Annoying Defaults

In the category of annoying defaults, I discovered that Postfix queries the DNS server directly and ignores /etc/hosts. Add the following to your /etc/postfix/main.cf to use the system defined look up order (in /etc/nsswitch.conf on Linux).

smtp_host_lookup = native

I discovered this because my new mail server has to relay mail to my old mail server while I migrate to the new one. The old server is on a private IP but is receiving mail for a sub-domain which resolves to a public IP. The simplest solution was to add the domain to /etc/hosts temporarily. Well, it would have been the simplest, if it had worked immediately. ^_^

Long Hard War

The U.S. continues the long slide down the slippery slope as the Department of Homeland Security "seized" several domains (full list) for alleged copyright violations. Apart from the obvious question of what does copyright have to with U.S. security, what does the DHS think they've actually "seized"?

A domain is just an address in a database, nothing more. It costs a few dollars the register another one. Guess what? Most of the owners of the seized domains probably already have new domains. Once again the people at the top demonstrate that they have little understanding of how the Internet works.

And that my friends is why we will win in the end. However, make no mistake: it's going to be a long hard war. What's next? Wikileaks?