zonker@rimfaxe.diku.dk (Claus Engdahl) (04/09/90)
Hi. Just wanted to hear if we're the only site with this problem: When one of the machines containing our user-homedirectories is down, the mail system is unable to read the .forward file. In these cases the mail is dropped/delivered in a pretty random fashion. We have several machines running sendmail (V. 5.61++/IDA-1.2.8). The users homedirectories are spread over several machines (some of the users have acces to several machines, but the majority can acces only one). If a user isnt allowed acces to a machine, (s)he is given a special "no-login" shell. Under normal circumstances we dont have any problems: the users simply leave the address for their machine in the .forward file. If however the machine with their homedirectory is down, sendmail is unable to read their .forward, and simply drops the mail on a machine where the user has an entry in the passwd file. In a few cases mail has been dropped on a machine where the user couldn't read it. What we need is some sort of global (machine-independent) "forward- database". We're currently considering implementing such a database, using yp. Does such a system already exist (together with sendmail)? zonker@diku.dk My motto is: Honi soit qui pense ;-)
jaap@sequent.UUCP (Jaap Vermeulen) (04/09/90)
zonker@rimfaxe.diku.dk (Claus Engdahl) writes: >When one of the machines containing our user-homedirectories is down, >the mail system is unable to read the .forward file. In these cases >the mail is dropped/delivered in a pretty random fashion. My rule of thumb has always been to route mail to the machine that has the actual mailbox *and* user directories hard-mounted. To route mail to that machine you use the 'aliases' database. If the actual user is using a different machine as a 'home'-machine, just NFS-mount the mailbox of the 'home'-machine to the machine where the mail is actually delivered. In such a setup the 'aliases' database is the same for all machines you use. >If however the machine with their homedirectory is down, sendmail is >unable to read their .forward, and simply drops the mail on a machine >where the user has an entry in the passwd file. Since all mail first will be routed to the machine that is down, it will be queued and resent when the machine gets back up by the mail system itself. >What we need is some sort of global (machine-independent) "forward- >database". We're currently considering implementing such a database, >using yp. Obviously this is not what you're asking for, but I thought that it might be interesting. Of course this scheme has its drawbacks, and one of the worst is the NFS-mount of the maildrop since that will block you if your 'mail'-machine is down. Always try to soft-NFS-mount your maildrop with a short time-out. Hope this helps as an alternative, -Jaap- -- "Some call me Jaaper" +---------------------------+ | Sequent Computers Systems | Internet : sequent!jaap@uunet.uu.net | Beaverton, Oregon | Uucp : ...uunet!sequent!jaap +---------------------------+