Processing Order

books.gif On a network with an SMTP server, InterScan E-mail VirusWall, and eManager, the processing order is as follows:

1.    InterScan E-mail VirusWall receives inbound and/or outbound mail, and directs it to the content filter.

This action occurs before scanning, and, obviously, before the SMTP server receives the message for processing.

2.    In a quick operation, a spam/not-spam evaluation is performed.

Message header information is compared to the user-defined list of current rules. Mail that is found to match any one of the specified criteria is Deleted, Quarantined , or Archived as defined in the matching rule. The message is not compared further, nor is it forwarded to the E-mail VirusWall or SMTP server.

3.    Next, the message text of all mail found not to be spam is evaluated against active user-defined policies in the content filter. Encoded attachments are not evaluated.

4.    Mail that has not matched any of the content filter policies or spam filter rule-sets is forwarded.

Otherwise the message is passed to E-mail VirusWall where it will be checked for viruses.

5.    Infected email attachments are either Cleaned, Quarantined, Deleted, or Passed (delivered without cleaning), according to what is specified in the E-mail VirusWall configuration. Cleaned and uninfected messages are passed to the SMTP server for processing, as usual.

6.    The SMTP server delivers the email to the intended recipient(s).

Results may vary greatly, but the spam and content filters can reduce the volume of email that reaches the SMTP server by more than 10 percent.