Re: tlug: Quest for e-mail

[Dave Gutteridge <dave@example.com>]

I'm half way through the NAG section on mail and mail servers - i'm either
getting smarter or more confused, and i won't know 'till i'm done.
But in the meantime, i thought i would continue with my specific situation
here so that i won't miss any advice that really hits home.

>OK, I gather that you have a single box with multiple domain
>registrations?  It only has one Internet connection, right?

Yes. It is connected via ethernet cable and TCPIP to a local area network
at an office. The office has a full time internet connection.

>Where your statement and reality part company

... I live my life like this.

>is that the mail server
>cannot control the name(s) that the Internet uses for your box.  This
>is done by a nameserver which could be on your box, but only with the
>cooperation of your ISP.  Much more likely, the relevant nameserver is 
>controlled by your ISP.

The nameserver, if i have this right, is in the office on another machine.
I think it's some kind FreeBSD system handling it. When i set up my web
pages, I had to get the sys admin to give me permission to access that
other machine to alter some config files so that my machine and it's .com
addresses would be located... well, you guys know better than i do what i
was doing.

>Here's what ns.rainbow.co.jp has to say about the matter:

Gah! Sometimes it creeps me out how UNIX people just go and get information
from anyone else's machine like that!

>  bash-2.01$ host -t any d-rave.com
>  d-rave.com              NS      WWW2.RAINBOW.CO.JP... etc...
>I don't see any reason why mail to an existing account or alias
>@example.com should fail.  Despite the inconsistencies in the rainbow
>DNS flagged above.
>There are two (easy) ways to create an address at a mail server.  One
>is to create a user account.  The other is to put an alias in
>/etc/aliases.  (You may need to run a program to convert that into a
>form that sendmail can use.)

Okay, most of what you said, i have to admit went way over my head. But
this last part i could grasp. So i created an account in my name, called
(cleverly) "test" and then sent a test e-mail from my work address to
"test@example.com". Then i telnetted (is that a word?) into my machine,
logged into the dave account, used pine to check the mail for that account,
and, there it was.
At this point you can imagine me staring slack jawed at my computer and
then hitting my forehead with the palm of my hand and going "Wow!". A mix
of excitement at the fact that it's already there, humility for the fact
that it took me this long to clue in, and bewilderment at all the
implications and future questions

>From here:
The journey is just beginning, of course. I've got this whole NAG to go
through plus many texts pointed out to me by Stephen and others.
But there are two issues i would like to bee-line to, so please bear with
me a little more to help me zero in on them with haste.

First, Stephen said a lot of stuff which makes it clear that my system is
unstable and insecure.
For instance:
>BTW: bash-2.01$ host -t any linuxserver.rainbow.co.jp
>linuxserver.rainbow.co.jp does not exist (Authoritative answer)
>Trying to send mail from this machine may occasionally get you
>nowhere, if the other host is paranoid.
And:
>No, I think you're probably fine.  Your main issues are going to be
>with the ISP though, making sure all your A and MX records are
>straight.
 
My A and MX records? And how do i get the paranoid machines to talk to me?

And last, but not least:
The Linux server is in another building from me, as is the mail server that
does my usual mail for my "dave@example.com" address. When i want to
access my "rainbow.co.jp" address, i use Eudora here on the machine in
front of me. To access it, i typed in my e-mail address into the POP and
SMTP fields in the set up dialogs.
You can guess where i'm going with this, right? I tried putting in
"test@example.com" to see what happens, and i got this error:
ERR DPOP Offline: (Expired key)
If i'm not breaking with reality again, this is because there is no POP
server set on the machine. This is something i have to install, right?


	________________________________
	
	Dave Gutteridge
	3D Computer Animation Specialist
	e-mail: dave@example.com
	http://www.d-rave.com
	________________________________
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