Hi Gabriele,

Thank you for reaching out.

We utilize the MaxMind database, which you can explore through their demo here: MaxMind GeoIP Web Services Demo. Since you're using an older version of SmarterMail, it corresponds with an older version of the MaxMind database.

In their demo, the location appears correctly, suggesting that the issue may stem from the SmarterMail version you're currently running.

I hope this helps clarify the situation! Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Kind regards,

We update the GEO IP DB every 3 hours for that exact reason.

So should SM. Otherwise we have a lot of false positives over time in GEO IP blocking and IDS/IPS.

GeoIP database is not updating itself regulary/automatically in SM ??

Only when installed.

Hello Everyone,

I discussed with my team the possibility of enabling SmarterMail to automatically update the GEO database. However, due to a licensing restriction with MaxMind, this is not possible.

Kind regards,

Zach,

As far as I know, it would only require the server admin to provide a MaxMind key for the updates, which you can obtain for free by registering to their service.

At least it's how we're doing it with geoipudate on Linux.

For the one not willing to register -> use bundled databases

For the one with an account -> use the autoupdated db's

I understand people frustration being stuck with an old db because they can't upgrade smartermail (due to the new issues it will bring) only for the purpose of having fresh geo db's.

Kind regards.

By the way, is that the file used for GeoIP in SM ?

If yes:

Can't we setup on our own an automatic updater for it ? Would it need to restart smartermail at every update though ?

If no:

Where are the db files located, to consider updating them by other means ?

Thanks 

Hi Sebastien,

Thank you for reaching out!

You're correct—the main challenge is that users would need to register and provide their own API keys, among other requirements. Since you're open to doing that, I’ll revisit this topic with my team and gather their thoughts on it.

The other key obstacle is that we’re not using the default database; instead, we’ve implemented custom techniques to optimize lookups for better speed and efficiency. That’s why a direct replacement isn’t feasible. However, if needed, you could technically work around this by installing the latest version of SmarterMail on a new server, stopping the service on both servers and copying the GeoIP.dat file from the new version to the old one. This would allow the older version to utilize the updated database.

That said, I’ll discuss with my team the possibility of introducing a method to dynamically upgrade the GeoIP.dat file in future updates.

Let me know if you have any additional thoughts or questions!

Best regards,

So, if I understand correctly, as a workaround, I can use a "dummy" installation of a new release and copy this "GeoIP.dat" file from there to my working server, correct?

Can you confirm this for me, so I can try this as a workaround?

Hi Gabriele,

That’s correct—the database updates only include new information without altering the underlying format.

Kind regards,

Very good, I'll give it a try

Hi,

  Why is the GeoIP.dat file the same size of 1,036,433 bytes and dated Jan 31, 2019 on every build?

  Even my SmarterMail v15.7 is this size and date along with build 9007 & 9119

Thanks!

-dave

Hi David,

I’m not entirely sure about that. Based on our release notes, the last time we upgraded the GeoIP database was with Build 9035 on September 26, 2024. The updated database is committed to our codebase, so it should definitely be different.

If you suspect it might be an older version, you can try uninstalling SmarterMail, deleting the GeoIP.dat file, and then reinstalling SmarterMail. Alternatively, you can follow the steps I mentioned earlier to replace the file manually.

Let me know if you have any questions or run into issues!

Kind regards,

We have a maxmind licensekey... why not implement the option to put a key there and let us decide how often we would like a refresh.

Otherwise it wont make sense to have it there in the first place if its old data...

Hi Brian,

As I mentioned earlier, I’ll bring this up with the team for further discussion. The main challenge lies in managing the complexity of building out the integration while ensuring a seamless experience.

One of SmarterMail’s key advantages is minimizing the need for manual configurations, as simplicity and ease of use are central to our offering. Competing mail servers often require more manual effort, and we aim to stand out by making things as effortless as possible for our users.

I’ll share your suggestion with the team and see if we can explore a solution that aligns with our philosophy.

Kind regards,

Thanks Zack as always :)

Merry christmas to you and the team.

Hmmm,

Another question/suggesion. If the DB is that .dat file, it means you're using the old legacy db format.

It's being quite being deprecated in favor of MMDB files.

Also:

Hi Sebastien,

That’s a great observation. You’re correct that the legacy .dat format is becoming less common, and we’ve been taking steps to make our .dat file more efficient. However, the advantages of switching to the MMDB format, as you pointed out, are worth considering. I’ll definitely bring this up with my team for further discussion.

Thank you for sharing the additional context and resources—it’s helpful for evaluating potential improvements.

Wishing you and your team and everyone else a Merry Christmas from all of us at SmarterTools!

Kind regards,