The RBL usually lists server IP addresses from ISPs whose customers are responsible for the spam and from ISPs whose servers are hijacked for spam relay. The DNSBL consists of a DNS based system containing lists of IP addresses whose owners refuse to stop the proliferation of spam whether this is by running their mail servers as open relays, or by allowing their users free outbound access to port 25.

In the case of E-mail there are distributed projects on the Internet which monitor where spam mail is originating from and add these to a real time list which can be checked when deciding whether to accept or deny mail.

Most spam on the Internet originates from two places:

• Virus/Trojan infected machines which appear to be running normally to a user but are also sending spam out to the Internet at large after being fed a list of addresses/spam e-mail from a remote operator.
• Professional spammers. Who send spam out from their own systems up to any limits by ISP or any compromised mail server.

The RBL identifies these machines by their internet address and adds them to a list that can be checked in real time by an e-mail server. If a server has been listed as a spam host the mail will be refused immediately. This means less overhead on e-mail systems and a lot less spam for end users. It also generally means less “fake” bounce messsages that users receive when spam is forged to come from them.

As subscribers to the DNSBL, ISPs and companies will know from which IP addresses to block traffic. Most traffic blocking occurs during the SMTP connection phase. The receiving end will check the DNSBL for the connecting IP address. If the IP address matches one on the list, then the connection gets dropped before accepting any traffic from the IP address.

Below are the lists of few RBL/DNSBL sites.
SpamCop – http://www.spamcop.net/
The Spamhaus Project – http://www.spamhaus.org/
Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC – http://www.mail-abuse.com/
The Spam and Open Relay Blocking System – http://www.sorbs.net/
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Also, the way Paypal has handled this situation is a bit appalling. Rather than intimating the Indian account holders in advance and assuring them of a resolution, they are first reversing the received funds back to the users and *than* informing the sellers of this issue.

While I am sure Paypal is working hard to resolve this issue as they have the financial strength and their brand image to safeguard, this raises some valid questions on how reliable are these online service providers in India. If this can happen to Paypal, what stops Gmail, Facebook and other such online providers from blocking access to their services to Indians?

As these firms are operated from outside India and are not governed by Indian laws and regulations, their failure to comply with any present and future law and regulations in India, might force them to rescind their services to their users in India.

My advice for avoiding such a situation from adversely impacting your business would be to read the fine print for all such online services which your business depends on and have a Plan B in place in case these services are unavailable one fine morning, as in the case of Paypal.

Update: The head of Paypal APAC region has posted an update on this issue, whch can be viewed at www.thepaypalblog.com.
There has been quite a bit of criticism for the post on Paypal, which can be viewed on the EvenHorizon1984 Blog.

The benefit of creating block from module is that, the module can be placed in any theme or in any other sites and once the module is enable the block will created automatically with its contents as we have configured in the module.

Some easy steps to create block through module :

Step 1 :

Create a folder (give a folder name e.g., mymodule) in the modules directory of your Drupal site.  The name which you are giving as a folder name will become your module name. To create a module there must have two files inside the module folder named as:

( a) mymodule.info (b) mymodule.module

mymodule.info file contains the general information of the module you created and mymodule.module file contains the main coding which creates the block.

# We are considering the module name as customblock and hence filenames are customblock.info and customblock.module

Step 2 :

Copy the code given below and paste it inside the customblock.info file.

; $Id: customblock.info,v 1.4 2009/02/18 22:02:46 dries Exp $
name = Custom Block
description = Creating Custom Block to demonstrate the block creation through module.
package = Diadem
version = VERSION

; Information added by drupal.org packaging script on 2008-10-08
version = “5.11″
project = “drupal”
datestamp = “1223496909″

This is the general information about the module and description field reflect the purpose of creating the module . Give the correct version which you are using for your drupal site. You need to change this information as per your requirement.

Step 3 :

Always remember that all the function name should start with the module name, e.g.  modulename_node_info(), modulename_perm(), etc. Copy the code given below and paste it inside the customblock.module file. You will observe that there has no php end tag at the end of the file. It is recommended in drupal that we donot need to end the php tag in the module pages.

<?php
/**
* Implementation of hook_node_info().
*/
function customblock_node_info() {
return array(
‘customblock’ => array(
‘name’ => t(‘Custom Block’),
‘module’ => ‘customblock’,
‘description’ => t(‘How to create a custom Block.’),
)
);
}

/**
* Access Permission of this module by hook_perm();
*/
function customblock_perm() {
return array(‘access customblock content’);
}

/**
* Implementation of hook_block().
*/
function customblock_block($op=’list’, $delta=0) {
// listing of blocks, such as on the admin/block page
if ($op == “list”) {
$block[0]["info"] = t(‘Custom Block’);
return $block;
}
else if($op == ‘view’)
{
$block_content=”;
$block_content.=’<div style=”border:1px solid #D6D6D6; background-color:#F2F2F2; padding: 5px;”>’;

$block_content.=’<div>Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry\’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. Why do we use it? <br />
<a href=”http://drupal.org/” target=”_blank”>Click Here</a> – Drupal.Org
</div>’;
$block_content.=’</div>’;

$block['subject'] = ‘Custom Block’;
$block['content'] = $block_content;
return $block;
}
}

Explanation :

1)  customblock_node_info() : This is the implementation of the hook_node_info function defined in Drupal. This function contains the information about the module. E.g.: name which will show in the module listing page. Description – Some general information about the module and module – module name.

2) customblock_perm(): This is the implementation of hook_perm function defined in Drupal.

3) customblock_block() : This is the implementation of hook_block function defined in Drupal. This function is responsible to return the block content. You can see, we have defined a variable $block_content which contain the block with its contents and properties.

$block['subject'] variable contains name of the block created. Finally, we assigned the $block_content into the $block['content'] variable beacuse this varible is responsible to create the block.

step 4 :

Enable the customblock module from administrative menu/site building/modules.

Custom Block Module

Once you enable the module a block named as Custom Block will be created . Configure the block from administrative menu/site building/blocks. Finally, place the block where you want to display in your drupal site.

Starting with a fresh coat of paint, new flooring, window blinds, carpentry and masonry work, we went on an overdrive to get everything completed before the New Year. Fortunately, the work progressed as planned and on Jan 01, 2010 we shifted back to our ‘Office 2.0′.

We are all extremely pleased with the results of our efforts and here are some pics of our revamped office for our clients and associates whom we may not have the good fortune to meet on a one to one basis.

[View with PicLens]

Here are some takeaways which I gathered from this assignment:

• Meet all the people who would work on this project (multiple times in advance) to ensure that they provide you with fixed quotes for the work and the scope of work has been agreed upon.
• Keep a buffer of atleast 25% for time and cost overruns as some amount of scope creep is inevitable.
• Ensure that all materials are bought in your presence (or someone you trust) to ensure that you get the right quality at a reasonable price.
• Avoid contracting work to promoters as they tend to over inflate the cost by about 50% in comparison to working with individual specialists (carpenters, painters, etc.).
• Create a project schedule (who will work on what and when) a week in advance and try to build in some amount of buffer between them. Create sub-tasks within a major task to break down all activities into small, unique tasks.
• Pay on completion of agreed milestones.

My best wishes to you for a successful 2010 and at Diadem Tech we are excited with the opportunities and challenges which the New Year brings to us!
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A PHP Error was encountered
Severity: Warning
Message: domdocument::domdocument() expects at least 1 parameter, 0 given
Filename: include/dompdf.cls.php
Line Number: 165
Fatal error: Call to undefined method domdocument::loadHTML() in C:\xampp\htdocs\bambooinvoice\bamboo_system_files\plugins\dompdf\include\dompdf.cls.php on line 284

The error message is caused due to a conflict between DomDocument and DomXML extentions , so the first thing we did was to disable the domdocument extention in php.ini.
extension = php_domxml.dll

After restarting the apache and then again running the examples again blank pages were being rendered. The problem was due to the fact that dompdf uses PDFLib by default if it is available in the system and PDFLib is a commercial package which is not available by default in the system but its extention is enabled in php.ini by default in the system.

So what we did was to comment out the PDFLib extension extension=php_pdf.dll in the php.ini file. After the modifications we restarted the apache and then the examples could be run on the XAMPP environment.

To hide the information, add/change the following two apache directives in Apache configuration file /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

ServerTokens ProductOnly
ServerSignature Off

Now you need to restart your web server using the following command

# service httpd restart

Now the output for apache header looks like below

Server: Apache

Hide PHP Version in Apache from remote user’s requests

In your php.ini (the typical path is /etc/php.ini) locate the line containing “expose_php = On” and set it to Off:

expose_php = Off

Now you need to restart your web server using the following command

# service httpd restart

After making this change PHP will no longer add its signature to the web server header. Though, this step in itself will not make your server more secure, it will prevent remote hosts to easily see that you have PHP installed on the system and what version of Apache you are running on your web server.

At Diadem, we have worked hard to build a strong foundation for our web hosting service based on an untiring and a long term commitment to enable our clients to avail the most efficient hosting services which they have come to appreciate and trust from us.

In keeping with this continued focus to providing our clients with innovative web hosting services, we are pleased to offer our FREE web hosting service to clients booking a .IN domain with us. Our FREE web hosting plan is a win-win  proposition by enabling our clients to evaluating our hosting services and upgrading to a paid solution, after they find our services to meet their needs.

.IN domains are gaining in popularity and if you already have a .com or any other extension booked for your organisation, you should definitely consider a .IN version of that domain as well. This offer is also relevant for companies located outside India who wish to have a presence in the Indian market and a .IN domain is a great way to begin promoting their foray into Indian markets. More details and signup options are available on our Free Web Hosting page but as this is a limited period offer, I urge you to book your domain early to prevent any disappointments.

Free Web Hosting worth Rs. 999 with every .in Domain Registration.

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• Get adequate sleep – go back to your usual sleeping pattern.
• Get back to the gym – start with light weights and cardio workouts.
• Eat home cooked food – keep it light and oil free.
• Interface with your clients and coworkers – they are all in the same boat as you are.
• Take it easy for the next few days – slide yourself in slowly and avoid going head on with your work.
• Archive the memories – photos, video, cards. Share them or put them away in your closet.
• Writeup a small list of things Todo to make your next Diwali brighter.

From all of us at Diadem, we wish you all a Happy Diwali and a sparkling New Year ahead!

At Diadem Technologies we take extreme precaution and safeguard of our mailing services to ensure continuous and reliable availability of our mailing services to our clients. We have all our servers located in the world’s leading datacenter which has a very secure environment with various levels of physical and hardware based protection to keep your data safe from different attacks and vulnerabilities. The servers have multi core Xeon processers and have RAID10 array of HDDs for complete data redundancy so that a hard disk crash would not affect the server operations and would not result in any loss of data on the server.

The servers are restricted to be accessed via the Public network so that no unauthorized access to the servers can be made. We use a secure encrypted VPN (virtual private network) connection that connects to the private backend network and hence the servers are only accessible to the legitimate admin users at our end.

For network level protection we have in place perimeter hardware firewalls by CISCO systems to block external threats along with CISCO GUARD DDOS (Distributed Denial of service) and CISCO Tipping point IPS (Intrusion prevention system). CISCO GUARD DDOS protects from requests that make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users and brings down the server to halt. CISCO Tipping point IPS is an advanced Intrusion prevention system that is used extensively in critical networks to monitor network and/or system activities for malicious or unwanted behavior and can react, in real-time, to block or prevent those activities. Network-based IPS, for example, will operate in-line to monitor all network traffic for malicious code or attacks. When an attack is detected, it can drop the offending packets while still allowing all other traffic to pass.

After passing through the various levels of security mentioned above we have more additional security features on the physical server for protecting the server /server applications and the inbound and outbound mails.

• At the server we have robust software based firewalls that have been customized to add another level of security in the server.
• We have SMTP connection tracking system to check all the connections that are being made to the server for sending or receiving mails. At this level various parameters of a mail are checked like if the IP of the sender is blacklisted in any third party Anti SPAM website, if the sender has a valid mail server, if the reverse DNS of the sender email server is valid.
• We have enabled greylisting on the server to cut down on SPAM mails before they can enter the server. We have advanced content filtering along with anti spam software, antivirus, malware and anti root kit signatures that are updated regularly to block emerging threats immediately.
• Once the mail is scanned with the above filters, we implement a new and unique technique to authorize defined servers only to server your emails through the use of SPF records. Any other servers would not be able to send or receive any mail on behalf of your domain. This will cut down spoofing of your emails.
• At the last stage we have SMTP authentication enabled that allows mails to be relayed through our servers only for those who are intended to send mails hence reducing the unwanted relaying of mails.

The above illustration highlights our commitment to ensure that we provide our clients with the best of breed technologies to ensure spam free, virus free, efficient and continuous availability of our mailing services for their operations.

If you are interested in knowing more about our web hosting services and plan details, you can look us up at www.diadem.co.in.

]]> http://www.diademblogs.com/linux/email-and-server-security-features-with-diadem-servers/feed 0 http://www.diademblogs.com/linux/email-and-server-security-features-with-diadem-servers http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DiademBlogs/~3/fuafGUTCVTA/how-to-get-better-of-information-overload http://www.diademblogs.com/marketing-tips-advice/how-to-get-better-of-information-overload#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:44:34 +0000 admin http://www.diademblogs.com/?p=754 Information Overload: The Power Of Knowledge Can Be Too Powerful To Handle At Times!

“Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

- T.S.Elliot
(American born Playwright, Poet and Critic)

What is Information Overload?

Imagine the level of information your brain holds for you. Consider everything that you know. Starting from the primary levels of education in your beginning school to your highest degree or certification, the amount of information your brain holds for you can sometimes match some of the ultra powerful databases. But this is only formal education that we have considered!

Now look at the other side. Constantly, your brain has imbibed information since the day you were born. Experts suggest that this information is never erased from your brain. If you can learn the art of mind control efficiently, then you can recall each and every event in your life, every line or sentence that you have read, and even remember the smell of the food that you tasted for the first time in your life.

And we are still cramming information into our brain each day. This is natural, with the phone numbers, the website URLs, the text messages, your favorite songs or the TV series, the notes from your college or university, social media sites over the internet, RSS feeds, and much more, coming your way almost every minute.

What does all this result in?

“Information Overload!”

But How does Information Overload Affect Us?

There are many ways in which information overload can turn out to become a problem for us. Look at some the most commonly observed results by behavioral experts:

- Psychological Effects on your Mind that Slow you Down:

Mental tiredness, loss of memory, inability to recall recent events, lack of concentration, lack of focus, irritability, and a host of other psychological problems can result from information overload.

- Professional Arena:

Information overload affects your professional life as well. You display lower productivity and inefficiency at work, make silly mistakes with your job, get tired and frustrated easily, and prove to be a burden on your colleagues at times.

- Incorrect Use of Information:

It is often a very common thing to see people making the mistake of using the wrong information at the wrong places. This is another result of information overload and can often lead to serious problems.

- Addiction to the Internet:

With the internet acting as a universal knowledge-base, people have become highly addicted to it. This has resulted in the internet becoming a highly desirable tool for marketing. At the same time, there are a huge number of self proclaimed gurus online, who often turn out to be absolute con men!

- Staying Ahead of Your Peers on the Social Media Sites:

With every one of your friends on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Blogger, etc, it becomes a challenge to be on each of those sites yourself, and connect with the maximum number of friends. The more friends you have on your blog and the more RSS feeds you subscribe to, the more popular you are. Consider gadgets like Blackberry and the other smart phones that let you stay online 24×7! These too leads to information overload.

- Loss in Revenue for Businesses:

Often companies and organizations lose hundreds of dollars because of information overload when they are not able to manage the information efficiently. Striving towards getting more information often causes misuse of data, and the money spent in gathering the data in turn is seen to be a complete waste.

The year 2008 alone saw around 1 billion dollars of productivity loss in the US due to information overload!

- (BASEX 2008)

The Chief Causes of Information Overload?

Information overload is an issue that has is seen due to a number of reasons. Let us look at the most common reasons that have resulted in it being a major issue for us today.

1. TV Channels

2. Offline free publications in your mailboxes

3. Mobility of services – like mobile internet

4. Mobile phone services like Texting

5. Websites, blogs, forums and community sites

6. RSS subscriptions

7. Marketing media

8. Education and training

9. Technology leading to globalization

10. Business Competition

All these reasons have greatly affected the present day world, resulting in our brains often getting crammed up with unimportant information, reducing productivity and efficiency for us, and hampering our health to a great extent.

“Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit.”

- William Pollard

There are a Number of Ways to Curb this Issue with Information Overload

1. Learn to Recognize

One of the most important points to consider with information overload is to understand the authenticity of information that comes your way. For example, when you are online you will come across the self proclaimed gurus who would want to provide you with readily available free information that might be totally unimportant.

It is very important for you to be able to determine the authenticity of the people you come across online. Pay heed to only authentic information instead of believing each and every person that comes your way. This can prevent a lot of unwanted and incorrect information from causing burden for your brain.

2. Learn to Filter

Use effective measures for filtering unwanted information out to prevent Information overload. Unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters, blogs and community sites. Don’t give out your personal information easily or let businesses and sites add you on their mailing lists. Try to be very choosy about the sites and the people you are dealing with online and over the phone.

3. Discipline and Proper Scheduling

This is an important point to consider as well. You must discipline yourself with the information that you access through each day to prevent information overload on your brain. Try to avoid watching too much television for a start. Whenever you feel like there is some information coming your way that you may do without, avoid it. You have to discipline yourself with regards to the amount of information that you expose yourself to.

It is a good idea to maintain a schedule every month as to what your targets are and follow up on it efficiently. This will restrict you from trying to get too much done and venture into too many things. This needs a fair bit of discipline on your part to enjoy the full advantage of this.

4. Proper Planning

Even when you are looking at staying ahead of your competition in the market, you have to be very clear with how you are going to go for it. If you try to stay ahead of each and every trend in your business, you might end up being unable to achieve anything of significant value. Hence try to set your goals, and plan accordingly.

Even when you are looking at acquiring new skills and information on better systems for your business, you must go about doing it step by step. Don’t try to achieve too many things too quickly. This will make it too tough to manage and you will not be able to concentrate on anything properly. This generally causes undue stress and tension for you, lowering your productivity.

5. Sleep, Rest and Meditate

One of the strongest medicines for getting rid of information overload is through proper rest and meditation. This always calms down your mind, and helps it to be able to organize and manage information more efficiently. Enough sleep and rest can reduce the anxiety and irritability that is often a very pronounced result of information overload.

The Final Word with Information Overload

As we have seen, information overload has proved to be a major issue in a number of cases. Most of us suffer from this at some point of time or the other, and blame technology and internet for being the chief cause for this. However, it becomes important for us to consider the fact that while technology can be a major reason for information overload, it is on us whether we want to be a victim of this problem or not.

Technology and the internet have a huge scope of options for us. Consider walking into a huge supermarket. There is going to be hundreds of products, offers and items for you to look at, and you can spend hours just looking at the products on display without really purchasing anything. When you finally walk out, you might not have purchased even a single item. So you have spent time to return you nothing.

The internet is nothing but a supermarket. There are millions of sites on it offering you with a never-ending database of information. There are offers, knowledgebase articles, games, movies, videos, music, news articles, and everything else that you might want to learn about. And companies want you to look at their sites to get more site traffic.

Advertisers and promotional agencies make the internet even more compelling and addictive for its target audience, making it harder for you to get off it. So, the onus is on you as to how you are going to discipline yourself and recognize what is it that is important enough for you time on the internet. Use the internet to your advantage – don’t let the agencies over the internet take the advantage of you!

We are currently living in a world where information can travel across the globe in seconds and disseminated for free. It is for you to decide how much of it is useful for you and whether it makes adds value to whatever you are involved in. “Necessity is the mother of invention”, which means technology was designed to help us. Try to focus on the information that you require instead of going for whatever you can get hold of, just because its available.

“Books like friends should be few and well chosen” and the same holds true for all the social networking websites, portals and the offline media which are overwhelming us with information but might not be adding any significant value to our overall growth and well being.

“Knowing a great deal is not the same as being smart; intelligence is not information alone but also judgment, the manner in which information is collected and used”

- Dr. Carl Sagan
(American Astronomer and Scientist)

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