UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I've set up a .forward file on a few identical servers that we have (all identical .forward file as well) but only one server is forwarding any of my unix mail (mail generated by cron) to my internet account.

Because these servers (5) are all identical in terms of aix versions, etc., I do not understand why only one works. The only difference that I can say is that these servers all run different cron jobs. Cron is the guy generating all these log messages and I'd like to see these emails in Outlook not unix.

Please advise as to what could be the issue. Is the use of the | tee command important in setting up the crontab to utilize the .forward file? Someone told me this is the case but I see no documentation in my unix admin book.

Thanks.

Tee has nothing to do with it.

The .forward must be readable by everyone. The directory in which it sits must be searchable by everyone. Could that be it? Is there a entry in aliases for the user?

The .forward file is in the home directory of each user who has the crontab entries:

permissions:

-rw-r--r-- 1 prodgrp admingrp 35 Jan 10 10:17 .forward

One works but not the other ones...and I pretty much just duplicated (ftp) the .forward from one node/server to another for the userids needing this feature. Not sure what's going on.

I thought that the tee may have nothing to do with it but I needed confirmation. Thanks.

I have all my boxes forward mail to my Laptop from each unix box.

The only configuration that I have is one ".forward" file in ROOT's home directory of each box with my email address to my laptop account.

You may have a few problems 1) your .forward is in the wrong directory. 2) your file contains extra spaces or unprintable chars in the file. 3) Your net connection from your boxes to your network where your laptop resides are not connected.

I would suggest recreating each .forward file from scratch on each host in the proper directory for the user that you want the mail forwarded for.

Double check your work just to be sure. It is probably something simple that you have overlooked.