LinuxMagic BMS - Blacklist Mastering System - What is BMS?

What is the Blacklist Mastering System™ (BMS)

This is a product that is designed to allow a person to easily and quickly identify an IP Address to see if it is one of many IP Lists.

That is the simple answer. Really, it is an implementation of LinuxMagic's IP Address Mastering System.

It is a system used to lookup an IP Address against a set of lists, representing a portion of the IP address space. It allows for very fast lookups, in the vicinity of .002 seconds per lookup.

However, this implementation includes the complete remastering portions of the IP Address Mastering System.

What we do, is utilize this system to:

  • Gather a set of lists from a variety of sources and store them locally on a BMS Mastering Server
  • Parse these lists, and determine if the addresses represented by these lists reflect positive or negative values for lookup purposes
  • We then remaster these lists is a custom binary format so that all lists are formatted the same, and IP Addresses in the binary files are flagged as either being on the list or not
  • We then send these formatted lists to a BMS List Provider
  • We allow clients to download these custom binary formatted lists, at timed intervals matching the list regeneration intervals
  • We allow clients to use BMS Client Programs to check an IP Address against these lists
  • The BMS Client Program then can identify which lists the IP Matched for use in decision making processes

The most common use for this so far, is to allow Mail Server Programs to call the BMS Client Programs and determine if an address is on a series of BlackLists used to block locations identified by the list provider as being locations the Mail Server does not want to accept connections from. Often, an additional step is made by the Mail Server Program to use the BMS Client Program to also identify if the IP Address is on a WHITELIST as well.

This can allow a client system to work in many ways:

  • Use only the BMS Remote Client Lookup Program against a BMS Service Provider
  • Use the BMS Retrieval Program, the BMS Client Lookup Program, and local cached BMS files, the specific files to be determined by the client
  • Use the BMS Mastering System for their own set of lists, to create centrally available BMS cache files

For most clients, the second method is the easiest and simplest, however often there are lists which require licensing, are proprietary, or are considered private, and in this case the third option is preferable.

And for those clients with low resources, less demand, standardized list requirements, the first method may be sufficient.

Example Uses:

  • A Client Side Program might make lookups against a BMS Service Provider, rather than storing cache files. They might only have 30 addresses at a time to lookup and network latency isn't an issue. They assume the BMS Service Provider is using a set of lists that suit their requirements
  • A Company has a central BMS Service Provider, which provides a standardized set of BLACKLISTS
  • A Company which provides Mail Servers may include the BMS Client Programs, so the administrator can choose the lists they wish to honour
  • A Company has contracted with commercial list providers, and wishes to make standardized lists available to their clients, irregardless of original formats. ie Novell or Lotus, enters into agreements with Commercial List Providers, but only gives access to these lists to registered customers. This allows flexibility, when agreements with the List Providers change, and allows them to provide mirrors of lists that customers can avail themselves of, in a standardized format
  • Smaller ISP's and TELCO's can use BMS Client Side Programs, and select which lists they want to honour from a BMS List Provider
  • Larger ISP's and TELCO's can use the BMS Client Side Programs to validate against a combination of available lists from a BMS Provider, as well as Proprietary Lists from Commercial List Providers and Custom Private BlackLists and WhiteLists, which have been standardized using the BMS Remastering System

This BMS Mastering System is based on the IP Address Mastering System which allows for all types of uses and services, to suit any needs, or any process which has to identify if an IP Address is in a specific set of IP Addresses, no matter how large, or how many sets are needed.