114网址导航114网址导航Sendmail Configuration
Sendmail packages
The Sendmail program is a very widely used Mail Transport Agent (MTA).
MTAs send mail from one machine to another.
If you ever need to reconfigure Sendmail, you will also need to have
the sendmail.cf package installed. If you need documentation on
Sendmail, you can install the sendmail-doc package.
Web site to test your mail server FAQ
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,comp.mail.sendmail
Date: Fri, 31 Jan :04 GMT
This is a monthly FAQ posting regarding the mail server
test site:
http://www.
On this site you can perform the following tests.
x Open Relay Check if SMTP servers are open relay.
x MX Lookup Lookup MX records for a domain.
x Check Delivery Test delivery via SMTP to a POP account.
x Host Bugs Display a list of known bugs with a SMTP or POP server.
x Reverse Lookup Check reverse lookup and aliases for hosts.
x SMTP Extensions Test for supported SMTP extensions.
This is a free service, use and enjoy :-)
Sponsored by
Web site to test your mail server FAQ
& This is a monthly FAQ posting regarding the mail server
& test site:
& http://www.[]
Initiating server query …
Looking up IP address for domain: www.
The IP address for the domain is: 216.65.3.228
Connecting to the server on standard HTTP port: 80
The port is closed, so our connection attempt was refused.
Query complete.
Mail aliases for incoming emails
Newsgroups:
comp.mail.misc
Wed, 25 Feb :53 +0000 (UTC)
& Where can I find explanations on how to define/delete mail aliases
& for incoming emails. I.e., I want to define alias1, alias2, etc
& all point to my own real email, and delete them afterward sometime
man aliases
man /etc/aliases
& I am thinking that it might be a good way to guard against some dubious sites
& that insist my giving away my email address.
Perhaps, but you'll need more than a few aliases to effectively combat UCE.
Sahil Tandon
File: /etc/aliases
Aliases in this file will NOT be expanded in the header from
Mail, but WILL be visible over networks or from /bin/mail.
&&&&&&&&&&
The program "newaliases" must be run after
&& NOTE &&
this file is updated for any changes to
&&&&&&&&&&
show through to sendmail.
# Basic system aliases -- these MUST be present.
mailer-daemon:
postmaster
postmaster:
# General redirections for pseudo accounts.
postmaster
mailman-owner:
newsadmin:
# Person who should get root's mail
man aliases
This file describes user ID aliases used by sendmail.
The file resides
as /etc/aliases and is formatted as a series of lines of the form
name: addr_1, addr_2, addr_3, . . .
This is on the actual aliasing information is placed
into a binary format in the file /etc/aliases.db using the program
newaliases(1).
A newaliases command should be executed each time the
aliases file is changed for the change to take effect.
how to get rid of sendmail X-Authentication-Warning
To: debian-user(a)lists.debian.org
Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002
& & And it _still_ generates the X-Authentication-Warning.
I don't get it.
& Add this to /etc/mail/submit.mc and rebuild submit.cf (via make, or by
& FEATURE(`use_ct_file')dnl
# trusted users
Hm, I've got this line in my sendmail.mc which should do the same, no?
I guess it's time that I post my sendmail.mc.
Please don't flame me for it.
owie:~# dpkg -s sendmail | grep -i version
Version: 8.12.1-2
Example: File: sendmail.mc
divert(-1)
# This file is used to configure sendmail for use with Debian systems.
define(`_USE_ETC_MAIL_')dnl
include(`/usr/share/sendmail/sendmail.cf/m4/cf.m4')dnl
VERSIONID(`@(#)sendmail.mc
8.9.3-21 (Debian) ')
OSTYPE(`debian')dnl
DOMAIN(`debian-mta')dnl
define(`confSAFE_FILE_ENV',
LOCAL_CONFIG
define(`SMART_HOST', `SMTP:smtp.int.radiomaranon.org.pe')dnl
MASQUERADE_AS(radiomaranon.org.pe)dnl
FEATURE(masquerade_envelope)dnl
FEATURE(always_add_domain)dnl
Cwowie.int.radiomaranon.org.pe
CGowie.int.radiomaranon.org.pe
FEATURE(use_cw_file)dnl
FEATURE(use_ct_file)dnl
FEATURE(`nouucp', `reject')dnl
dnl define hosts we relay for
FEATURE(`access_db')dnl
dnl FEATURE(`genericstable', `hash -o /etc/mail/genericstable.db')dnl
dnl FEATURE(`virtusertable', `hash -o /etc/mail/virtusertable.db')dnl
FEATURE(accept_unresolvable_domains)
FEATURE(nocanonify)dnl
define(`confSERVICE_SWITCH_FILE',/etc/mail/service.switch)dnl
define(`confBIND_OPTS',`-AAONLY -DNSRCH -DEFNAMES')dnl
see 'man resolver'
define(`confDONT_PROBE_INTERFACES', `True')dnl
define(`SMTP_MAILER_FLAGS',`e')dnl
define(`confTO_QUEUEWARN', `2d')dnl
dnl define(`confDIAL_DELAY', `0')dnl
define(`confCON_EXPENSIVE', `True')dnl
define(`confPRIVACY_FLAGS', `needmailhelo,novrfy,noexpn,noreceipts,noverb')dnl
MAILER_DEFINITIONS
MAILER(local)dnl
MAILER(smtp)dnl
MAILER(procmail)dnl
Example: File: submit.mc
divert(-1)dnl
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# $Sendmail: ./submit.mc.in,v 8.12.0
12:00:00 cowboy Exp $
# Copyright (c)
Richard Nelson.
All Rights Reserved.
# Generated automatically from submit.mc.in by configure.
# submit.mc prototype config file for building Sendmail 8.12.1
# Note: the .in file supports 8.7.0 - 8.12.0, but the generated
file is customized to the version noted above.
# This file is used to configure Sendmail for use with Debian systems.
# If you modify this file, you will have to regenerate /etc/mail/submit.cf
# by running this file through the m4 preprocessor via one of the following:
* `sendmailconfig`
* `m4 /etc/mail/submit.mc & /etc/mail/submit.cf`
# The first two options are preferred as they will also update other files
# that depend upon the contents of this file.
# The best documentation for this .mc file is:
# /usr/share/doc/sendmail-doc/cf.README.gz
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
divert(0)dnl
Copyright (c)
Richard Nelson.
All Rights Reserved.
This file is used to configure Sendmail for use with Debian systems.
define(`_USE_ETC_MAIL_')dnl
include(`/usr/share/sendmail/sendmail.cf/m4/cf.m4')dnl
VERSIONID(`$Id: submit.mc, v 8.12.1-2
13:35:53 cowboy Exp $')
OSTYPE(`debian')dnl
DOMAIN(`debian-msp')dnl
dnl #---------------------------------------------------------------------
dnl # Masquerading information, if needed, should go here
dnl # You likely will not need this, as the MTA will do it
dnl #---------------------------------------------------------------------
dnl MASQUERADE_AS()dnl
dnl FEATURE(`masquerade_envelope')dnl
dnl #---------------------------------------------------------------------
dnl # The real reason we're here: the FEATURE(msp)
dnl #---------------------------------------------------------------------
FEATURE(`msp', `[127.0.0.1]', `MSA')dnl
dnl #---------------------------------------------------------------------
dnl # Some minor cleanup from FEATURE(msp)
dnl #---------------------------------------------------------------------
define(`confRUN_AS_USER', `mail')dnl
define(`confTRUSTED_USER', `confRUN_AS_USER')dnl
dnl #---------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: no respond.
how to get rid of sendmail X-Authentication-Warning
& Hm, I've got this line in my sendmail.mc which should do the same, no?
documented on:
sendmail & trusted-users weirdness
To: "'psyche-list redhat com'" &psyche-list redhat com&
Date: Sat, 7 Dec :12 -0600
& I added a username to /etc/mail/trusted-users, next added
& define(`confCT_FILE', `-o /etc/mail/trusted-users') to
& sendmail.mc, then did m4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc &
& /etc/mail/sendmail.cf and restarted sendmail.
& Yet, if I send out an email with evolution 1.2 I still see in the
& headers of the recipient's email the warning:
& X-Authentication-Warning:
& myhost: user set sender to some_other_email_address using -f
I don't think you need the above "define" if your .mc file already has
FEATURE (use_ct_file)dnl
The use_ct_file feature will add the proper tags in your .cf file for the
use of the trusted users file.
& In /etc/mail/sendmail.cf I see:
& #####################
Trusted users
& #####################
& # this is equivalent to setting class "t"
& Ft-o /etc/mail/trusted-users
If you add the use_ct_file feature as shown above, then the reulting
sendmail.cf file will contain…
#####################
Trusted users
#####################
# this is equivalent to setting class "t"
Ft/etc/mail/trusted-users
Note the difference in the trusted users line.
BTW: It's the -o thats incorrect. should be
define(`confCT_FILE', `/etc/mail/trusted-users')
Steve Cowles
sendmail, local delivery
I'm behind a gateway that is not up all the time. I setup my box using
static local IP, so whenever the gateway is up, I'm ready to surf.
However, I notice that whenever the gateway is not up, my sendmail is
extremely slow, a
date | /usr/sbin/sendmail -v $USER
takes over 40 seconds to deliver — about 30 seconds for these first two
ling to show up:
tong... Connecting to localhost.localdomain. via relay...
220 localhost.localdomain ESMTP Sendmail 8.12.5/8.12.5; Fri, 14 Mar :32 -0500
Further more,
date | /usr/sbin/sendmail -v -f sender@some.domain.org $USER
takes much more longer:
sendmail, local delivery
Q3.12 — Why do connections to the SMTP port take such a long time?
set the IDENT timeout to zero:
Example: Changes to /etc/mail/submit.cf
-#O Timeout.ident=5s
+O Timeout.ident=0
Sendmail update and submit.cf
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc
Date: Thu, 6 Mar :14 +0000 (UTC)
: Pardon me for lack of detail here but I just had a frantic
: call from a customer who did the Redhat updates and sendmail
: immediately stopped working.
: I sshed in quickly and immediately found that if I used
: sendmail -C/etc/mail/sendmail.cf everything was fine.
: A quick ls -lut showed that sendmail by default was looking
: at /etc/mail/submit.cf
: I quickly made a copy of that and then overwrote it with
: his sendmail.cf and all was fine again.
: I'm off to Google to see if there is any reason he or I
: should have expected that..
: But even if it is documented in 30 point type, someone else
: will surely miss it as he did, so this post can't hurt..
And the explanation is:
I'm still not clear on just how one should write a proper mc for the submit.cf
but I'll look into that later..
Sendmail update and submit.cf
& I'm still not clear on just how one should write a proper mc for the
& submit.cf
& but I'll look into that later..
The default submit.mc is supposed to work for almost everyone.
My system has two ports, and has a different name for each port.
One is on the Internet and has one IP address. The other is on my LAN and
has, of course, another IP address. By default, sendmail picks the wrong
one, so I made my submit.mc look like this:
divert(-1)
# Copyright (c)
Sendmail, Inc. and its suppliers.
All rights reserved.
# By using this file, you agree to the terms and conditions set
# forth in the LICENSE file which can be found at the top level of
# the sendmail distribution.
This is the prototype file for a set-group-ID sm-msp sendmail that
acts as a initial mail submission program.
divert(0)dnl
VERSIONID(`$Id: submit.mc,v 8.6.2.4
03:54:34 ca Exp $')
define(`confCF_VERSION', `Submit')dnl
define(`__OSTYPE__',`')dnl dirty hack to keep proto.m4 from complaining
define(`_USE_DECNET_SYNTAX_', `1')dnl support DECnet
define(`confTIME_ZONE', `USE_TZ')dnl
define(`confDONT_INIT_GROUPS', `True')dnl
dnl ADDED BY JDBEYER (31.8), (31.10.20)
define(`confDOMAIN_NAME', `my.internet.domain')
dnl If you use IPv6 only, change [127.0.0.1] to [IPv6:::1]
FEATURE(`msp', `[127.0.0.1]')dnl
As you can see, it does not take much. The file is quite simple.
Jean-David Beyer
Sendmail update and submit.cf
: As you can see, it does not take much. The file is quite simple.
Yes, it is: but if you are used to sendmail running with one cf
file, and haven't yet read about this new submit.cf, sendmail
suddenly breaking is unexpected.
I haven't yet had the time to go back and see why this broke (it's
an internal machine so I'm not particularly antsy about it), but
it was quite a surprise to me :-)
I don't use sendmail a lot - most of my people run qmail (and
actually so does this guy except for some internal machines) so
I'm a bit behind on it.
Not that I'm any great qmail guru either!
I don't like sendmail very much - not
just that .mc/.cf stuff.
often than not, when I run into a sendmail issue, I find that
somebody has added stuff to .cf manually, which means I can't use
the .mc to add things without breaking things.
And of course
.mc files are only a little bit more comprehensible than raw
.cf files to start with.
Actually, in some ways they are LESS
comprehensible: when someone has manually modified .cf, getting
.mc to produce the desired output by reverse engineering is
at least annoying.
That's the typical headache:
I have something where I'd like to just add something to .mc and
generate a new .cf.
So I do so, but now a bunch of stuff doesn't
work (because someone did the .cf manually or edited it) so it's
line by line examination to see what they were trying to get done.
It's not hard to lookup .mc stuff in the bat book, but the other
way around is not so easy. I've got one of those going on
now: we just wanted to add the genericstable feature, but it
ended up with upgrades and confusion and I'm not sure we're
all there even yet.
Lesson learned: sendmail now uses two .cf files.
two places to reverse engineer when somebody mucks with them :-)
Sendmail update and submit.cf
& I don't like sendmail very much - not because
& just that .mc/.cf stuff.
More often than not, when I run into a
& sendmail issue, I find that somebody has added stuff to .cf manually,
& which means I can't use the .mc to add things without breaking
I infer you are a consultant called in when someone has screwed up their
system (at least some of the time). Because otherwise, you would either
know what is in the .cf file and why it is there, or you would have put
all your changes into the .mc file file in the first place. Other than
the simplicity (relatively speaking) of the .mc file, I find it handy
because a new release can change the .cf file in ways I do not
understand and I have to rethink everything. But the stuff I put in my
.mc file is a relatively minor change from the default one. So when I
install a new version of sendmail, I can be pretty sure that making a
new .cf file from the .mc one will get me pretty much what I need. Of
course, I do read the READMEs and stuff first (at least skim them).
& And of course .mc files are only a little bit more comprehensible
& than raw .cf files to start with.
Actually, in some ways they are
& LESS comprehensible: when someone has manually modified .cf, getting
.mc to produce the desired output by reverse engineering is at least
& annoying.
The nearest I got to modifying a .cf file was when I was sending stuff
(smart host) to my ISP's MTA (also sendmail, it happens). Well I have two
machines on a LAN, and I did not want to bother sending up to my ISP and
back, so I wanted some rules to notice when sending to my other machine and
go direct through the LAN. Nowdays, there may be better ways to do this, but
I found I could just stick:
dnl Allow hosts on LAN to skip smart host. (4.3.3.7)
LOCAL_NET_CONFIG
R$* & @ $* .$m. & $*
$#smtp $@ $2.$m $: $1 & @ $2.$m & $3
into the .mc file to get the sendmail.cf to say this:
# figure out what should stay in our local mail system
R$* & @ $* .$m. & $*
$#smtp $@ $2.$m $: $1 & @ $2.$m & $3
With tricks like that, I no longer have had to diddle the .cf file directly,
though my needs are modest. (BTW, I no longer need smart host, so I guess I
could take this out.)
Jean-David Beyer
Sendmail update and submit.cf
& I'm still having trouble with that guys files.
I got submit.mc
& to make a submit.cf now that works OK as long as the queue files are 777.
& Setgid is correct on the sendmail binary, group ownerships etc on the
& queues were correct, but it just is not working.
Obviously I'm
& missing something (not that I've had time to read everything carefully
& yet of course).
There's really no need to change the default submit.{mc|cf} since it's only
used when operating sendmail in a non-daemon mode from the localhost.
If the customer's previous sendmail.cf file was from an 8.12.x then you
don't even need to rebuild that. Just verify permissions on the installation
as follows.
sendmail must be a set-group-ID (default group: smmsp, recommended
gid: 25) program to allow for queueing mail in a group-writable
directory.
Two .cf files are required:
sendmail.cf for the daemon
and submit.cf for the submission program.
The following permissions
should be used:
-r-xr-sr-x
... /PATH/TO/sendmail
drwxrwx---
... /var/spool/clientmqueue
drwx------
... /var/spool/mqueue
-r--r--r--
... /etc/mail/sendmail.cf
-r--r--r--
... /etc/mail/submit.cf
Then start the daemon with a command such as:
/usr/sbin/sendmail -L sm-mta -bd -q15m
in the init script for a 15-minute queue flush daemon.
sendmail, how to get it going
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc
Date: Sun, 23 Mar :48 GMT
I can see 45 mails in my local sendmail queue. All with error
host map: lookup (): deferred)
But when I do 'dig ' I get the result instantly.
can I tell sendmail to try again?
The closest command I found in man page is 'sendmail -q'. but that
doesn't seems to be working… please help.
sendmail, how to get it going
Sendmail will retry at intervals automatically. There may be a problem
actually reaching the host though. Trying host -t MX
Try telnet vgw. 25… can you connect? If you can't, mail
won't go. Also try the other one.
By the way, if you haven't dedicated yourself to sendmail yet maybe
consider postfix as an alternative. I find it much easier to configure,
and it doesn't have a major root vulnerability discovered every year. (In
fact, it has an excellent security track record). If you have an old
sendmail install, you're waiting to be rooted.
Jem Berkes
sendmail, how to get it going
& But when I do 'dig ' I get the result instantly.
& can I tell sendmail to try again?
Does your system support IPv6?
sendmail -bt -d0.13 &/dev/null | grep NETINET6
If it does, look for WorkAroundBrokenAAAA in
doc/op/op.* and cf/README.
Claus ABmann
sendmail, how to get it going
& I disabled the IPv6 on my system. But the sendmail can support it:
& Do I still need that work around?
& & If it does, look for WorkAroundBrokenAAAA in
& & doc/op/op.* and cf/README.
& Is it available somewhere on the web? I looked into the rpm that
& comes with RH8 -- doesn't have it.
Claus ABmann
sendmail, how to get it going
& The closest command I found in man page is 'sendmail -q'. but that
& doesn't seems to be working... please help.
What is reported when you "push" the messages in verbose mode with DNS
tracking turned on ?
sendmail -Am -v -d8.20 -
Andrzej Filip
sendmail, how to get it going
& & What is reported when you "push" the messages in verbose mode with
& & DNS tracking turned on ?
& % sendmail -Am -v -d8.20 -
& Running /var/spool/mqueue/h2P1mQV4009198 (sequence 1 of 1)
& dns_, trymx=1)
& dns_getcanonname: . (AAAA)
NO: errno=0, h_errno=4
& dns_getcanonname: . (A)
& dns_getcanonname:
& dns_, trymx=1)
& dns_getcanonname: . (AAAA)
NO: errno=110, h_errno=2
& : Name server timeout
& &...@&... Transient parse error -- message queued for
& future delivery
& What does the above mean (my from is set to yahoo)?
By default sendmail checks domain names in envelope ("MAIL FROM:",
"RCPTO TO:") and headers in DNS. Sendmail tries to get AAAA records
(IPv6) too. Some broken DNS servers give bad and missleading answers to
queries about AAAA records.
Add WorkAroundBrokenAAAA to ResolverOptions in sendmail.cf.
The problem has been discussed a few times in news:comp.mail.sendmail -
search the group archive
Searching old postings.
&quote file="RELEASE_NOTES"&
New ResolverOptions setting: WorkAroundBrokenAAAA.
When attempting to
canonify a hostname, some broken nameservers will return SERVFAIL (a
temporary failure) on T_AAAA (IPv6) lookups.
If you want to excuse
this behavior, use this new flag.
Suggested by Chris Foote of SE
Network Access and Mark Roth of the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.
sendmail, how to get it going
The ResolverOptions (I) option allows you to tweak name server options. The
command line takes a series of flags as documented in resolver(3) (with the
leading RES_ deleted). Each can be preceded by an optional + or - . For
example, the line
O ResolverOptions=+AAONLY -DNSRCH
turns on the AAONLY (accept authoritative answers only) and turns off the
DNSRCH (search the domain path) options. Most resolver libraries default
DNSRCH, DEFNAMES, and RECURSE flags on and all others off. If NETINET6 is
enabled, most libraries default to USE_INET6 as well. You can also include
HasWildcardMX to specify that there is a wildcard MX record matching your
this turns off MX matching when canonifying names, which can lead to
inappropriate canonifications. Use WorkAroundBrokenAAAA when faced with a
broken nameserver that returns SERVFAIL (a temporary failure) on T_AAAA
(IPv6) lookups during hostname canonification. Notice: it might be necessary
to apply the same (or similar) options to submit.cf too.
ResolverOptions=options
Set resolver options. Values can be set using `flag an
the flags can be debug , aaonly , usevc , primary , igntc , recurse ,
defnames , stayopen , use_inet6 , or dnsrch . The string HasWildcardMX
(without a ` or ) can be specified to turn off matching against MX records
when doing name canonifications. The string WorkAroundBrokenAAAA (without a
+ or -) can be specified to work around some broken nameservers which return
SERVFAIL (a temporary failure) on T_AAAA (IPv6) lookups. Notice: it might be
necessary to apply the same (or similar) options to submit.cf too.
sendmail, how to get it going
% sendmail -Am -v -d8.20 -
_res.options = 12c3, HasWildcardMX = 0
Running /var/spool/mqueue/h2P2UkV4009517 (sequence 1 of 1)
dns_, trymx=1)
dns_getcanonname: . (AAAA)
NO: errno=0, h_errno=4
dns_getcanonname: . (A)
dns_getcanonname:
dns_getcanonname(, trymx=1)
dns_getcanonname: trying . (AAAA)
NO: errno=110, h_errno=2
dns_getcanonname: trying . (A)
dns_getcanonname:
getmxrr(., droplocalhost=1)
&...@&... Connecting to vgw.. via esmtp...
220 ESMTP ready [64.231.230.149/unknown]
&&& EHLO localhost.localdomain
250-AUTH=LOGIN PLAIN
250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
250-PIPELINING
250 8BITMIME
&&& MAIL From:&suntong...
sendmail in RH8.0 access denied
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.questions,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.redhat
Date: Mon, 24 Mar :23 -0700
&&& MAIL From:&jhaefner@bnr233.bnr.usu.edu&
& 550 5.0.0 Access denied
& /home/jhaefner/dead.letter... Saved message in /home/jhaefner/dead.letter
& Closing connection to [127.0.0.1]
& 221 2.0.0
closing connection
& Any ideas where the "Access denied" is coming from?
edit /etc/mail/sendmail.mc
comment out the line that reads:
DAEMON_OPTIONS(`Port=smtp,Addr=127.0.0.1, Name=MTA')
"m4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc & /etc/sendmail.cf"
Do this as root.
sendmail in RH8.0 access denied
Make sure these two lines are in your sendmail.cf
O DaemonPortOptions=Port=smtp,Addr=127.0.0.1, Name=MTA
O DaemonPortOptions=Port=smtp,Addr=&yourIP&, NAME=MTA
This will allow localhost delivery and the IP of the NIC card receiving
connections.
Once you update this in sendmail.cf run
/etc/init.d/sendmail restart
"Connection Refused" on real IP, not on 127.0.0.1?
Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail
22:18:00 PST
I'm trying to figure out how to set up sendmail to be a simple (Redhat 7.1
Linux) mailserver for my home network (192.168.0.x), with the mailserver
machine also being the firewall.
When I log into the mailserver machine, I can connection to the port 25 via
"telnet localhost smtp" just fine, BUT anything else, such as "telnet
public_ip smtp", where public_ip is the public IP address of the machine,
always gets me a connection refused.
A "netstat -tl" gets me:
Active Internet connections (only servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address
Foreign Address
You have new mail in /var/spool/mail/gerald
which suggests to me that something is listening, but somehow on only one IP
address. What is the matter here? I'd appreciate it very much if someone can
point me in the right direction.
I should probably make mention of the fact that I don't think it's my
firewall, as even if I disable the firewall and allow everything through, I
still get connection refused when trying to connect to the machine with
anything other than "telnet localhost smtp". Sendmail just seems to be not
listening on any other IP address. Can this be possible?
I would very much appreciate any help that anyone can give.
"Connection Refused" on real IP, not on 127.0.0.1?
&"telnet localhost smtp" just fine, BUT anything else, such as "telnet
&public_ip smtp", where public_ip is the public IP address of the machine,
&always gets me a connection refused.
Neil W Rickert
Faq4.22 — Why can't I receive external mail?
Date: December 4, 2002
Several vendors have changed the way that sendmail is run. They
decided that most people need a client-only version of sendmail. So it
is listening only on the localhost interface. Check the system
documentation on how to change your .mc file. Here is a partial table
of where some vendors ship their sendmail configuration hierarchy:
sendmail distribution
/usr/lib/mail
Red Hat 6.2
/usr/lib/sendmail-cf
/usr/share/sendmail-cf
Slackware 7.1
/usr/src/sendmail/cf
But you should check for yourself on your own system. When in doubt,
do a find for "proto.m4", then go up the tree one level. When you find
the .mc file, look for the string "DAEMON_OPTIONS" and for the comment
lines near that string.
See also 5.3.1.3 for discussion about this problem as it relates
specifically to Red Hat 7.1 and later.
Faq5.3.1.3, Why can't I receive mail with Red Hat 7.1 and later?
Date: May 3, 2001
Updated: June 11, 2001
Updated: December 4, 2002
Red Hat, like some other vendors, changed the way that sendmail is
run. (See 4.22 for a more general discussion of this problem.) They
decided that most people need a client-only version of sendmail. So it
is listening only on the localhost interface. Check the RH
documentation on how to change that:
Make sure that you have installed the "sendmail-cf" package on your
system — it should be on your install media.
Then check the file "sendmail.mc" (probably in "/etc/mail"). Look for
the string "DAEMON_OPTIONS" and for the comment lines near that
Also note that Red Hat 7.1 and later build sendmail with tcpwrapper
support, and provide a hosts.deny file that rejects all external mail.
The sendmail:ALL addition to hosts.allow fixes this.
Note on the "sendmail-cf" package
endmail-cf - The files needed to reconfigure Sendmail.
Without it:
% m4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc & /etc/mail/sendmail.cf
/etc/mail/sendmail.mc:10: m4: Cannot open /usr/share/sendmail-cf/m4/cf.m4: No such file or directory
documented on:
Configure and step by step check
edit /etc/mail/sendmail.cf
comment out the DaemonPortOptions line as:
#O DaemonPortOptions=Port=smtp,Addr=127.0.0.1, Name=MTA
service sendmail restart
Connection test
telnet localhost smtp
telnet my_public_ip smtp
In a remote system,
telnet my_public_ip smtp
Mail transfer DNS test
The most important step is to ensure the Mail transfer services is properly
defined in your domain's DNS.
dig my_public_ip MX
documented on:
DNS setting for a single box to receive email
Newsgroups:
comp.mail.misc
Wed, 25 Feb :26 +0000 (UTC)
& Do I need to setup the DNS MX record in order to receive email?
In your case, no.
& Seems to me the DNS MX record is to refer to some other machines. I
& just have a single RedHat Linux box, there is no other mail
& servers I can refer to. When I set the DNS MX record to my own dns
& name, I get "mail loops back" error:
DNS setting for a single box to receive email
& Do I need to setup the DNS MX record in order to receive email?
& Seems to me the DNS MX record is to refer to some other machines. I
& just have a single RedHat Linux box, there is no other mail
& servers I can refer to. When I set the DNS MX record to my own dns
& name, I get "mail loops back" error
You should have an MX record, but you can kludge by with an A record.
Regardless, you must configure your server to recognize its local domains,
otherwise it will just go on looking for somewhere else to forward its mail.
DNS setting for a single box to receive email
& Oh, thanks, that solved the mystery problem. This is the first
& time that I use
to give my Linux a permanent DNS name.
& Previously I set my host name to an arbitrary name. Now it's
& working fine.
& Do my permanent DNS name and the host name I give to my box have
& to agree on each other, in order to get the email?
Yes, set my host name and get the same error as before again.
DNS setting for a single box to receive email
& I fixed my DNS MX problem, and renamed my box to the FQDN solved
& the problem.
& However, new problem occurs. My httpd won't start:
& -------------------
& [Fri Feb 27 09:06:06 2004] [alert] (22002)Name or service not known: mod_unique_id: unable to find IPv4 address of "myip.myhost.net"
& Configuration Failed!
& -------------------
& And as the aftermath, the squid won't start either.
& Why don't I get the same error when using an arbitrary name
& for my box? What is the real difference?
Oh, I changed host name via redhat-config-network, which apparently
does not do all the necessary jobs.
The hostname in /etc/hosts was left unchanged by redhat-config-network.
remove internal info from header
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc
Date: Wed, 26 Feb :55 -0800
& I have setup a smtp server to push outbound mail to our external relay.
& I need to have all internal info removed from the headers.
& Presently it is showing internal client name and ip.
& How do i remove this?
& Using sendmail 8.11
& Received: from bm2.nasc.inter.net ([10.0.0.204])
& by app6.nasc.inter.net with esmtp (Exim 3.34 #1)
& id 18o5ej-0007gH-00
& for test@recipient. Wed, 26 Feb :45 -0500
with your excerpt above, you can understand the value of each of the several
macros in use and choose your modified structure.
In 8.12.6 for instance, the structure is:
[$?sfrom $s $.$?_($?s$|from $.$_)
$.$?{auth_type}(authenticated)
$.by $j ($v/$Z)$?r with $r$. id $i$?u
for $u; $|; $.$b]
To make a long story short, you can hide the internals with a line in your
*.mc file such as:
define(`confRECEIVED_HEADER', `internal info suppressed')dnl
but you would not want to use this on your MX machine of record to the
outside world. Understand please that removing such information may make it
difficult for you to debug internal problems later, and is an example of
"security by obscurity" which simply doesn't work.
New sendmail
To: Discussion of the Fedora Legacy Project
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006
& *** ERROR: FEATURE() should be before MAILER()
& *** ERROR: FEATURE() should be before MAILER()
& *** ERROR: FEATURE() should be before MAILER()
Yeah, I got that on a bunch of machines.
Just updated my sendmail.mc
to move the FEATURE macros up above the MAILER macros, as it suggests.
Michal Jaegermann
New sendmail
& & Yeah, I got that on a bunch of machines.
Just updated my sendmail.mc
& & to move the FEATURE macros up above the MAILER macros, as it suggests.
& Checking my FEATURE macros in the sendmail.mc, all of them are above the
& MAILER macros ie. the MAILER macros are the last two lines of the file.
Anytime I saw this error/warning, it was because I really did
have FEATURE after MAILER…
Used to be okay I guess, and now it isn't.
& No sure why it produced those errors.
Only reason I can think of it is was processing some other file than
the one you are refering to…
Eric Rostetter
Help with Debian Sendmail
I have problem with configuring sendmail 8.13.4-1 on debian woody. When I run " sendmailconfig " and after configuration, it gives with the following error
sendmail.cf sendmail.cf.errors
server:/etc/mail# less sendmail.cf.errors
*** ERROR: FEATURE() should be before MAILER()
*** ERROR: FEATURE() should be before MAILER()
*** ERROR: FEATURE() should be before MAILER()
*** FEATURE(smrsh) must occur before MAILER(local)
*** ERROR: MAILER(local) already included
*** ERROR: MAILER(smtp) already included
I do not know why. I would appreciate for any help or tips to read sendmail
configure from scratch in debian.
04-21-2005
Help with Debian Sendmail
This is a common problem with the Debian package of Sendmail, the error
results from a badly formed sendmail.cf file generated by Debian's
sendmailconfig script.
In sendmail's configuration files, a requirement is that local mailer
programs such as procmail must be specified last after rulesets such as
masquarading and so on.
I'm quite sure that Debian is aware of it. I don't see how they could miss
something like that. However, it seems they have not fixed it as of
yet. This is very odd because it is a long standing problem - over 1
year. Debian normally fixes such things quickly.
The best thing to do is either one of three things:
Complain to the Debian maintainer to fix it.
Rewrite the sendmailconfig script to fix this problem.
Install your own version of sendmail.
I chose 3 because I have a custom sendmail setup for one of the ISPs I do
work for. You really dont even have to recompile sendmail - just replace the
sendmail.cf file with one that is properly formatted.
If you are familiar with sendmail and m4, this isn't a big deal, but if you
aren't it can be really scary.
If anyone needs help with this, just send me a note at via the board or to
tj at kewlness.net.
Good luck,
Help with Debian Sendmail
Just move the mailer definitions part in sendmail.mc after all FEATURE()
definitions will do. Eg:
$ diff -wu1 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc~ /etc/mail/sendmail.mc
--- /etc/mail/sendmail.mc~
18:02:25. +0200
+++ /etc/mail/sendmail.mc
18:24:36. +0200
@@ -95,7 +95,2 @@
-dnl # Default Mailer setup
-MAILER_DEFINITIONS
-MAILER(`local')dnl
-MAILER(`smtp')dnl
dnl # Masquerading options
@@ -105,2 +100,7 @@
FEATURE(`masquerade_envelope')dnl
+dnl # Default Mailer setup
+MAILER_DEFINITIONS
+MAILER(`local')dnl
+MAILER(`smtp')dnl
include(`/etc/mail/tls/starttls.m4')dnl
documented on:
cmd:Sendmail Configuration
This message is obsolete.
for authwarnings, do not disable it, since there is a better way doing it
for hiding local info, the attempt failed.
*References*: confRECEIVED_HEADER
Web Resource
Sendmail Installation and Operation Guide
Version 8.70, For Sendmail Version 8.7
sendmail.org
maintained by the Sendmail Consortium
/etc/sendmail.cf
Configuration Change
PrivacyOptions
O PrivacyOptions=authwarnings
O PrivacyOptions=noexpn,novrfy,noreceipts,needmailhelo
Configuration Help
O — Set Option
PrivacyOptions=opt,opt,…
[p] Set the privacy options. ``Privacy''
these are just a way of insisting on stricter adherence to the SMTP
protocol. The options can be selected from:
public Allow open access
needmailhelo Insist on HELO or EHLO command before MAIL
needexpnhelo Insist on HELO or EHLO command before EXPN
noexpn Disallow EXPN entirely
needvrfyhelo Insist on HELO or EHLO command before VRFY
novrfy Disallow VRFY entirely
restrictmailq Restrict mailq command
restrictqrun Restrict -q command line flag
noreceipts Don't return success DSNs
goaway Disallow essentially all SMTP status queries
authwarnings Put X-Authentication-Warning: headers in messages
The goaway pseudo-flag sets all flags except restrictmailq and
restrictqrun. If mailq is restricted, only people in the same group as
the queue directory can print the queue. If queue runs are restricted,
only root and the owner of the queue directory can run the
queue. Authentication Warnings add warnings about various conditions
that may indicate attempts to spoof the mail system, such as using an
non-standard queue directory.
PostmasterCopy=postmaster
[P] If set, copies of error messages will be sent to the named
postmaster. Only the header of the failed message is sent. Since most
errors are user problems, this is probably not a good idea on large
sites, and arguably contains all sorts of privacy violations, but it
seems to be popular with certain operating systems vendors. Defaults to
no postmaster copies.}