Mailster in 3.8.7 mailer causes host to switch the site off

[pads]

I am getting '1and1' switching my site off because of what they are calling cyber attacks.
I only have Joomla site (ver 3.8.7) no Wordpress.

1and1 are seeing my site generating emails after someone(something) opens any of my webpages on the site.
However this is a correct function of 'Mailster' component- I don't have a cronjob to trigger Mailster I just rely on someone opening a page.

Not sure how to convince '1and1' of this, and get them to stop turning my site off. It is happening every other day at present.

Luckily at the moment I can get back in myself and turn it on - sorry not divuling how on an open forum.

I take it there is no way within Mailster to do anything differently to stop this.

Thanks
Peter

[JAVesey]

Sorry, but I'm having trouble getting my head round this:

1and1 are seeing my site generating emails after someone(something) opens any of my webpages on the site.
However this is a correct function of 'Mailster' component

Are you really saying that an email is generated every time a page on your site is "opened" and that this is Mailster's correct behaviour? Or have I misunderstood you?

If this is how it is then I'm not surprised that your host is turning off your site.

Please can you run the FPA (see "sticky" posts at the top of this Forum) and post the output.

[Per Yngve Berg]

Is this the Extension in question?

https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/mailster/

[pads]

Per - Yes that is the extension.

JAVesey - No - what happens is Mailster is kicked into action by a page viewing. It then looks to see if there are any pending emails queued to send out and posts them to the relevant distribution lists.

Peter

[sozzled]

... what happens is Mailster is kicked into action by a page viewing. It then looks to see if there are any pending emails queued to send out and posts them to the relevant distribution lists.

That is essentially all that you need to tell your webhosting provider. Just explain to them that you use a piece of software that periodically sends emails stored in a queue triggered when someone accesses your website. If this behaviour is inconsistent with your webhost's acceptable use policy then you'll have to take it on the chin, disable the mailing product or search for a webhosting plan that caters to your requirements.

There are no "security" implications here—none that I can see anyway.

I haven't used Mailster. I haven't looked at the product's description in the JED. I don't know what it does or how it's supposed to work. If there are behavioural issues with Mailster then I suggest you discuss those with its developers.

[pads]

That is essentially all that you need to tell your webhosting provider.

Thanks but that's the problem - convincing them.
The first person (at '1and1') just did not listen - and I had to give up on him.

The second person understood, was realy helpful - but.
They are still locking the site. In fact it has just happened again.

I've had Mailster running for over 12 months without any issue until last week. Now it seems to be happening every other day, until today when it is 3 times up to now.
And they say there has been no change at their end !!

Is there anyone else with this problem?
And have you solved it?

Thank you
Peter

[Webdongle]

Yeah seen systems like that. They can generate 100's of emails. Methinks it breaks 1and1's T&C because the site is acting like a relay.

[JAVesey]

Yeah seen systems like that. They can generate 100's of emails. Methinks it breaks 1and1's T&C because the site is acting like a relay.

Many hosting packages have a batch/maximum hourly limit to the emails being sent. How many emails are being sent over what time period?

Also, some mailing packages will allow emails in the queue to be sent as a background task so you don’t have to be actively monitoring it.

I looked at Mailster when deciding what extension to use on my own site but it didn’t quite tick all the boxes for me.

Might be that you need to consider another solution which better suits/works with your hosting package limits. AcyMailing is popular, and there are others.

Agree with the earlier comments; there is absolutely nothing in this thread which is of a security nature. It is an admin/extension issue.

[pads]

The trouble is we are only a small club with less than 60 members and only need the 'distribution' part of any mailing system. So AcyMailing is overkill and more expensive.
And I think it will work on a similar basis - since any action on a php site needs another action to kick it off.

Unless it uses some other action other than viewing the site.

Peter

[mandville]

as i see it, your trigger sends 60 emails every time, suggestion to reduce the email outgoing.
set up a google group , get all your members on that.
get your site to send one email to google group that then redistributes it to all your members.

[JAVesey]

So AcyMailing is overkill and more expensive.
And I think it will work on a similar basis - since any action on a php site needs another action to kick it off.

Unless it uses some other action other than viewing the site.

Peter

How do you know it’s overkill unless you try it?

AcyMailing provides an admin interface for sending emails to mailing lists; your users can subscribe on the front end to the mailing lists that you set manage in the admin interface; they don’t even need to need to log in to do so. The person sending an email is in charge of the send process. The software matches the send process to any emailing restrictions that your hosting package might have.

Set it up properly and it’s GDPR compliant.

All of this is in the free version, too

[Webdongle]

When computing the settings for a mass mailing, consider the following points:

To stay just below the threshold, send one mail every minute with no more than 55 recipients.
Send no more than 200 emails within 5 minutes (or no more than 100 recipients at once).
If your contract is less than 5 days old, you can send E-mails to 50 new recipients every 6 hours.
Please allow 10 seconds between E-mail messages. This restriction is in place primarily as a security precaution against SPAM.
If each recipient is to receive a different message (rather than one E-mail with multiple recipients), then a 10 second delay is required between each E-mail.
This lowers the possible transmission to 6 mails every minute if each E-mail has only one recipient.
When sending E-mails through a script (such as PHP), this will be done through the 1&1 Mail Server by default. The above limits will still apply. If using a mail server configured on a 1&1 Dedicated Server or 1&1 Virtual Server, there will be no restriction on E-mail transmission by 1&1.

https://help.1and1.co.uk/mail-c65093/1a ... 07083.html

[pads]

How do you know it’s overkill unless you try it?

Simple - All we need is the distribute part of mailer. We don't do any Newscasts, etc.

When computing the settings for a mass mailing, consider the following points:

the 55 limit at the moment is ok since we only have 53 members.

Send no more than 200 emails within 5 minutes

No control over that since it depends upon how many emails come in addressed to "members@....." before the Mailster is next kicked in to distribute them. And AcyMailing seems to work on similar lines on it's 'distribution' function.

'1and1' seem to have introduced some new functionality which they are not admitting to; because as I mentioned earlier everything worked fine until a week ago.

Peter

[Webdongle]

we only have 53 members.

You only need 4 to reply within 5 mins ... or 1 to reply and the OP answer and get a reply in 5 mins.

[pads]

You only need 4 to reply within 5 mins ... or 1 to reply and the OP answer and get a reply in 5 mins.

I think that's what I said in the next line!

[Webdongle]

Nope you said you have
No control over that since it depends upon how many emails come in addressed to "members@....."