Great--that's exactly what I wanted to know. To make sure I'm interpreting it right, are the following both correct?
1) A vacation message is sent in response to spam as well as non-spam, and
2) If a user has chosen the preference to redirect spam to the SPAM mailbox, those spam messages will still be processed by any filters the user has set up.
Thanks.
At 01:57 PM 7/8/2005, m. kolb wrote:
>Chris Wolf <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>
>> Could someone from the mail team document for us the order in which
>> various parts of the mail processing are carried out for incoming
>> mail? This would include:
>>
>> Virus blocking
>> (Auto)Forwarding
>> Blocked Domains
>> Blocked Senders
>> SPAM processing
>> Vacation message
>> Filters
>> [Any others I've forgotten?]
>>
>> At each stage it would be important to know whether a message that is
>> acted upon in that stage then leaves the processing stream, or if it
>> continues on to the next stage.
>>
>
>1. Virus scan:
> If a virus is found the message does not get delivered (it in fact is
> rejected during the data ACL of the SMTP transaction). Otherwise,
> the message goes to step 2.
>
>2. Forward (from the preferences menu):
> This is "forward file forwarding." If your forward file is not
> empty (you set it on the preferences page in webmail), the message is
> sent to the forwarding address without further processing. If the
> forward file is empty or non-existant, processing continues with step
> 3.
>
>
>3. Blocked Domains:
> If the domain of a sender matches one of the blocked domains in your
> webmail "blocked domains" preference, the message is delivered to
> /dev/null, at which point, obviously the delivery process is ended.
> If the domain does not match one of those in your "blocked domains"
> it continues to step 4.
>
>4. Blocked/Trusted Senders:
> Very similar to step 3.
>
>5. Vacation:
> Regardless of whether or not you have your vacation message turned
> on, delivery continues.
>
>6. Spam Assassin:
> There are no drops that happen here, message delivery continues.
>
>7. Filters (set up via webmail):
> This is the last step before delivery. Obviously a variety of things
> can happen here, including forwarding to a different address.
>
>> I tried to find this information on line but could not. Having this
>> documented would allow us to answer user questions like "If I forward
>> my mail, is it still checked for viruses and spam by MSU?"
>
>I know these are just examples, but I decided to answer them anyway.
>
>It will be scanned for viruses, but not checked by Spam Assassin via the
>"forward file" mechanism. However, if you have your SPAM filtering or
>flagging turned on and you forward via a filter, it will be scanned.
>
>
>> "Will my vacation message go to every single message that is addressed
>> to me?".
>
>Only once per week per sender. That is, say you turn on your vacation
>message on Monday the 18th:
>1. On Tuesday the 19th [log in to unmask] sends you a message.
>2. [log in to unmask] immediately receives a copy of your vacation message.
>3. On Friday the 22nd [log in to unmask] forgets and sends you another
>message. He does not receive the vacation message.
>4. On Wednesday the 27th, [log in to unmask] sends you another message,
>this time (as it is greater than a week) he gets your vacation message
>again.
>
>> I think some individual questions like this have been discussed here
>> in the past, but the full processing sequence has never been
>> documented. Thanks.
>
>No problem. I will talk with the proper people about having this
>documented at http://help.msu.edu/
>
>./muk
>
>--
>m. kolb <[log in to unmask]>
--Chris
==============================================
Chris Wolf Computer Service Manager
Agricultural Economics [log in to unmask]
Michigan State University 517 353-5017
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