tlug: [tlug-advocacy:56] Oh, and by the way....(I need help on these 2 things)

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

Redirected to the main list, this _is_ a technical question.  I will
not respond to this thread any further on -advocacy.

I'm kinda at a loss how to write this post; I don't want to be
condescending, but as far as I can tell we don't share _any_ context,
so the questions are going to be kind of, well, "me guru, you newbie,
let's try this in words of one syllable".

Sorry....  At least I can tell you where to start.

>>>>> "Dave" == Dave Gutteridge <dave@example.com> writes:

    Dave> By the way, before I had posted looking for help on getting
    Dave> my Linux server set up with a mail server, and also some
    Dave> kind of firewall/security on it.

    Dave> If someone can advise me as to where to go so i may learn to
    Dave> get these things going, i would be much obliged.

The basic information is in the Red Hat printed manual (getting a
little big for bedtime reading these days, although it will still put
you to sleep) and in the Linux HOWTOs.

I'm not familiar with the Red Hat documentation setup.  There should
be a directory /usr/doc/HOWTO containing about 50 (maybe more these
days) files named ...-HOWTO or ...-HOWTO.gz.  Read them with "zless"
(it works on both gzip-compressed files and uncompressed files).  If
the directory doesn't exist, install the HOWTO package or the LDP
(Linux Documentation Project) package using RPM.  There may also be a
Web interface or at least HTML versions of the documents.

There are several HOWTOs for mail and at least a couple for
firewalls.  This is the place to start.  HOWTOs are pretty practical,
"do steps 1, 2, 3, in that order" and not theoretical.

>>>>> "Dave" == Dave Gutteridge <dave@example.com> again:

    Dave> I'm almost 100% sure that my Red Hat 5.1 machine has a mail
    Dave> server in it, and that i did select it when i installed. But
    Dave> beyond that, I've been a little mystified as to where to
    Dave> look and how to get it running. It's lurking around in
    Dave> there, but i don't know how to get at it.

In a standard system it will be set up to run automatically at boot
time.  To find out what's running, use the `ps' command, probably in
the form `ps ax | less'.  (`ps aux' probably isn't any more help.  See
`man ps' for what that means if you don't already know.)  If it's not
running (look for something `...mail', probably `sendmail', or maybe
`smptd'), it may be set up to run from inetd.  Read the file
/etc/inetd.conf.  Text beginning with `#' is a comment; this is often
used to disable a service but leave a placemarker in the configuration
file.

But what do you want it to _do_?  What do you think a "mail server" is
for?  Or firewalls/security, for that matter?  This isn't clear yet.

What most of us are probably thinking is "mail server" == mail
transport agent (MTA) == the `sendmail' program (pretty sure about
that on Red Hat).  But normally there's no reason for you or any other
human to talk to sendmail directly.  Mail user agents (like Pine on
Linux or Eudora on Windows) do that for you, and MTAs on other
machines relay mail to the sendmail on your machine on behalf of your
correspondents.  It's totally automatic.  So we're a bit confused
about why you want to "get at it".  Do you mean "configure it"?

Tell us

1.  Where you want to get mail from
2.  Where you want to send it to
3.  How you think it's supposed to get there
4.  Where the world thinks your mailbox is now
5.  Where you want it to be, if different
6.  Where you want folders saved

and what the role of the "mail server" is in all this.

And where is this Linux server of yours?  Why are you accessing it by
telnet, and not sitting in front of it?  Not to be nosy, but I'm still 
looking for context....

-- 
University of Tsukuba                Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences       Tel/fax: +81 (298) 53-5091
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
What are those two straight lines for?  "Free software rules."
----------------------------------------------------------------
Next Nomikai: 20 November, 19:30   Tengu TokyoEkiMae 03-3275-3691
Next Technical Meeting: 12 December, 12:30 HSBC Securities Office
----------------------------------------------------------------
more info: http://tlug.linux.or.jp Sponsors: PHT, HSBC Securities