Updated 19/05/2011
There aren’t a lot of MagicSpam reviews out there, so I thought i’d write something up to let everyone know how we went with it.
Overview
MagicSpam for Plesk is a spam filtering module for Plesk. It performs best practice and DNSBL checks against all mails coming into the system.
The module compliments but does not replace Spamassassin. MagicSpam filters mail pre-smtp but does not do content filtering so it won’t get rid of those Viagra mails, not directly anyway.
Installation
Installation was fairly easy. Upon purchasing a license, you receive a link to the installation package (we use Debian so it was a .deb). You download and install the package and it installs itself as a module in Plesk. The license is tied to your Plesk license, so despite what the instructions that get mailed to you say (they’re completely wrong), refresh your Plesk license (Retrieve Keys) to obtain the updated key that licenses MagicSpam. Don’t try to update the license from the MagicSpam module itself as it wont work.
Usage
MagicSpam pretty much “just works”. It doesn’t require an inordinate amount of tweaking but you’ll need to tell it what policies to enforce when receiving mails from other mail servers, such as checking for a valid HELO which a lot of spammers don’t provide correctly, and implementing DNSBL’s for blocking known spam servers and end user networks.
There are nice graphs which gives you a visual overview of how much mail is entering your system, and how much of that is spam.
Recommended settings
Based on my experience in the field, i’d recommend using MagicSpam together with Spamassassin. This should catch almost all spam. Almost 🙂
Here are the settings I use.
Best practice rules
| Rule | Status |
| Block messages from IP | Enabled |
| Block Mail Servers on Dynamic/Dial-up Addresses | Disabled |
| Perform reverse lookup check | Enabled |
| Block Mail Servers reported as Spam Source | Enabled |
| Confirm Server Identification Resolves (HELO) | Disabled |
| Strict address parsing | Enabled |
| Sending server must identify itself (HELO) | Enabled |
| Valid FROM domain | Disabled |
| Server Identification must be valid (HELO) | Enabled |
IP Reputation
| Rule | Status |
| UCEPROTECT-1 | Enabled |
| UCEPROTECT-2 | Enabled |
| PSBL | Enabled |
| SORBS-DUL | Disabled |
| MIPSPACE | Disabled |
| RATS-DYNA | Enabled |
| RATS-NOPTR | Enabled |
| RATS-SPAM | Enabled |
Conclusion
MagicSpam is no IronPort, but it’s an easy to install, affordable, plug and play alternative. It works well especially when used together with Spamassassin. MagicSpam acts to catch spam before it enters the system, and Spamassassin will weed out anything else.
I’m pretty sure that Postfix can be configured to do what MagicSpam does, but most people simply don’t know how as it requires intimate knowledge of how Postfix works and how to configure it. This is where MagicSpam shines as a turnkey anti-spam solution. It just works.