December 2015 Summaries

MailHandler is a simple Ruby library designed for email delivery testing, built on top of the Ruby Mail gem. It aims to provide a stopwatch-like experience for testing email delivery, allowing developers to easily send and search for emails, gather statistics about sending and receiving times, and receive notifications about long searches or delays. The library also supports searching by local folders and files, making it suitable for testing email delivery in various environments, including Postmark and SMTP servers. MailHandler can be used as a standalone tool or integrated into test suites using Ruby frameworks like RSpec. Its features include sending emails, receiving notifications, and analytics tracking, making it a versatile tool for email delivery testing and development.

Curator, a tool from Elastic, helps manage Elasticsearch clusters by automating daily management tasks such as creating, backing up, and deleting indices. This is particularly useful for time-series data storage like Postmark's email history, where Curator can remove old data after a specified period, ensuring only the last 45 days of activity are searchable. Additionally, Curator provides features to manage snapshots and optimize static indices, further streamlining Elasticsearch operations. By using Curator, Postmark's small team can focus on adding new features while maintaining their infrastructure, thanks to the automated tooling provided by Elastic.

DMARC is a crucial piece of email security that helps prevent phishing and spam by giving domain owners control over where emails originate. The protocol works alongside SPF and DKIM to identify fake messages, maintaining the sender-driven nature of email while helping ISPs and security companies determine if an email comes from a trusted source. By setting up DMARC, businesses can ensure their customers receive legitimate emails quickly, reducing the risk of phishing attempts and protecting their brand reputation. With over 50 million credits given away to Postmark customers who have set up DMARC on their domains, this offer is a valuable incentive for businesses to prioritize email security. The goal of scammers, including those behind phishing campaigns, is often financial gain, making it essential for businesses to take proactive measures to protect themselves and their customers from these threats.