peter@sx.ac.uk (Allott P) (02/08/89)
suggest you send message to uk-sendmail-workers-request@hw.cs
tdt@grumpy.sarnoff.com (Tanya Treadwell x2061) (11/20/90)
I have a problem with one of my SUN workstations with sending mail out. The When sending out e-mail the user gets an error message Return to Sender and in the /var/adm/message file multiple error messages: Vague(machine_name) sendamil[5072]AA0507:SYSERR:net hang reading from grumpy(server):connection timed out. Also the processes on the server just continues to try to sendmail and it slows up the machine, so I have to kill those sendamil processes. I wonder if any one can help me this problem. It happens every time mail is sent out from that particular workstation. Your HELP in this matter will be GREATLY appreciated. Until then have a HAPPY THANKGIVING!!!!!! -Tanya
jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) (03/22/91)
Sendmail uses nameserver Mail eXchange (MX) records to deliver mail to sites that are not directly on the Internet (or that are on the Internet but have requested MX service). The nameserver protocol allows clients to ask nameservers for several different types of information. Two of those are address records and MX records. An address record contains an Internet address. When sendmail is delivering mail to a site that has an Internet address, it asks the name service for the host record and then connects to the address it gets back in order to deliver the mail. An MX record contains a preference and a name. The name is the name of a host to which mail should be sent; that host must have an address record registered. The preference is a number; the higher the number, the more the mailer is encouraged to use that MX record. This way, a host can have multiple MX records, some serving as backup, and the ones with the higher preference will get tried first. The way sendmail actually delivers mail is to *first* ask the name service for an MX record. If it gets one or more back, then the mail is delivered as the response indicates. This allows sites that are on the Internet but that do not accept mail to use the name service to get their mail sent somewhere else. Then, if the MX record query fails, it asks for an address record, and if it gets one back, it tries all of the addresses in the record (hosts can have multiple address records just as they can have multiple MX records, although address records do not have preferences) until it can connect to one. -- Jonathan Kamens USnail: MIT Project Athena 11 Ashford Terrace jik@Athena.MIT.EDU Allston, MA 02134 Office: 617-253-8085 Home: 617-782-0710
paul@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu (Paul Pomes - UofIllinois CSO) (03/22/91)
jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) writes: > An MX record contains a preference and a name. The name is the name of a >host to which mail should be sent; that host must have an address record >registered. The preference is a number; the higher the number, the more the >mailer is encouraged to use that MX record. This way, a host can have >multiple MX records, some serving as backup, and the ones with the higher >preference will get tried first. This is actually reversed. An MX value of 10 is preferred over a value of 50. The value of 0 is typically used for the host itself. Otherwise a very good explanation. /pbp -- Paul Pomes UUCP: {att,iuvax,uunet}!uiucuxc!paul Internet, BITNET: paul@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu US Mail: UofIllinois, CSO, 1304 W Springfield Ave, Urbana, IL 61801-2910
rbj@uunet.UU.NET (Root Boy Jim) (03/27/91)
In article <1991Mar21.201653.2820@athena.mit.edu> jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) writes... ...a very good explanation of MX recoreds. > The preference is a number; the higher the number, the more the >mailer is encouraged to use that MX record. Well, it's been five days, so I'll say it. The LOWER the number, the HIGHER the precedence. -- [rbj@uunet 1] stty sane unknown mode: sane
scott@coyote.trw.com (Scott Simpson) (03/30/91)
In article <1991Mar21.201653.2820@athena.mit.edu> jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) writes: > An MX record contains a preference and a name. The name is the name of a >host to which mail should be sent; that host must have an address record >registered. The preference is a number; the higher the number, the more the >mailer is encouraged to use that MX record. This way, a host can have Beeep. Wrong. The MX record with the *lowest* number gets tried first. An empty MX record list and an MX record with a preference of zero are treated the same. -- Scott Simpson TRW scott@coyote.trw.com