Re: [cobalt-users] turning off mail services

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris Burchell wrote:

> Is there a FAQ somewhere on how this can be done?  I know how to setup the
> lower priority MX records, but I'd like to learn more about how to setup a
> backup mail server.  Is the backup mail server just setup as a smart host
> that is instructed / configured to relay all mail to the main mail server?

A better place for this discussion is the Mailhelp list:

Send "subscribe mailhelp" in the subject line to listar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
to subscribe. The archives are located at
http://www.moongroup.com/old/archives.php.

Short answer:  Any mailserver can be the backup server; be sure to set
it to relay mail for the domain.  Then create an MX record in the
domain's zone-file (with a LOWER priority than the one for the primary
mailserver) pointing mail for domain.com to backupserver.com.

Of course the backup server will send out a message after four hours
saying the message is not yet delivered but it's still trying, and after
four days if it's still not delivered, it will return the mail to the
sender.

To avoid this behavior, or hold mail for more than four days, you should
set up a server JUST for backing up other services (we do offer this as
a service) and set it to hold mail for up to a month.

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Linux and Cobalt/Sun/RaQ Consulting
nobaloney.net
P. O. Box 52672, Riverside, CA  92517
voice: (909) 778-9980  *  fax: (702) 548-9484