paul@984 | 1 | = Mail Transfer Agents = |
paul@984 | 2 | |
paul@984 | 3 | Although this documentation does not seek to cover the details of configuring |
paul@984 | 4 | mail transfer agent (MTA) software, some hints and tips are offered to help |
paul@984 | 5 | avoid frustration. |
paul@984 | 6 | |
paul@984 | 7 | == General == |
paul@984 | 8 | |
paul@984 | 9 | Some general measures are presented below. |
paul@984 | 10 | |
paul@984 | 11 | === Mailname === |
paul@984 | 12 | |
paul@984 | 13 | The contents of `/etc/mailname` should probably be the fully-qualified hostname, |
paul@984 | 14 | at least for Exim and Postfix. See |
paul@984 | 15 | [[https://wiki.debian.org/EtcMailName|the Debian Wiki page]] for more details. |
paul@984 | 16 | |
paul@984 | 17 | === Hostname === |
paul@984 | 18 | |
paul@984 | 19 | The `hostname` command should provide a suitable hostname on the system, or MTAs |
paul@984 | 20 | may behave strangely. This can be tested with the following command: |
paul@984 | 21 | |
paul@984 | 22 | {{{ |
paul@984 | 23 | hostname -f |
paul@984 | 24 | }}} |
paul@984 | 25 | |
paul@984 | 26 | It should report a fully-qualified hostname. |
paul@984 | 27 | |
paul@984 | 28 | === Interfaces === |
paul@984 | 29 | |
paul@984 | 30 | Some software attempts to listen on interfaces that may not be supported. For example, |
paul@984 | 31 | Exim may be configured to listen on both IPv4 and IPv6 interfaces, even in environments |
paul@984 | 32 | (such as User Mode Linux) where IPv6 interfaces may not be available. |
paul@984 | 33 | |
paul@984 | 34 | == Exim == |
paul@984 | 35 | |
paul@984 | 36 | On Debian, the following command can be run to adjust the configuration: |
paul@984 | 37 | |
paul@984 | 38 | {{{ |
paul@984 | 39 | dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config |
paul@984 | 40 | }}} |
paul@984 | 41 | |
paul@984 | 42 | The following questions are especially interesting: |
paul@984 | 43 | |
paul@984 | 44 | {{{{#!table |
paul@984 | 45 | '''Question''' || '''Remarks''' |
paul@984 | 46 | == |
paul@984 | 47 | IP-addresses to listen on for incoming SMTP connections |
paul@984 | 48 | || Remove IPv6 interfaces in User Mode Linux or other environments without |
paul@984 | 49 | .. IPv6 support or Exim will not bother listening on IPv4 interfaces either. |
paul@984 | 50 | == |
paul@984 | 51 | System mail name |
paul@984 | 52 | || State the fully-qualified hostname, not just the domain name, which is |
paul@984 | 53 | .. what the dialogue suggests is sufficient. For example: |
paul@984 | 54 | {{{ |
paul@984 | 55 | mailserver.example.com |
paul@984 | 56 | }}} |
paul@984 | 57 | == |
paul@984 | 58 | Other destinations for which mail is accepted |
paul@984 | 59 | || This is a colon-separated list that should indicate the local domain as |
paul@984 | 60 | .. well as the unqualified hostname. For example: |
paul@984 | 61 | {{{ |
paul@984 | 62 | mailserver:example.com |
paul@984 | 63 | }}} |
paul@984 | 64 | }}}} |