UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Is it true that you need port 110(POP3) to be open for sending email out ??
I can send email out fine but when I check my port 110 is not open. The problem I have is that I can not receive email at all or can not send email locally (between my users).

Here is what I get using the netstat command :

<pre>

% netstat -a |grep 25
*.1225 Idle
isgsi01.32925 isgsi01.32917 32768 0 32768 0 ESTABLISHED
isgsi01.32917 isgsi01.32925 32768 0 32768 0 ESTABLISHED

% netstat -a |grep 110
isgsi01.1521 10.153.6.198.1108 16210 0 8760 0 ESTABLISHED

% netstat -a |grep mail
%
I get nothing here.

</pre>

It seems like I get nothing relevant here about ports 25 and 110. I still can send email out to the outside world, any ideas at all please guys?

Also trying the 'newaliases' command I get :

<pre>

% newaliases
WARNING: World writable directory /var
WARNING: World writable directory /etc
dbm map "Alias0": unsafe map file /etc/mail/aliases: No such file or directory
Cannot create database for alias file /etc/mail/aliases

</pre>

Anyone played around with sendmail before?

Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks

No, you do not need port 110 "open" to send mail. If you are operating a POP3 server process normally listens on port 110. However, you do not need a POP3 server to send mail.

You do not need port 25 "open" to send mail. If you are receiving mail an SMTP server process normally listens on port 25. However, you do not need an SMTP listening process to send mail (only receive).

here we have:

<pre>

$netstat -a |grep smtp
*.smtp *.* 0 0 0 0 LISTEN

</pre>

the smtp server process looks like it is there and running but I can not receive mail from the outside world or locally. I can though send email fine.Does the newaliases outcome I gave above help at all?

Thanks alot Neo

When we have a SMTP mail delivery problem when normally send the mail using sendmail with the -v switch. Example:

Code:

/usr/lib/sendmail -v user@yourdomain.com < /etc/services

The example above uses sendmail in the verbose send mode to send a test file (and the verbose goodies appear on the screen).

Also, check the syslog file for errors and messages for the listening SMTP process if you are receiving on the same host you are sending from.

I have already tried the first but didn't help me much, I am going to have a look at the syslog files and come back to you later. Does the newaliases above help at all?? What is the -->
dbm map "Alias0":

Thanks for your help :-)

If anyone can help it would be much appreciated. Below is a problem with a few comments. Analysing we have:
<pre>

$mailq
Mail Queue (750 requests)
--Q-ID-- --Size-- -----Q-Time----- ------------Sender/Recipient------------
JAA01371 142 Fri Oct 26 09:59 prod
(alias database unavailable)
none
JAA01162 127 Fri Oct 26 09:49 prod
(alias database unavailable)
none
HAA28981 5545 Fri Oct 26 07:37 MAILER-DAEMON
(alias database unavailable)
root

........................etc and at the end...................

LAF20326 1266 Sun Oct 21 11:22 MAILER-DAEMON
(alias database unavailable)
prod
LAE20326 1266 Sun Oct 21 11:22 MAILER-DAEMON
(alias database unavailable)
prod
LAA20171 1244 Sun Oct 21 11:07 MAILER-DAEMON
(alias database unavailable)
prod

// prod is an oracle instance

root)56: pwd
/var/mail
isgsi01(root)57: ls -la
total 28
drwxrwxrwt 3 root mail 512 Oct 16 12:21 ./
drwxrwxrwx 26 root sys 512 Aug 3 14:52 ../
drwxrwxr-x 2 root mail 512 Aug 31 11:02 :saved/
-rw-rw---- 1 adm mail 10867 Aug 16 02:30 adm

root)57:more adm
From adm Tue Jul 17 02:30:02 2001
Received: (from adm@localhost)
by *****************(8.9.3+Sun/8.9.1) id CAA29318;
Tue, 17 Jul 2001 02:30:01 +0100 (BST)
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 02:30:01 +0100 (BST)
From: Admin <adm>
Message-Id: <200107170130.CAA29318@************>
To: adm, root
Content-Length: 79

Tue Jul 17 02:30:01 BST 2001
***UPDATE /etc/acct/holidays WITH NEW HOLIDAYS***

(root)90: pwd
/var/log
(root)91: tail syslog
Oct 26 09:52:42 **********sendmail[1269]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(root): dbm map "Alias0": unsafe map file /etc/mail/aliases: No such file or directory
Oct 26 09:53:16 **********sendmail[1272]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(aris): dbm map "Alias0": unsafe map file /etc/mail/aliases: No such file or directory
Oct 26 09:53:16 **********sendmail[1272]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(aris): Cannot create database for alias file /etc/mail/aliases
Oct 26 09:59:19 **********sendmail[1371]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR: putoutmsg (NO-HOST): error on output channel sending "451 dbm map "Alias0": unsafe map file /etc/mail/aliases: No such file or directory": I/O error
Oct 26 09:59:19 **********sendmail[1371]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(prod): dbm map "Alias0": unsafe map file /etc/mail/aliases: No such file or directory

---------------- I don't know if I should play around with the following dirs/files------------

(root)8: pwd
/usr/lib/mail/mailer
(root)9: cd ..
(root)10: ls -al
total 200
drwxr-xr-x 8 root mail 512 Jul 16 17:44 ./
drwxrwxrwx 45 root bin 10240 Mar 19 2001 ../
-r--r--r-- 1 root mail 83427 May 6 1999 README
drwxrwxr-x 2 root mail 512 Mar 19 2001 cf/
drwxrwxr-x 2 root mail 512 Mar 19 2001 domain/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root mail 1536 Mar 19 2001 feature/
drwxr-xr-x 3 root mail 512 Jul 16 17:44 mailer/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root mail 512 Mar 19 2001 ostype/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root mail 512 Mar 19 2001 sh/

(root)12: ls -la /usr/bin/mail
-r-x--s--x 1 bin mail 67008 Feb 14 2001 /usr/bin/mail*

(root)13wd
/home/aris

(root)14: ls -l mail2send
-rw-r--r-- 1 aris staff 21 Oct 23 11:21 mail2send

(root)35: /usr/lib/sendmail -v aris < mail2send // aris is a local user
dbm map "Alias0": unsafe map file /etc/mail/aliases: No such file or directory
aris... queued
// when I use the same with full domainname for sender like somebody@somewhere.com the mail arrives fine at its destination

(root)15:mailq
...../......
LAA20171 1244 Sun Oct 21 11:07 MAILER-DAEMON
(alias database unavailable)
prod

KAA02364 (no control file)


</pre>

Maybe the problem is in:

(root)47: ls -al /etc/mail/main.cf
-r--r--r-- 1 bin bin 27781 Mar 19 2001 /etc/mail/main.cf

Any ideas ??
Thanks alot

Check the permissions to /etc and /var. I noticed in a previous post that newaliases failed because /etc was not secure...

Make sure /etc is NOT world writable - same with /var.