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Re: Mail server for linux
Yesterday, Peter L. Peres blurbed:
> >> - A small network is formed (off the internet). It takes a name that is
> >> not registered and IPs from the non-network ranges.
> >
> >in other words: the sysadmin is an idiot who doesn't plan ahead.
>
> Thank you. What should he plan ahead:
> a) the expense for a fixed IP network
what's an expense here? you use a private IP range that has been
reserved by IANA for that reason, and user Masquarading if more than one
machine needs to use the dame dialup link.
> b) the expense for a registered domain
use here.org or whatever for the local DNS, but mail injection doesn't
have to follow it. you ASSUME mail must carry the same default domain as
the computer, and the MTA has to clean up the mess, and that's an ugly
kludge.
now what's so expensive about buying a domain these days? it's important
to reserve your Intelectual propperty, catch a domain name before
someone steals it from you. $60 for two years with ISOC...
> In fact, it IS planned ahead and works quite well. This is the way to
> connect 4-5 people who have ISPs of their own through a private network to
> the Internet, so each has his functionality. Only outgoing mail is always
> going through a certain ISP (but not necessarily - per-sender or
> per-recipinet smart host choice is possible. hehehe).
so do you have a masq installed or is it every penguin to himself? if
every guy is linked both on Ethernet and have their own call-out line,
it WILL get messier, but not too bad if you are a really bored sysadmin
with spare time.
> >>> - People who send email have user@host at these hosts. They need to appear
> >> as user2@their_isp in any SMTP transaction (outgoing).
> >
> >set anything you want as the return address, most MUAs will allow for
> >it, those who relay out by SMTP at least (like Netscape messanger)
>
> You don't understand. user@here is a name that is not registered as far as
> the Internet is concerned. Look at my header. If you send email to
I know, and that is why you need to set netscape's return address to the
actcom one, not leave it with @here.
> plp@plp.plp.home.org it will bounce back into your face. This is what the
> MUA puts in the 'From' field (f.ex. piped mail: '| mail...'). It needs to
that's not SMTP relaying, that's local injection. Qmail-inject has a
wrapper which BSD mail (aka mailx) uses, installed at /usr/lib/sendmail,
and it excepts alternate username and domainname from the shell
environment to enter as the return address (From: header as well as
envelope!). like I said, it's all simple to set up, and it's all in
Qmail's man pages.
> be rewritten and/or fixed with a Reply-To:. Also hosts on the small net
> don't know anything about this, they use the mail hub as smart host, and
> he does all this.
Qmail won't, it expects to recieve clean, usable messages ready to
relay, and I see no reason why it shouldn't.
> >> - It is nice if the hack that passes these throughthe local MTA is made
> >> to disappear from the header, not last, to remove the appetite for hacking
> >> specified applications which announce themselves, later.
> >
> >I'm not sure I followed about the annoncing and hacking thing.
>
> Ex: fetchmail proudly announces its version number in retrieved mail. This
> is nice, but suppose someone finds a hole in fetchmail X.Y.XX. Guess how
> you find out if he has bad intentions. Also the ISP may have something
> against a POP account being er, shared (ok, I don't do this, just
> suppose). The fetchmail header (who even says if he is in
> multiple-delivery mode !!) provides annoying evidence imho. esr has
> thought about that, hence the 'set invisible' ;)
I'm against products that stamp a version in the headers. sendmail does
it too, it's stupid. I just avoid those products, and not solve patched
botches with more kludges. you have it your way, I like it clean.
> >like I said, depending on the MUA. SMTP is easiest to fix, with pine it
> >takes some environment settings (see the man pages of Qmail-inject)
>
> What has the MUA got to do with it ? I have scripts and progs sending me
> email once in a while (news, '| mail root' etc). I can't change every
> utility in the system. I can set up the MTA to do that for me.
then stick to your old methods. I don't find header rewriting sensible,
I'm very sorry. there are certain things that are MUA domain, and others
that belong in the MTA, fixing MUA laziness in the MTA is for me like
having your GUI tied so close to your OS and kernel till it lets some
drivers and apps run in ring 0, and screw up the system. this sort of
snafu is accepted in Redmond, not by me.
> Ok, now one for gurus:
>
> How can I hack inetd to add an option: listen-on [host|ip.addr.3.4] to
> inetd.conf. Suggestions ? I know about the sockets etc but I want some
> input.
you mean answer different incoming sessions with different daemons? dump
inetd and look up xinetd. it will let you do it by remote IP address,
local IP address (if using aliasing) or even by time of day.
if it's just for one specific service and not the whole set, check out
Dan Bernstein's tcpserve, on the Qmail mirror near you.