Post #25,154
1/22/02 3:40:18 PM
1/22/02 6:43:46 PM
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Sendmail on Linux
I'm trying to set up a mail server using sendmail. After slogging my way through the O'Reilly's Bat Book I have a configuration that seems to do what I need to do (I used the default sendmail.cf and added only local routing stuff).
I've established a dial-up connection which seems to work OK and my ISP has done the appropriate administration on their end. (I'm going to assume for the moment anyway that they did their job OK).
The problem is that I'm not getting any mail in or out of the box. Are there more tweaks to sendmail that I have to do or something else?
Can someone point me in the right direction here ? I guess what I'm really asking is: Does sendmail control the physical receipt of mail or is that handled by a different mechanism?
Thanks,
Cliff Kennedy
Edited by clkennedy
Jan. 22, 2002, 05:42:16 PM EST
Edited by clkennedy
Jan. 22, 2002, 06:43:46 PM EST
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Post #25,186
1/22/02 6:12:13 PM
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Sendmail's a beast. You might want to try alternatives.
Hi Cliff,
Welcome aboard.
I'm no expert, but in my brief experiences with sendmail I learned that it was something to be avoided if possible. Anything that required configuration files to be edited with a tab-preserving editor seemed rather too-unfriendly to me. :-)
Have you looked at [link|http://www.courier-mta.org/|Courier] once recommended by Static, and [link|http://www.qmail.org/top.html|qmail] once recommended by broomberg? I haven't tried either of them myself.
Sendmail is pretty hard to diagnose without seeing the configuration file. If you still want to go with it, you might need to post the changes you made (suitably obsfuscated) for someone (not me) to be able to help.
Best of luck. HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #25,187
1/22/02 6:19:11 PM
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Don't forget the latest sendmail
What was it, version 8.something where they changed the configuration files to be *especially* beastly? One of the sysadmins at my company was bitching and moaning about it at the time.
"Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it."
-- Donald Knuth
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Post #25,208
1/22/02 9:56:51 PM
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qmail gets my vote.
I run it here. Works well and relaying is turned off by default.
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Post #25,219
1/22/02 11:33:32 PM
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Seconded
I had my students set up e-mail servers for a class project and decided on qmail as the easier way to get up and running.
You can make a career out of administering Sendmail.
(Not that we don't love it to pieces, mind you. In a platonic, symbolic sense, of course.)
Tom Sinclair
Speaker-to-Suits
The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Hogfather)
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Post #25,220
1/22/02 11:40:27 PM
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Thirded
I'm also running djbdns instead of bind, and I'm hoping to find time to install publicfile this weekend. I'm rather impressed with DJB's tools.
[link|http://cr.yp.to|Stuff here]
-----
Steve
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Post #25,222
1/23/02 1:33:33 AM
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Actually qmail has other problems.
I was setting it up for the second time on the same box (after an upgrade) and it occurred to me how bizarre it was to setup and configure. The last straw with it was that to enable relaying (from inside my firewall) I had to recompile the source for a standard Unix package - tcp_wrappers - and install that instead of the shipped version as qmail weirdly does not have an enable-relaying switch.
That's when I switched to Courier. It was easier to install and configure than qmail.
Wade.
"All around me are nothing but fakes
Come with me on the biggest fake of all!"
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Post #25,194
1/22/02 6:47:10 PM
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GUI Sendmail Administration
[link|http://www.webmin.com/webmin/standard.html|For Dummies Made Easy In 21 Days or Less].
Among other things...
Imric's Tips for Living- Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
- Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
- Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
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Post #25,196
1/22/02 6:52:48 PM
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The direction I'll point you in...
...is exim.
Much less painful than sendmail to work with. It's easier to set up and the configuration file was written for humans to look at.
[link|http://www.exim.org/|http://www.exim.org/]
And damn it, it's British!
Peter
Shill For Hire
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
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