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by Mark Bixby, Commercial Systems Division
Previously available as unsupported freeware, Sendmail is
now available for MPE/iX 7.0 via patch SMLGDT8A as a fully supported
product which allows you to send and receive SMTP-based e-mail.
The initial A.01.00 release of Sendmail for MPE/iX is based on the
8.12.1 Internet open source version from sendmail.org.
System Requirements and Patches
Sendmail has the following prerequisites:
MPE/iX 7.0
HP highly recommends installing the latest NSTxxxxx network
transport patch.
Syslog/iX configured and running so that Sendmail can log warnings,
errors, and message traffic data. Syslog/iX is documented in the
Configuring and Managing MPE/iX Internet Services manual.
Your e3000 must be configured to use one or more DNS servers, and
must have the correct entries in the DNS database corresponding to
the configured hostname in :NMMGR. See "DNS Issues" below for
more detail.
Any network firewalls, routers, or switches that your e3000
communicates with must be configured to allow your e3000 to send and
receive packets on port 25 (SMTP) and port 53 (DNS). See
"Firewall Issues" below for more detail.
Support
Sendmail 8.12.1 for MPE/iX is supported through the HP Response
Center as part of MPE/iX FOS support.
Product Overview and Feature Set
The feature set of Sendmail for MPE/iX is quite extensive;
the following is only a partial list:
Send and receive SMTP-based e-mail from sessions and/or batch jobs
Deliver local e-mail to mailboxes, files, or programs
A vast selection of tunable performance parameters
Highly flexible and extremely powerful configuration language
Access control for accepting or rejecting incoming e-mail
Message header rewriting capabilities
Modular feature set allows you to configure exactly the
functionality you want; the following optional features have been
configured by default in this distribution:
access_db
domaintable
genericstable
mailertable
virtusertable
Open-source robustness and reliability
Compatibility with the HP-UX Sendmail file layout
DNS Issues
The number one cause of Sendmail installation problems is
due to improper system naming and/or a lack of DNS entries describing
your e3000. Please verify the following before you attempt to run
Sendmail for the first time:
/bin/uname -n should report your e3000 hostname as a single
token, i.e. "JAZZ" instead of "JAZZ.EXTERNAL.HP.COM". If you
do not see a single token hostname, you must configure a proper
hostname by using :NMMGR.
/SYS/NET/RESLVCNF must contain a single "domain" statement
that defines the domain part of your e3000's fully qualified hostname.
For example, /bin/uname -n should display "JAZZ" and
/SYS/NET/RESLVCNF should contain a "domain external.hp.com"
statement.
/SYS/NET/RESLVCNF must contain one or more "nameserver"
statements which specify one or more DNS server IP addresses that
your e3000 will be querying to resolve host names. It is not
necessary to run a DNS server such as BIND on your e3000 itself.
Your e3000 must be defined within the DNS nameserver databases as
having a valid "A" record that maps the e3000's hostname to an IP
address.
Your e3000 must be defined within the DNS nameserver databases as
having a valid "PTR" record that maps the e3000's IP address to a
hostname.
Sendmail for MPE/iX is distributed with a convenient script that you can run
to check all of the above DNS configuration issues and more:
:HELLO SERVER.SENDMAIL
:XEQ SH.HPBIN.SYS -L
shell/iX> /SENDMAIL/CURRENT/bin/dnscheck
The dnscheck script will instruct you how to fix any problems
that it detects. After making each fix, keep rerunning the script
until no more problems are found.
Firewall Issues
The number two cause of Sendmail installation problems is
due to a firewall or other network security device blocking your
e3000 from being able to send and receive packets on port 53 (DNS)
and port 25 (SMTP).
Sendmail uses port 53 (DNS) to resolve hostnames into IP addresses
and IP addresses into hostnames. Sendmail may do multiple DNS resolutions
for every e-mail message sent or received, and if a firewall is blocking
these DNS packets, Sendmail may experience long delays and/or generate
various error messages logged to syslog.
Sendmail may need to contact external DNS servers if you are
attempting to exchange e-mail with the Internet. Some intranet environments
may require you to reference a "forwarding DNS server" (which
can traverse your border firewall to talk to the Internet) via a
nameserver statement in /SYS/NET/RESLVCNF. Consult your local network
administrator for advice on how to choose a proper DNS server.
Port 25 (SMTP) is used to connect to remote mail servers to
deliver outgoing e-mail, and is also used on the e3000 to listen
for incoming e-mail. If a firewall is blocking outbound port 25
packets, Sendmail may experience long delays and generate various
error messages logged to syslog as well as bounce messages returned
to the e-mail originator. If a firewall is blocking inbound port
25 packets, Sendmail will not be able to receive any incoming e-mail,
and there will be no extra syslog messages.
Migration from SendMail 8.9.1
Many e3000 machines have been running the unsupported freeware version of
Sendmail 8.9.1 available from http://www.bixby.org/mark/sendmailix.html.
The following considerations apply if you are migrating from 8.9.1 to 8.12.1:
The 8.9.1 daemon
job stream file /SENDMAIL/PUB/JDAEMON is not modified by the 8.12.1 installation process, and
it is not compatible with the 8.12.1 distribution. You must use
/SENDMAIL/CURRENT/JDAEMON.sample as a template for manually creating an 8.12.1-compatible
/SENDMAIL/PUB/JDAEMON job stream file.
The 8.9.1 /SENDMAIL/PUB/SENDMAIL program file is renamed to
SENDMAIL.bak and replaced by a symbolic link that points to
the 8.12.1 /SENDMAIL/CURRENT/SENDMAIL program file. Any
existing applications that refer to /SENDMAIL/PUB/SENDMAIL
should continue to work properly without modification.
All 8.12.1 distribution files live in different HFS directories
than the 8.9.1 distribution files. Once you are satisfied that 8.12.1
is working properly, you should purge the old 8.9.1 files to conserve
disk space and avoid confusion.
All 8.12.1 configuration files reside in the /etc/mail directory
instead of the old 8.9.1 location of /SENDMAIL/PUB/etc. The
8.9.1 sendmail.cf file is not compatible with 8.12.1, and so you will
either have to use the default 8.12.1 /etc/mail/sendmail.cf
file or create your own customized configuration file from the 8.12.1
configuration macros in /SENDMAIL/CURRENT/cf/cf.
All 8.9.1 database maps including the aliases file should be
rebuilt using the 8.12.1 makemap or newaliases utilities.
Any undelivered messages still on the 8.9.1 queue will not be
delivered by 8.12.1 which now has two separate queues residing at
/var/spool/clientmqueue and /var/spool/mqueue instead of the previous
single 8.9.1 queue location /SENDMAIL/PUB/mqueue.
The implementation of local message submission has changed with
8.12.1. Previously with 8.9.1, the /SENDMAIL/PUB/SENDMAIL
program file would copy new messages from stdin directly into a queue
disk file. With 8.12.1, the SENDMAIL program file will copy new
messages from stdin and then contact the local e3000's port 25 to
queue the messages using standard SMTP protocol.
8.12.1 does not include the Majordomo mailing list software that
was bundled with 8.9.1.
For Further Information
Configuring & Managing MPE/iX Internet Services manual.
The HP CSY Sendmail web page of
http://jazz.external.hp.com/src/sendmail/.
The official Sendmail web site of http://www.sendmail.org/.
Information about unsupported freeware versions of Sendmail for
MPE/iX can be found at
http://www.bixby.org/mark/sendmailix.html.
Documentation files installed on your local machine with this
distribution:
/SENDMAIL/CURRENT/doc/op/op.ps - Sendmail Installation
and Operation Guide
/SENDMAIL/CURRENT/cf/README - Sendmail Configuration
Files
/SENDMAIL/CURRENT/man - directory tree containing man
page documentation, i.e.:
export MANPATH=/SENDMAIL/CURRENT/man:$MANPATH
man sendmail
The HP3000-L mailing list where you can talk with other users of
Sendmail on MPE/iX:
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