Installing ASSP (Anti-Spam SMTP Proxy) On Ubuntu Server 10.04 / Debian 5.0 - Page 2

Install ASSP

  1. Go to your preferred download directory. If you don't have one, your home directory will be fine.
  2. Download the ASSP program files. Go to its SourceForge project page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/assp/files/), copy the download link and paste it after a wget command. It should look something like this:
    * You should always download the latest stable version; version numbers used here are for example purposes only.
  3. wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/assp/files/ASSP%20Installation/ASSP%201.8.1.1/ASSP_1.8.1.1-Install.zip
  4. Unzip ASSP:
  5. unzip ASSP_1.8.1.1-Install.zip
  6. Create a directory for the ASSP program files:
  7. mkdir /usr/share/assp
  8. Copy ASSP to its new home directory:
  9. cd ASSP_1.8.1.1-Install
    cp -R ASSP/* /usr/share/assp

  10. Install SSLeay dependencies (these will be needed for some perl modules in the next step):
  11. apt-get install libssl-dev libdb-dev
  12. Install required perl modules by runing the mod_inst.pl script:
  13. cd /usr/share/assp
    perl mod_inst.pl

  14. Accept all defaults when prompted. This will take a while...
  15. When the script is done, all modules should say [OK].
  16. If any of the modules say [FAILED], try to re-run the mod_inst.pl script because sometimes a dependency may have gotten installed after that module tried to install.
  17. In some cases the File::Scan::ClamAV perl module may fail to install. If this is the case, then just go into CPAN...
    perl -MCPAN -e shell
    ...and force the install at the CPAN prompt:
    force install File::Scan::ClamAV
  18. Run the mod_inst.pl script again just to make sure everything is [OK]. If something isn't, check your perl dependencies.
  19. Run ASSP for the first time. It should start without errors or significant warnings:
  20. perl assp.pl &

 

Configure ASSP

This is just a very basic configuration to get you started and get some options up and running. After you finish this How-To, you should go to the ASSP wiki or forums to find documentation on how to fully configure ASSP.

  1. From any web browser in the network, go to http://<hostname or ip>:55555 (default password is nospam4me, leave username blank) and change the following settings:
    • Server Setup section:
      Enable "Run ASSP as a Daemon" (AsADaemon)
      Enable "Enable HTTP Compression in GUI" (EnableHTTPCompression)
    • ClamAV and FileScan section:
      Enable "Use ClamAV" (UseAvClamd)
      Change "Port or file socket for ClamAV" (AvClamdPort) to /var/run/clamav/clamd.ctl
    • SSL/TLS section:
      If you wish to offer secure/encrypted mail, enable "Enable SSL/TLS support" (enableSSL)
  2. Stop ASSP and start it back up again.
  3. Check to see if all perl modules are correctly installed and configured. On the Info and Stats page, check the Perl Modules section:
    • All perl modules should be available (green). IPv6, SSL, and MySQL are optional.
    • Ignore IO::Socket::SSL if you're not going to use SSL.
    • Ignore IO::Socket::INET6 if you're not going to use IPv6.
    • Ignore Tie::RDBM if you're not going to use MySQL.
  4. Test the ASSP/Postfix server by telnetting to port 25.
  5. telnet localhost 25
    You should be able to see your Postfix SMTP server welcome text.
  6. Enter the following HELO command:
  7. helo yourhostname.yourdomain.tld
    You should get a message similar to: 250 yourhostname.yourdomain.tld
  8. Exit the SMTP server:
  9. quit

 

Set Up A Startup Script For ASSP

  1. Make sure that ASSP is not running. You might have to find and kill the running ASSP process if you left it running from a previous step:
  2. ps -A | grep perl
    Find the process id for the perl process (it should be the first number on the left). Kill the process:
    kill -9 <proc id>
  3. Make the assp.pl script executable:
  4. cd /usr/share/assp
    chmod 755 assp.pl

  5. Go to this forum thread and copy the init script in the original post:
  6. https://sourceforge.net/apps/phpbb/assp/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=980&sid=11242812618cab1504a1258cb585bb0b
  7. Save the script as /etc/init.d/assp
  8. Make the assp init script executable:
  9. cd /etc/init.d
    chmod 755 assp

  10. Register the init script to create links and so that ASSP will run automatically at boot time (you may have to change the '50' number depending on the startup order you want):
  11. update-rc.d assp defaults 50
  12. Now you can start ASSP from the init script like this (the following commands are supported with this script: {start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload|status}):
  13. /etc/init.d/assp start
  14. Set up the GUI restart command. In the ASSP management page:
    • Automatic Update / Restart section:
      Change "OS-shell command for AutoRestart" (AutoRestartCmd) to: /etc/init.d/assp restart

 

Install Webmin (Optional)

Install Webmin to help you look at system resources and access most server's settings and configuration from a Web GUI.

  1. Go to your preferred download directory. If you don't have one, your home directory will be fine.
  2. Install Webmin dependencies:
  3. apt-get install libnet-ssleay-perl libauthen-pam-perl libio-pty-perl apt-show-versions libapt-pkg-perl
  4. Go to www.webmin.com, copy the download link to the Debian package, and paste it after a wget command:
  5. * You should always download the latest stable version; version numbers used here are for example purposes only.
    wget https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/webadmin/webmin/1.520/webmin_1.520_all.deb
  6. Install the Webmin .deb package:
  7. dpkg -i webmin_1.520_all.deb
  8. You can now logon to https://<hostname>:10000/ as root with your root password, or as any user who can use sudo to run commands as root.

 

Finished!

  • Now go read up on some of the ASSP configuration settings and have fun setting it up.
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Comments

By: Anonymous

Hey, I am curious - is ASSP better then Amavis (SpamAssasin + ClamAV)? What are the advantages of using ASSP? I am now using Postfix - Amavis (SA+ClamAV) - Dovecot. Does it take much to install ASSP on the same host and let it work properly? Thanks!

By:

Well, quite honestly, I've never used Amavis. Although I was using MailScanner before ASSP. I have a SysAdmin friend who does have an Amavis setup just like you and, from what I've gathered, the procedure to set up is pretty much like MailScanner -- lots of files to edit and pretty much no good interface. Not to mention that IMHO they're not that good at blocking spam without a bunch of add-ons and plug-ins. In summary, ASSP is exremely easy to set up: install postfix, install the required perl modules, and then dump the ASSP folder in /usr/share and that's it -- it's all there! It has every technique programmed in there: redlisting, graylisting, spf, rbl, etc. From there on its the usual configuring of your domains, relays, etc but with a pretty nice Web GUI. It's just so easy to install and set up I recommend you just give it a try; if you dont like it, you didnt waste much time. And since it's perl, it can be installed in any OS that can run perl: osx, windows, etc.

By: Munna

i was a system admin of mid sized ISP at bangladesh for 20 months, my domain was attacked by DDOS attack or email bombing.. 100,000 backscatter email per hour... my whole AS which contain 2048 ip was blacklisted to UCEPROTECT LEVEL-3. then i setup ASSP to protect backscatter. it was rolling like a killer.... my job got saved for this... it is way better then any combination of opensource antispam tech....ASSP is the best of the best.....

 

By: David T

ASSP was simple install and it does do a great job blocking SPAM. However, beware that there is no support for this product. Once you paid you are on your own. The only help you can get is in a forum. We are still having configuration issues with not being able to get a report of whitelisted or blacklisted emails. When we configure it to send attachments above 10 meg that does not work. I have had the problem with ASSP blocking only my range of IP addresses form my ISP. There are many others issues here and there, too many to list, but this program is time consuming each and everytime there is a cpanel or ASSP update.

By: Bernhard Knoll

Hello,

 

in case anyone wonders, the username / password for dthe WebGUI is:

http://ip:55555

user: root

password: nospam4me

By:

Thanks for the hint. Actually, you can leave the username blank. ASSP only uses a password (which is why it's especially important to only allow access to the management page from trusted hosts). Including it in the doc...

By: S Reed

Just went through this install again because we got a new server and virtualizing what we can... But I had an issue with perl not being able to install Net::DNS - it returned an error each time. Looked around and found that they have released another package and that cleared it up for me. Before you run 'perl mod_inst.pl' run 'apt-get install libnet-dns-perl'. That allowed all of the packages to install clean.

 

By:

Yeah... Perl gives me all sorts of strange dependency errors all the time. I have very little experience with perl modules and it's kinda just trial and error until the modules compile right. Thanks for the tip.

By: Will OS

This setup works perfectly for inbound mail. However ASSP requires that outbound mail also pass through ASSP in order for the whitelisting function to work correctly.

Would I have to change the above postfix configuration to allow for this? And DAE know how to get my mail server (Kerio) to route mail through ASSP on the way out?

By:

I can't get this setup to work. CAN YOU DO A Step-by-Step TUTORIAL for ASSP V2 (on ubuntu server 10.04/12.04)