/etc/resolv.conf and sendmail

[Alexander Dalloz]

Am Mi, den 14.07.2004 schrieb Philippe um 18:24:

> > the error or at least the reason for queuing is plainly obvious there!
> > Why didn't you earlier post the output of "mailq -v", because exactly
> > that shows what's the reason. Until now I thought the queue would not
> > contain any useful information.
> > 
> > The reason for queuing is that fcomfrench.com can not be resolved!
> > 
> > >> host map: lookup (fcomfrench.com): deferred) <<
> > 
> > Your DNS setup is broken in some kind. From "host -a fcomfrench.com" I
> > see an A record with a very short TTL.
> TTL ???

time to live - it's the given time after which an entry expires for
caches.

I do an "host -a fcomfrench.com" and got

;; ANSWER SECTION:
fcomfrench.com.         897     IN      A       212.27.35.89

The 897 are seconds. And what's an important experience is that I got
the A record not at first query! So there is something bad with the DNS.
Why is the TTL that short?

> >  Do you very freqently update that
> > record with the actual IP? 
> Sorry ? Update ?

See above, the A PTR is expiring very quickly.

> > I think you better switch to use your ISP's
> > SMTP server as your smart host.
> It does not offer one for my kind of connection.

That is bad.

> Alexander, I am sure your knowledge of Linux is A LOT better than mine,
> but I must really insist on 2 things.
> 
> 1 - After restarting sendmail, I have no more problems until the next
> boot, and this can be for weeks.

Hm, a bit strange. But you previously said that you use webmin for
Sendmail configuration. That is a known reason for trouble. If you check
the usenet comp.mail.sendmail group with participation by Sendmail
developers you'll find there comments by them to avoid using webmin for
that.

> 2 - My friend here in Chiangmai has the same ISP, the same french
> provider for his website, the same connection package, the same
> mainboard and processor and the same OS and he has no problem. So what
> is the difference between him and me ? some...
> 
> * first : its /etc/resolv.conf has only 2 line, with the 2 nameservers
> of my ISP, and is empty before connection. Mine has (had) "search AAA"
> in the first line.

Do you say you will have to set the 2 nameserver entries by hand or that
the connection establishment will create a proper resolv.conf just fine?

AAA is the internal domain name you use or something like "XYZ" to not
publish your real domain here?

As you use "fcomfrench.com" in some way I would like to know how. Please
post the output of

sendmail -bt -d0.12 < /dev/null

> * second : he did not install sendmail.cf, and if I remember that that
> was the reason why RH9 gave me the same problem at the beginning, until
> getting rid of sendmail.cf package... and reinstall, I dont know.

You mean the sendmail-cf package. That is needed to rebuild a new
sendmail.cf and/or submit.cf file after modifications on the
sendmail.mc/submit.mc file(s). Else the macro files are missing and m4
can't renew the config files.

But I think the webmin directly changes the sendmail.cf file - which is
by the way a bad thing.

> * he uses sendmail and I am using smtp in evolution to send the mail.

I remember we had the switch formerly. Using SMTP in Evolution is
correct.

> I dont know why, but I think that the solution is around here. I cannot
> explain why, really, and I read carefully every answer.
> 
> I uninstalled sendmail.cf but the pb is still here. Maybe my sendmail.cf
> is not clear... I can uninstall sendmail and install it again.

No, it is an DNS issue. The message from the "mailq -v" run is clear.

> I really appreciate your time on my problem even if it is not fixed. A
> frankly good thanks ;-)
> 
> Philippe

Alexander


-- 
Alexander Dalloz | Enger, Germany | GPG key 1024D/ED695653 1999-07-13
Fedora GNU/Linux Core 2 (Tettnang) Athlon CPU kernel 2.6.6-1.435.2.3.uml
Serendipity 18:44:52 up 1 day, 16:27, load average: 0.39, 0.28, 0.24 
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