Message Sniffer.TechnicalDetails.AutoUpdates
From ARM-KB
This page is no longer maintained and may contain information that is out of date. We have left this page in place to provide a historical reference and to provide assistance to folks who may have not yet upgraded from Version 2 to Version 3. EVERYONE should upgrade to the latest version if they have not done so already.
For the latest information covered on this page, please see the following pages on our web site: http://www.armresearch.com/support/articles/software/snfServer/config/autoUpdates.jsp
Home -> Message Sniffer -> Technical Details -> Automated Updates
Are Sniffer updates automated?
The current version does not handle updates by itself. You should automate rule base updates using appropriate scripts for your system. You can use a scheduler program, however the preferred method is to trigger your update script when your system receives an update notification. We can send these update notifications to any address you would like. There are some example scripts in the Submitted Scripts page.
How do I update my rule base?
The Message Sniffer system automatically transmits a notification message whenever a rule base file is updated. These messages contain important information about the update, locations for downloading updates, and current login and password information.
Rule base files can be downloaded using either HTTP or FTP protocols at the following URLs:
* Replace "foo1bar2.snf" with the name of your specific rule base file.
You can download your rule base files at any time. We recommend that you update your rule base file at least once per day if you are using a scheduled task / cron job. For the best performance you should trigger your downloads when our update notifications arrive at your system! All rule base files are updated several times per day based on the latest information available.
We recommend that your script follows this general procedure:
- 1. Download the new rule base file to a temporary location.
- 2. Verify the new file using the snf2check.exe utility (found in the distribution file).
- 3. Make a backup of your current rule base file - just in case.
- 4. Swap the new file into place - preferably using a rename or mv command.
Strictly Avoid downloading a new rule base file over an operating file!
Hint: Using rename (Winx) or MV (*nix) instead of a copy / cp command will ensure that you minimize any potential conflict with the Message Sniffer utility while it is in operation.
Uploading Your Log Files
Log file uploads are strongly encouraged and appreciated! We recommend that you upload your Message Sniffer log files to our system once or twice per day as part of your log rotation scheme. Our system uses log file information to optimize our rule base, monitor performance, and train our filtering systems. The result is improved performance and reliability for all of our users. For example, ineffective rules are automatically deactivated when their strength is reduced below a specific threshold. This can be particularly important if you report spam to our system because the strength of the rules created for that content will be heavily influenced by the effectiveness of these rules on your system. The same content may not appear on other systems which could result in those rules being deactivated. See Log Files help page for more information.
IMail Sniffer Update Tools:
This package was developed with the review and comments of many users and is considered to be the "standard" starting point for automated updates on Win32 systems. Though it has been written from the perspective of an IMail user, the scripts should work on any Win32 system (with only minor adjustments). This package includes everything you need to get automated updates and log file uploads working on your Win32 system.
KEY FEATURES in this package are:
- Updates are triggerd by update notifications from our system. This means that you will always have the most up-to-date rulebase without wasting any resources. (NOTE: For SmarterMail,You can use the same script, but instead of launching it with a program alias you need to launch it as a scheduled task. Set it up to run once every hour and you should be ok.)
- A log file upload script is also included so that you can easily schedule uploads of your sniffer log files to our servers for analysis.
- All important configuration changes can be made by changing variables at the top of the cmd scripts.
- The cmd scripts are well commented.
- Copies of the open source wget and gzip utilities are included for convenience - so you don't have to hunt them down. We recommend you grab the full distribution(s) for these and many more useful utilities (GNU UNIX Utilities for Win32) from http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/
ImailSnifferUpdateTools.zip Submitted by Bill Landry, william.landry @ siemens.com
Where can I see other example scripts?
For other example scripts, see our Submitted Scripts page. This page contains starter scripts submitted by Message Sniffer users.
I have set up the auto update alias.If I execute snfupd.cmd directly, the update works properly; but if I send email to the alias, it does not appear to trigger the update (no dos window opens up). Thoughts?
No dos window will open -- the task is run "behind the scenes". If the script you are using produces any log data you should see that data change.
