Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 08:37:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Donald Burr <dburr@POBoxes.com> To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: tomdean@ix.netcom.com Subject: RE: questions-digest V3 #488 Message-ID: <XFMail.971020090055.dburr@POBoxes.com> In-Reply-To: <199710201220.FAA18529@hub.freebsd.org>
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My secret spy satellite informs me that on 20-Oct-97,
owner-questions-digest@FreeBSD.ORG wrote:
>From: Thomas Dean <tomdean@ix.netcom.com>
>Date: Sun, 19 Oct 1997 18:53:10 -0700 (PDT)
>Subject: undeliverable mail messages
>
>I am using sendmail "version.c 8.8.7.3 (Berkeley) 8/3/97", which has
>been working.
>
>Lately, I have been getting undeliverable mail messages when I cc
>myself. If I do not cc myself, the mail seems to be delivered OK. If
>I send mail to myself as tomdean@ix.netcom.com, I get the
>undeliverable message. If I send mail to myself as tomdean@celebris,
>it works. I may have changed something, but, I don't remember doing
>it. Asleep at the wheel?
>
>I have looked thru the sendmail readme's. Nothing seems applicable to
>this problem. Is this a domain problem? I see "domain must resolve"
>in /var/log/maillog.
What appears to be happening is that the smtp (mail) server at
ix.netcom.com is starting to be more forceful in what mail it accepts and
rejects.
Many Internet Service Providers have been forced to place more
restrictions on how they send, receive, and forward e-mail, due to (among
other factors, but this is the MAJOR factor invovled) due to the rising
occurrence of bulk mail ("SPAM").
"Spammers" often send a lot of e-mail with fake headers (From:
info@make.money.fast.com -- where in reality there is actually no machine
called "make.money.fast.com" but their address is actually
"slimeball@sleazy-isp.com") as a lame attempt to avoid detection (if the
machine "make.money.fast.com" doesn't exist, then how can they be found
and prosecuted, firebombed, etc.?) And so ISP's are starting to reject
mail from machines that don't exist officially.
Note the following snippet of dialogue between your machine and
ixmail.ix.netcom.com:
> ----- The following addresses had transient non-fatal errors -----
>tomdean@ix.netcom.com
>
> ----- Transcript of session follows -----
>... while talking to ixsrs2.ix.netcom.com.:
>>>> MAIL From:<tomdean@celebris.tddhome> SIZE=90
><<< 451 <tomdean@celebris.tddhome>... Domain must resolve
YOur machine is saying "Hello, I am called "tomdean@celebris.tddhome".
ixsrs2.ix.netcom.com (one of Netcom's mailservers) is saying "I've never
heard of 'celebris.tddhome'..." (that's the "Domain must resolve" error)
In technical terms, "celebris.tddhome" is not registered with the Domain
Name Service (DNS), a database of the hostnames of all computers that are
connected to the Internet.
Solutions? I'm not really sure there are any. You can configure your
mail software to talk directly with the "ixmail.ix.netcom.com" mail
server, making sure that your "From:" address is properly set to your
"real" internet mail address (tomdean@ix.netcom.com).
Or, if you want to be cool, you can get a hostname for your machine.
Something like "tomdean.dyn.ml.org". That way, your machine will actually
"exist" (officially speaking) and the mail server won't have that reason
to complain. This has an added benefit in that your machine will be
"reachable" (assuming that it is actually connected and on-line) using
other access methdos -- telnet, ftp, even WWW (you can run your own WEB
server!). This will work even for those who don't have a "fixed IP
address" but whose address changes everytime they dial into their ISP
(which probably applies to about 90% of the Internet-using public).
Monolith is an excellent, and *FREE* service that will do this for you.
To find out more, go to their WEB site at http://www.ml.org/.
I've set this up, and although it's non-trivial, it is still fairly easy
- -- basically, if you managed to set up FreeBSD and email and get things
working, you should have little or no problems with this. You may feel
free to contact me for any assistance, however -- I am personally set up
this way (try accessing DonaldBurr.dyn.ml.org - I have ftp and www set up).
I hope this response has served to assist you, rather than confusing you
even more! :)
- ---
Donald Burr <dburr@POBoxes.com> - Ask me for my PGP key | PGP: Your
WWW HomePage: http://DonaldBurr.base.org/ ICQ #1347455 | right to
Address: P.O. Box 91212, Santa Barbara, CA 93190-1212 | 'Net privacy.
Phone: (805) 957-9666 FAX: (800) 492-5954 | USE IT.
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