[TriLUG] Sendmail oddities

Jon Carnes jonc at nc.rr.com
Wed Mar 22 14:17:03 EST 2006


Not quite... but very close.

Installing Mailscanner changes the way that Sendmail works. It breaks up
the queuing so that incoming mail goes into a special queue run by
Mailscanner. Once Mailscanner scans it... or runs out of time to process
it... Mailscanner moves it into the queue for mail to be processed by
Sendmail.

If Mailscanner is foo-ed up then the incoming mail is going into the
hold queue and nothing is moving it to be processed by Sendmail.

You can open up the Sendmail config files and see the two queue
settings... and you can set it back to normal use fairly easily by not
splitting the incoming mail off to a queue (to be handled by a defunct
Mailscanner app).

Of course the best action here is to figure out why Mailscanner is
punting on startup and get it running. Even limping, Mailscanner will
simply pass the mail out of its queue and on to the Sendmail processing
queue.

Jon 

On Wed, 2006-03-22 at 14:06, mark at thefowles.com wrote:
> I may be wrong, but doesn't MailScanner once installed take the place of
> "sendmail" as far as control?
> 
> > Hi Gang,
> >    I think this is related to a buggered MailScanner install, but take a
> > look and let me know if it sounds like a good hunch:
> >
> > (FC3 server on relatively new hardware)
> >
> > - During init, MailScanner tries to start but fails due to
> > something-or-other.  Bad config, maybe; just haven't had time to futz
> > with it.
> > - Later in init, sendmail starts with an [ OK ] result.
> >
> > All seems well.  Furthermore:
> > from somewhere outside, telnet myserver.net 25 results in a normal
> > conversation with sendmail, from MAIL FROM:<...> through DATA ... all
> > the way to RSET and QUIT.  200-code success on every command.
> >
> > HOWEVER...
> > The message from said entirely normal conversation seems, by all
> > appearances, to be falling into the bit bucket--it does not end up in
> > the recipient's mailbox.  Yet:
> >
> > % service sendmail status
> > sendmail (pid blah blah blah) is running...
> >
> > % service dovecot status
> > dovecot (pid blah blah blah) is running...
> >
> > BUT:
> > when I go to the sendmail module of webmin on that server, the
> > start/stop button at the bottom is showing the START option, not the
> > STOP option, and once I click Start Sendmail in webmin, sendmail begins
> > actually functioning correctly.
> >
> > So:
> > - Why does sendmail indicate itself to be running to the service command
> > (and the init script), and carry out valid conversations on port 25, if
> > it's not really running [correctly]?
> > - Where do those messages go?
> > - And how come only webmin is alert enough to realize that sendmail is
> > in fact /not/ running [properly], and is able to correct it?  What does
> > it know that I don't? (obviously lots, but still...)
> >
> > Thanks a ton,
> > ~Brian
> >
> >
> > --
> > ----------------
> > Brian A. Henning
> > strutmasters.com
> > 336.597.2397x238
> > ----------------
> > --
> > TriLUG mailing list        : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> > TriLUG Organizational FAQ  : http://trilug.org/faq/
> > TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
> >
> > --
> > This message has been scanned for viruses and
> > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> > believed to be clean.
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> This message has been scanned for viruses and
> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> believed to be clean.




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