mail / mailx question

[Paul Allen Newell]

I am running an F14 system which is pretty much out-of-the-box except I 
have the machine hardcoded to 192.168.2.13 to keep my network happy.

I see all sorts of uses of 'mail [...] root@localhost' which work great 
when I look in /var/spool/mail/root. I have read the mail / mailx 
documentation and tried sending mail to both root and my local account 
and it works great. The man pages keep using examples like 
"[e-mail]", but when I try that with my email account 
([e-mail]), it fails (as in nothing happens and I sometimes get 
resend errors). I can ping whatever.edu successfully.

I am certain this is a stupid pilot error, but can't figure it out.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Paul

[Ed Greshko]

On 07/08/2011 01:34 PM, Paul Allen Newell wrote:
> I am running an F14 system which is pretty much out-of-the-box except I 
> have the machine hardcoded to 192.168.2.13 to keep my network happy.
>
> I see all sorts of uses of 'mail [...] root@localhost' which work great 
> when I look in /var/spool/mail/root. I have read the mail / mailx 
> documentation and tried sending mail to both root and my local account 
> and it works great. The man pages keep using examples like 
> "[e-mail]", but when I try that with my email account 
> ([e-mail]), it fails (as in nothing happens and I sometimes get 
> resend errors). I can ping whatever.edu successfully.
>
> I am certain this is a stupid pilot error, but can't figure it out.
>
> Any suggestions?

What is the MX record for whatever.edu?

host -t mx whatever.edu

[Genes MailLists]

On 07/08/2011 01:45 AM, Ed Greshko wrote:
> > and it works great. The man pages keep using examples like 
> > "[e-mail]", but when I try that with my email account 
> > ([e-mail]), it fails (as in nothing happens and I sometimes get 
> > resend errors). I can ping whatever.edu successfully.
> >
> > I am certain this is a stupid pilot error, but can't figure it out.
> >
> > Any suggestions?

Does your ISP permit you to send mail directly via  port 25? Many do not
these days - which means outgoing mail will need to be sent using your
ISP's mail sending agent.

I suggest before sending via command line tools - you use a GUI mail
client such as thunderbird - and set up a mail account on thunderbird
using the instructions from your ISP.

If you can get that to work - then you can worry about using the command
line mailx program and learn how to have it (or your local sendmail) use
your ISP for outgoing mail.

gene

[Ed Greshko]

On 07/08/2011 08:10 PM, Genes MailLists wrote:
> On 07/08/2011 01:45 AM, Ed Greshko wrote:
> > > and it works great. The man pages keep using examples like 
> > > "[e-mail]", but when I try that with my email account 
> > > ([e-mail]), it fails (as in nothing happens and I sometimes get 
> > > resend errors). I can ping whatever.edu successfully.
> > >
> > > I am certain this is a stupid pilot error, but can't figure it out.
> > >
> > > Any suggestions?
>
> Does your ISP permit you to send mail directly via  port 25? Many do not
> these days - which means outgoing mail will need to be sent using your
> ISP's mail sending agent.
>
> I suggest before sending via command line tools - you use a GUI mail
> client such as thunderbird - and set up a mail account on thunderbird
> using the instructions from your ISP.
>
> If you can get that to work - then you can worry about using the command
> line mailx program and learn how to have it (or your local sendmail) use
> your ISP for outgoing mail.

FYI, you trimmed and got the attribution wrong.  I didn't write any of
the above.....

[Genes MailLists]

On 07/08/2011 08:12 AM, Ed Greshko wrote:
> FYI, you trimmed and got the attribution wrong.  I didn't write any of
> the above.....

Yah sorry 'bout that ... was trying to keep thread linear ... tis early
here and late there :-)

[Paul Allen Newell]

On 7/8/2011 5:10 AM, Genes MailLists wrote:
> Does your ISP permit you to send mail directly via  port 25? Many do not
> these days - which means outgoing mail will need to be sent using your
> ISP's mail sending agent.
>
> I suggest before sending via command line tools - you use a GUI mail
> client such as thunderbird - and set up a mail account on thunderbird
> using the instructions from your ISP.
>
> If you can get that to work - then you can worry about using the command
> line mailx program and learn how to have it (or your local sendmail) use
> your ISP for outgoing mail.
>
> gene

Plan is to install Thunderbird to do all user mail, first trying to 
understand clamav (prior postings)

I was just trying to see if there was a way to get the mail calls I see 
in scripts which are the receiver of command output via a pipe to send 
to both root@localhost to also send to my regular mail account (which, 
at the present, is on WinXP via Thunderbird).  Mostly for debugging as I 
don't want rc.local and cron.d to become my own spam engines to myself. 
And partly cause I am just curious "why?"

As for the port 25 comment, does this mean I should look at how 
Thunderbird is set up on my WinXP and see what the IMAP Server Settings 
and Outgoing Server (SMTP) settings are? Trying to understand if this is 
cs.cmu.edu settings or Verizon settings

Thanks,
Paul

[Paul Allen Newell]

On 7/7/2011 10:45 PM, Ed Greshko wrote:
> What is the MX record for whatever.edu?
>
> host -t mx whatever.edu

[paul@yoyo ~]$ host -t mx cs.cmu.edu
cs.cmu.edu mail is handled by 10 MX-LB-02.SRV.cs.cmu.edu
cs.cmu.edu mail is handled by 10 MX-LB-03.SRV.cs.cmu.edu
cs.cmu.edu mail is handled by 10 MX-LB-01.SRV.cs.cmu.edu

ping works with:
[paul@yoyo ~]$ ping cs.cmu.edu
PING cs.cmu.edu (128.2.217.13) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from web-lb.srv.cs.cmu.edu (128.2.217.13): icmp_req=1 ttl=250 
time=86.5 ms
[... and so on ...]

Does that provide the necessary info?,
Paul

[Ed Greshko]

On 07/09/2011 05:17 AM, Paul Allen Newell wrote:
> Does that provide the necessary info?,

Yes.  When folks ask for help with networking type issues and give out
IP addresses of xx.xx.xx.123 or domain names of whatever.edu it it
obscures the problem.  Now that you've revealed that you are talking
about a real world domain name should be easier to help.  FWIW, I see
other responses which should lead to a resolution.

One thing that I do is to telnet to the ports being used to make sure a
connection is being made.  If it is standard SMTP I'll do...

telnet MX-LB-01.SRV.cs.cmu.edu 25

or if SSL/TLS

telnet MX-LB-01.SRV.cs.cmu.edu 465

[Paul Allen Newell]

On 7/8/2011 4:42 PM, Ed Greshko wrote:
> FWIW, I see
> other responses which should lead to a resolution.
>
> One thing that I do is to telnet to the ports being used to make sure a
> connection is being made.  If it is standard SMTP I'll do...
>
> telnet MX-LB-01.SRV.cs.cmu.edu 25
>
> or if SSL/TLS
>
> telnet MX-LB-01.SRV.cs.cmu.edu 465

Sorry about the "whatever.com", I slipped into my default phrase for "a 
generic site".

I tested telnet and I can get it working ... not on port 25.

Tried sending mail and it worked ... sort of. It came in as spam without 
displaying the recipient (but the source of the email shows correct 
sender and recipient).

Per the other response's suggestion, I am going to tag this onto my 
query about mail/mailx to cs.cmu.edu.

Thanks for the help ... especially since I was able to make something 
happen rather than become more confused,
Paul

[SternData]

On 07/08/2011 12:34 AM, Paul Allen Newell wrote:
> I am running an F14 system which is pretty much out-of-the-box except I 
> have the machine hardcoded to 192.168.2.13 to keep my network happy.
>
> I see all sorts of uses of 'mail [...] root@localhost' which work great 
> when I look in /var/spool/mail/root. I have read the mail / mailx 
> documentation and tried sending mail to both root and my local account 
> and it works great. The man pages keep using examples like 
> "[e-mail]", but when I try that with my email account 
> ([e-mail]), it fails (as in nothing happens and I sometimes get 
> resend errors). I can ping whatever.edu successfully.
>
> I am certain this is a stupid pilot error, but can't figure it out.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Paul

What do you see in /var/log/maillog when you try to send a message
outside your system?

[Paul Allen Newell]

On 7/8/2011 5:44 AM, Steven Stern wrote:
> What do you see in /var/log/maillog when you try to send a message
> outside your system?

Jul  7 22:18:11 yoyo sendmail[2893]: p685IBvb002893: 
from=, size=528, class=0, nrcpts=2, 
msgid=, proto=ESMTP, 
daemon=MTA, relay=yoyo [127.0.0.1]

Jul  7 22:18:11 yoyo sendmail[2892]: p685IBV1002892: 
to=root@localhost,[e-mail], ctladdr=paul (500/500), 
delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=60267, 
relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (p685IBvb002893 
Message accepted for delivery)

Jul  7 22:18:12 yoyo sendmail[2894]: p685IBvb002893: 
to=, ctladdr= 
(500/500), delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=local, pri=60723, 
dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent

Jul  7 22:24:12 yoyo sendmail[2894]: p685IBvb002893: 
to=, ctladdr= (500/500), 
delay=00:06:01, xdelay=00:06:00, mailer=esmtp, pri=60723, 
relay=mx-lb-02.srv.cs.cmu.edu. [128.2.217.9], dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: 
Connection timed out with mx-lb-02.srv.cs.cmu.edu.

[power down machine, restart @2:00pm 08jul11]

Jul  8 14:09:16 yoyo sendmail[1513]: p685IBvb002893: 
to=, ctladdr= (500/500), 
delay=15:51:05, xdelay=00:06:01, mailer=esmtp, pri=150723, 
relay=mx-lb-03.srv.cs.cmu.edu. [128.2.217.14], dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: 
Connection timed out with mx-lb-03.srv.cs.cmu.edu.

Jul  8 14:09:16 yoyo sendmail[1513]: p685IBvb002893: p68L3Ek2001513: 
sender notify: Warning: could not send message for past 4 hours

I can see a copy in /var/spool/mail/root and, in /var/spool/mail/paul, I 
can see the send to root@localhost and [e-mail] plus the 
mailings of the time-out failures et al that are in /var/log/maillog

Thanks,
Paul

[SternData]

On 07/08/2011 04:46 PM, Paul Allen Newell wrote:
> Jul  8 14:09:16 yoyo sendmail[1513]: p685IBvb002893: 
> to=, ctladdr= (500/500), 
> delay=15:51:05, xdelay=00:06:01, mailer=esmtp, pri=150723, 
> relay=mx-lb-03.srv.cs.cmu.edu. [128.2.217.14], dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: 
> Connection timed out with mx-lb-03.srv.cs.cmu.edu.

The mail server at cmu doesn't like you.  Check with the admins to see
if you need to use SMTP auth when connecting in order to send mail. If
so, it's easy to set it up.

[Paul Allen Newell]

On 7/8/2011 2:58 PM, Steven Stern wrote:
> On 07/08/2011 04:46 PM, Paul Allen Newell wrote:
> > Jul  8 14:09:16 yoyo sendmail[1513]: p685IBvb002893:
> > to=, ctladdr=  (500/500),
> > delay=15:51:05, xdelay=00:06:01, mailer=esmtp, pri=150723,
> > relay=mx-lb-03.srv.cs.cmu.edu. [128.2.217.14], dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred:
> > Connection timed out with mx-lb-03.srv.cs.cmu.edu.
>
> The mail server at cmu doesn't like you.  Check with the admins to see
> if you need to use SMTP auth when connecting in order to send mail. If
> so, it's easy to set it up.

Sounds good, appreciate your help,
Paul

[Cameron Simpson]

On 08Jul2011 15:10, Paul Allen Newell  wrote:
| On 7/8/2011 2:58 PM, Steven Stern wrote:
| > On 07/08/2011 04:46 PM, Paul Allen Newell wrote:
| >> Jul  8 14:09:16 yoyo sendmail[1513]: p685IBvb002893:
| >> to=, ctladdr=  (500/500),
| >> delay=15:51:05, xdelay=00:06:01, mailer=esmtp, pri=150723,
| >> relay=mx-lb-03.srv.cs.cmu.edu. [128.2.217.14], dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred:
| >> Connection timed out with mx-lb-03.srv.cs.cmu.edu.
| > The mail server at cmu doesn't like you.  Check with the admins to see
| > if you need to use SMTP auth when connecting in order to send mail. If
| > so, it's easy to set it up.
| >
| Sounds good, appreciate your help,

Except that "Connection timed out" means you never got to talk to the
CMU mail server, so it is _not_ an authentication issue. And since it
timed out instead of Connection refused" that points at your ISP blocking
(by dropping) outbound SMTP connections from your host.

This is common - it makes it much harder for corrupted machines to spam.
Likely it means you need to deliver outgoing email via your ISP's SMTP
server.

The "telnet ...blah... 25" suggestion elsewhere in the thread lets you
test SMTP (port 25) connectivity; I gather you can't SMTP direct from
one of your other responses.

You probably need to tell your mail system (probably sendmail?) that its
relay is your ISP's SMTP server.

Cheers,

[Tim]

On Fri, 2011-07-08 at 14:46 -0700, Paul Allen Newell wrote:
> Jul  7 22:18:11 yoyo sendmail[2893]: p685IBvb002893: 
> from=

Even if you do manage to connect to it, chances are that it will refuse
to handle a message coming from such a domain name.  Most servers insist
that the *from* addresses are real, public, domain names.

You'd want to look into masquerading options, to rewrite outgoing
addresses.  Or run your computer with a real domain name.

SOLVED: Re: mail / mailx question

[Paul Allen Newell]

Solution was to edit /etc/mail/sendmail.mc to add RELAY_MAILER_ARGS and 
ESMTP_MAILER_ARGS with the correct port number and then to use the '-r' 
option of mailx to fake out the sender to an legit address (in my case, 
using same address as who I am sending to). Never got to the issue of 
dealing with multiple port numbers for different emails as I only needed 
the one to get from my 192.168.2.x LAN to [e-mail]

Thanks to everyone on this list who helped me sort this one out,
Paul