Internet host SMTP server survey (fwd)

[Kalum Somaratna aka Grendel <kalum lintux cx>]

I thought I'd post this USENET article for the benefit of people on this
list who havent come across it as it's results are very interesting
indeed. 

Best Wishes,
Grendel


D. J. Bernstein <djb cr yp to> schreef in berichtnieuws
  2000Oct507 51 14 11491 cr yp to   

I looked up PTR records for 1000000 random IP addresses. 25777 of the IP
addresses had PTR records.

I tried to connect to each address at the SMTP port. I obtained
successful connections to 908 servers. Evidently there were nearly 4
million reachable SMTP servers on the Internet at that moment.

I then sent a series of SMTP commands to each server, and fed the
responses through a script that guesses what SMTP software is running on
each host. Some comments on the results:

   * UNIX remains the most common operating system. 62% of the servers
     are running UNIX-only software; 26% are running Windows-only
     software; 6% provide answers consistent with both UNIX and Windows.

   * Sendmail is continuing to drop in popularity. The Sendmail company
     claims on its web pages that Sendmail ``powers the majority of the
     Internet's mail servers''; that claim is no longer true.

   * As in previous surveys, most of the Sendmail servers announce
     version numbers known to have security holes, in some cases
     remotely exploitable. Very few servers are running the most recent
     free version of Sendmail, or any commercial version of Sendmail.
     Apparently most Sendmail users simply take what comes with the
     operating system.

Here are the software tallies:

   47%  430  UNIX Sendmail
   16%  149  Windows Microsoft Exchange
    9%   82  UNIX qmail
    6%   55  Windows Ipswitch IMail
    3%   26  unknown (``Relay not authorized'')
         21  UNIX smap
         19  not sure
         15  UNIX Exim
         10  UNIX/Windows Check Point firewall
          9  UNIX/Windows Software.com Post.Office
          9  UNIX/Windows GroupWise
          9  UNIX/Windows DatCon IMS
          6  Windows Gordano NTMail
          6  UNIX IBM Postfix, formerly VMailer
          4  Windows Sendmail
          4  Windows Atrium MERCUR
          3  unknown (``ESMTP hello!'')
          3  Windows Deerfield.com MDaemon
          3  VMS CISCO MultiNet, formerly TGV/MultiNet
          3  UNIX/Windows Netscape Messaging Server, formerly Netscape Mail
  Server
          3  UNIX/Windows Lotus Domino
          3  UNIX Zmailer
          3  UNIX Smail
          3  UNIX Obtuse SMTPD
          2  Windows Vircom VOP Mail
          2  Windows Rockliffe MailSite
          2  Windows O'Reilly WebBoard
          2  Windows InterScan VirusWall
          2  UNIX/Windows NetWin Dmail
          2  UNIX/Windows Lotus SMTP MTA
          1  unknown (``*****'')
          1  Windows Worldgroup
          1  Windows WinProxy
          1  Windows Tumbleweed WorldSecure
          1  Windows Thompson AnalogX
          1  Windows SmartMax MailMax
          1  Windows Seattle Lab SLmail
          1  Windows Norton AntiVirus
          1  Windows Isocor N-PLEX
          1  Windows Eudora Worldmail
          1  Windows ArGoSoft Mail Server
          1  VMS PMDF
          1  UNIX/Windows Stalker CommuniGate
          1  UNIX/Windows Lyris SMTP
          1  UNIX/Windows AltaVista firewall
          1  UNIX cmap
          1  MacOS Eudora Internet Mail Server, formerly AIMS
          1  MacOS AppleShare

-- 
Maurice Lucas
maurice famlucas penguinpowered com