Net Send - Domain

[profector]

I'm thinking about turning on the messenger service for all the computers on in the domain, any thoughts on this?

I remember way back when people had problems with spam coming through it, but I'm thinking that since we're all behind a firewall it wouldn't come through from the outside. Is this right?

Also I have three different locations all on the same domain, each with it's own DC, and connected through ipsec tunnels. Do you think a general messege sent like - net send * "Yes I know the exchange server is down so stop calling me, I'll have it back up in a couple of minutes" would be broadcast to all computers at all locations or just the computers connected to my location?


Thanks.

[jdc2000]

Do other users on your domain have admin rights? If so, they could send messages as well. As long as you are using a private IP address range, Internet spam should not be a problem with a firewall set up properly.

Note: Vista and Server 2008 do not support this service - a replacement is used. It is set up and working on a domain I use, but they have a large cyber security staff and budget.

Some worthwhile links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messenger_service

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330904

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/168893

https://www.grc.com/stm/shootthemessenger.htm

[profector]

THanks for the response. We're still on 2003 Standard and SBS. Not a huge company here, just me working on a few servers with few dozen users.

I turned it on for everyone today. Almost everyone is setup as a domain user with the cmd line disabled. Hopefully next time I can use it to reduce the number of phones calls.