[cobalt-users] Re: Terrible mail failure problem

[Bruce Timberlake <bruce.timberlake@xxxxxxx>]

> I have heard enough other users who have had the boxes for a while
> having similar problems that I think the way the 4's handle things
> was changed in the "update"
> 
> In the site settings panel, if I have any www.whateverdomain.com
> entries (main host is still listed as www) then it screws things up.
> 
> Under the server and email addresses, I had to put only domain.com
> as aliases.

This is correct.  By default, the RaQ4 "answers" web traffic for
www.domain.com. If you want it to answer for "domain.com" you need to
make a web server alias entry for that. Or, if you want "www.domain.com"
website to answer for "www.domain.net" you would make a "www.domain.net"
web server alias entry (and then, most likely, a "domain.net" web server
alias entry as well).  Adding a "www.domain.com" entry, while
recommended (incorrectly) by the RaQ4 manual (page 41), merely makes a
second "ServerAlias www.domain.com" entry in the <VirtualHost> block for
that domain. Unnecessary, but it won't hurt anything.

Mail is "answered" for user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx by default (the internal
sendmail rules end up rewriting addresses in that format internally, and
then there is a one-to-one mapping to the local user/login names in
/etc/mail/virtusertable).  If you add "www.domain.com" as a mail server
alias, that ends up creating a rule in the /etc/mail/virtusertable of
"@www.domain.com %1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx", which then causes your
recursion/looping problems and interference with catch-all addresses.

Since few people send email to user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, making an Email
Server Alias entry of "domain.com" allows mail to be accepted when
addressed to user@xxxxxxxxxxx

For long-term scalability/flexibility, I personally add an Email Server
Alias of mail.domain.com, and have the domain's MX record point to
mail.domain.com (also need an A record for mail.domain.com pointing to
same IP as www.domain.com). Then, if I ever need to move my mail server,
all I have to do is change the A record for mail.domain.com to point to
a new server...

> All www.domain.com entries had to be put into the email server
> parameter settings via control panel.

You shouldn't (have to) do this...

> Very strange way to configure, at least when compaired to the
> very simple and "foolproof" RaQ3 mail setup procedure.

So many users wanted the ability to have one domain answer for another
(domain.com answer for domain.net) that the web and email server alias
feature was added as a result. On the RaQ3, you had to manually edit the
various config files to accomplish the same result, but "voiding your
warranty" in the process.

-- 
Bruce Timberlake
Technology Engineer
Sun Cobalt Server Appliances
Sun Microsystems, Inc.

E: bruce.timberlake@xxxxxxx
U: http://www.sun.com/cobalt/