Advice on spam strategy (spam proxy?)

I would like to hear some opinions of the people on this list about
the implementation of a spam proxy machine.

At the moment we run exim + exiscan + spamassassin on our mail
servers.  There are thoughts of buying a "blackbox" spam filter like
www.barracudanetworks.com/products.php to put between the internet and
our firewall.  At the moment our mail servers run from within the
firewall.

My suggestion to management was either to buy more mail servers to
cope with the load of spamassassin or to put in a server with spam
scanning software in stead of the "black box".

A search on "spamproxy" showed that the development on that program is
not active anymore as far as I can see.

Now my questions:

What are the advantages / disadvantages of a "black box" approach?

If you replace the "black box" by a spam proxy machine, how are you
going to to handle the spamfiltering without making that machine a
mailserver also?

If this machine have to run a MTA like exim, I suspect it the MX
records for our domain must refer to it an not any longer to our
present mail servers.  Correct?

 




-- 
Johann Spies          Telefoon: 021-808 4036
Informasietegnologie, Universiteit van Stellenbosch

     "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me 
      from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions; and 
      my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, 
      have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight..."
                                   Psalms 51:2-4 
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