract domain out of the message and check this domains against uriRbllists. See http://www.surbl.org for more information. The message get rejected if a domain matched.

This handler should be considered experimental.

Example configuration:

<handlerchain>
    <!-- ... -->
    <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.fastfail.URIRBLHandler">
        <action>reject</action>
        <getDetail>true</getDetail>
        <uriRblServers>
            <server>multi.surbl.org</server>
        </uriRblServers>
    </handler>
</handlerchain>

ValidRcptHandler

With ValidRcptHandler, all email will get rejected which has no valid user.

You need to add the recipient to the validRecipient list if you want to accept email for a recipient which not exist on the server.

If you want James to act as a spamtrap or honeypot, you may comment ValidRcptHandler and implement the needed processors in spoolmanager.xml.

This handler should be considered stable.

Example configuration:

<handlerchain>
    <!-- ... -->
    <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.fastfail.ValidRcptHandler"/>
</handlerchain>

ValidSenderDomainHandler

If activated mail is only accepted if the sender contains a resolvable domain having a valid MX Record or A Record associated!

If checkAuthNetworks is set to true sender domain will be checked also for clients that are allowed to relay. Default is false.

Example configuration:

<handlerchain>
    <!-- ... -->
    <handler class="org.apache.james.smtpserver.fastfail.ValidSenderDomainHandler"/>
</handlerchain>