How to enable virus and spam protection...

Article updated on 30 March, 2007

This article explains how to enable virus and spam protection in AXIGEN using AVG product

1. Configure AVG

After dowloading and installing the AVG product, review the configuration file avg.conf for the full list of parameters that can be configured.
In the default configuration AVG will bind on an inet socket with the following address: 127.0.0.1:55555. Also note that the spam filterning service is not enabled by default. To activate this service you should set:

enableAntispam = 1

After saving the changes in the configuration and starting avgd verify the address and port on which the process binds by using the netstat command.

2. Configure the filter in AXIGEN at server level:

Using WebAdmin, in the "Server" context, go to "Filters" tab and then to "AV/AS Filters" tab for a full list of the available filters that can be implemented in AXIGEN. Clicking on the "Edit" buton for the AVG filter will reveal the following default configuration:

name = "AVG"
address = "inet://127.0.0.1:55555"
idleTimeout = 60
actionOnMatch = discard
protocolFile = "/var/opt/axigen/filters/avg.afsl"
maxConnections = 10

The "protocolFile" field contains the system full path to the AVG AFSL (AXIGEN Filters Scripting Language) file, by default /var/opt/axigen/filters/avg.afsl.
The "idleTimeout" field represents the inactivity timeout on connection. The "actionOnMatch" field defines the action to be taken in case the filter matches an email (this can have a value of pass, discard or reject).

Note: For antivirus and antispam filters, the reject action should not be used, and is known to be a bad practice, as it will cause a significant traffic growth.
The "maxConnections" parameter will set the maximum number of connections to the specified filter.

If in your current configuration this filter is not listed in "AV/AS filters" section, you can manualy create it using as example the above configuration.

3. Activating the filter at Server level

In the "Server" context, go to "Filters" tab and then to "Active Filters" tab, click on the "Add new filter" button. A new window will appear for filter configuration. Fill in the "priority" field with a priority between 0 and 500 (a filter with priority 0 will be applied first and the one with 500, last).

Please note that the domain-level filters have the priority limited to range 100-400 and the user-level filters are limited tot the 200-300 range. A value of "10" should be fine, leaving you space to apply some other future filter to be applied before this one. After setting the filter priority, select the socket value from the "filterType" list and AVG from the "filterName" list.

At the "Server" the filter can be enabled to scan:
- all incoming mails by checking from the applyOn boxes: "local"
- all outgoing mails by checking from the applyOn boxes: "relay"
- all traffic processed by AXIGEN (incoming and outgoing) if both "local" and "relay" options are checked

Next "Add" and "Commit" in order to make the changes active. To make the changes permanent you should also click "Save config".

4. Activating the filter at Domain/Account level

If you want to limit the actions of this filter at the "Domain" level or at "Account" level you should go to the respective level context, "Filters" tab and then to "Active Filters" tab, click on the "Add new filter" button. A new window will appear for the filter configuration. Select "filterParent" as "server", "filterType" as socket, and "filterName" as AVG. Click the "Add" button, then the "Commit" button.

 

Releases: Mail Server 3.0.X
OS: Linux
Distros: RPM based distros, RPM based distros with gcc4, Slackware, Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo