Computing Services, Communication

BSD Sendmail Configuration

by Christian Hallqvist

The address concept for e-mail at ETH Zürich implies that all e-mail addresses are independent of host names und that e-mail is sent directly to the servers that supply the individual institutes or organsational units. This concept has a bearing on the way in which the servers should be configured. Preferably, all e-mail servers should run BSD sendmail.

Domains for e-mail are adminstered by the Section Communication. For details please contact the postmaster of ETH Zürich.

This document describes in brief the configuration file (sendmail.cf) for Berkeley Sendmail that is required on a mail server, a mail client or a mail slave. Our template configuration file and other relevamt documents, including precompiled versions, are available from ftp.ethz.ch. For details of the login name and password please contact the group Communication Protocols and Network Seccurity.

There are at most three important lines in the configuration file you have to look at if you want sendmail to work after a minimum effort.

These three lines begin with

Dj
DM
O AliasesFile=

Mail Server Configuration

If you set up a server you must set your mail domain name after Dj, since a mail server always needs a running mail daemon and must declare its mail domain name correctly.

Example:

Dj<a_email_domain_name>.ethz.ch
If your server is going to have clients (clients mount the mail partition area from the server) you don't have to do anything more to your configuration file on the mail server for now.

Mail Client Configuration

If you set up a mail client (the client mounts the spool/mail area from the server) you have to set your mail domain name after DM. A mail client does not necessarily need a running sendmail daemon, it must only be able to send e-mail.

Example:

DM<a_email_domain_name>.ethz.ch

Mail Slave Configuration

If you set up a slave (a slave receives email redirected from the mail server) you must set your mail domain name after DM.

Example:

DM<a_email_domain_name>.ethz.ch

Aliasing

If you use NIS+ set nis_plus:mail.aliases after O AliasesFile=.

Example:

O AliasesFile=nis_plus:mail.aliases

If you use NIS set nis:mail.aliases after O AliasesFile=.

Example:

O AliasesFile=nis:mail.aliases

latest change: 02-Dec-96, F. Hille, Communication