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Re: mail disaster probablity

by Bob George

"Keith Wright" <kwright(a)free-comp-shop.com> wrote: > [...] > Wow! Where did you find mail hosting for $2/mo? I replied earlier that I'm using bmhost.com, which provides SMTP and web hosting. I noticed today that dyndns.org has made some changes (good and bad): Custom DNS WAS $30 one-time, but is now an annual charge. They now can do domain registration for $15/yr. for .com (I may transfer mine). More relevant to this thread, they now offer two mail-related services that might be of interest to those on this list running email servers, but who DON'T have a handy second server available for backup, or whose ISP blocks inbound TCP port 25. Quoting from their web page: --- cut here --- cut here --- MailHopSM Relay allows you to relay incoming mail to a mail server on a non-standard port. This is quite useful for those who want to run a mail server but are stuck with an ISP that blocks port 25, the standard mail port. [...] ($24.95/domain) MailHopSM Backup MX provides a secondary mail server to hold your e-mail for you should your main e-mail server go offline for any reason. Once you go back online, your mail will be delivered to you. Our MailHopSM server will attempt delivery more frequently than most mail servers, and will also hold onto your e-mail for twice as long. ($39.95/domain) --- cut here --- cut here --- Both are more expensive than my cheapie hosting outfit, but do allow you to run a "real" SMTP server if so desired. I'm not affiliated with either bmhost.com or dyndns.org, but am a satisfied customer of both. I just wanted to pass this info on to others experiencing the same challenges running home servers that I have. - Bob

Oct. 2, 2003

Re: [Wlug] mail disaster recovery

by Karl Hiramoto

you got 0 answer for your MX. your DNS is misconfigured. dig -t mx domain.com should in your case display at least 2 answers. your main server, and your backup server for example: dig -t mx wlug.org ; <<>> DiG 9.2.1 <<>> -t mx wlug.org ;; global options: printcmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 63144 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 3, ADDITIONAL: 0 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;wlug.org. IN MX ;; ANSWER SECTION: wlug.org. 259200 IN MX 20 mx.WPI.EDU. wlug.org. 259200 IN MX 10 smtp.WPI.EDU. ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: wlug.org. 259200 IN NS ns1.wlug.org. wlug.org. 259200 IN NS alum.WPI.EDU. wlug.org. 259200 IN NS dns1.dovetailinternet.net. ;; Query time: 110 msec ;; SERVER: 192.168.2.48#53(192.168.2.48) ;; WHEN: Thu Oct 2 14:02:48 2003 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 149 You might need to set your secondary DNS to be a master for your domain. remember to restart the named. On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, Richard Goodman wrote: > ; <<>> DiG 9.2.1 <<>> -t MX mydomain.net > ;; global options: printcmd > ;; Got answer: > ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 3412 > ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0 > > ;; QUESTION SECTION: > ;mydomain.net. IN MX > > ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: > mydomain.net. 2924 IN SOA mydomain.net. > rlg.bach.mydomain. > net. 2003100202 10800 3600 604800 3600 > > ;; Query time: 7 msec > ;; SERVER: 67.100.202.xxx#53(67.100.202.xxx) > ;; WHEN: Thu Oct 2 13:47:15 2003 > ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 75 > > I'd already gotten that output but didn't see any MX output, just the question. > Your interpretation? Further suggestions? I'm losing mail at this point, > but would like to stop the hemorraging. The SOA serial# indicates it is the > most recent version of the modified (secondary) DNS > > Dick > > At 01:37 PM 10/2/2003 -0400, you wrote: > > >do a: > >dig -t MX domain.com > > > >should show you if the DNS is reporting the backup mail sever > >correctly. > > > > > >On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, Richard Goodman wrote: > > > > > Karl, > > > That was exactly what I was looking for. > > > Did the local-host-names changes; I already had the RELAY lines in access > > > on the backup machine. > > > Since the primary DNS is on the down IP address, I modified the secondary > > > (slave) DNS which is one of my office boxes by adding a second MX line: > > > > > > my-host MX 99 temp.server.domain. <--dot at end > > > and restarted that named. > > > > > > > > > Its been quite a while and I'm not seeing any mail queueing, and I know > > > there's mail that should be coming in on a regular basis. What else > > might I > > > have missed? > > > > > > What can I use (nslookup, dig ? with what parameters) to see whether the > > > MX lines are right? When I send a test email from an off-site machine, the > > > sending sendmail log says "Connection timed out" and shows the down IP > > address. > > > > > > Dick > > > > > > At 03:52 PM 10/1/2003 -0400, you wrote: > > > > > > >on the backup RH mail box: > > > >add you domain to the backup /etc/mail/local-host-names and set it > > > >to relay in /etc/mail/access > > > > > > > >type make in the /etc/mail/ directory and restart sendmail. > > > > > > > >you can try testing it. send mail to your domian. also, could telnet > > > >to mailserver.com 25 and put SMTP comands to verify it is accepting > > > >mail for that domain. > > > > > > > >when it is buffering the mail, it should show up in /var/spool/mail > > > > > > > >if your home DSL is going to be down for some time, you might just > > > >want to bring the box into the office, and point the DNS directly at > > > >it, if you can. > > > > > > > > > > > >On Wed, 1 Oct 2003, Richard Goodman wrote: > > > > > > > > > My home DSL has been down for over 48 hours and it appears that it > > will be > > > > > down for several more days. (I spare you the gory details). I am > > concerned > > > > > about losing mail coming into various domains at that site. > > > > > That RH 7.3 machine runs mail/web/primary DNS for those domains. > > > > > > > > > > I have modified the secondary DNS records for those domains (on a > > machine > > > > > at my office - also on DSL) with an higher cost MX record pointing to a > > > > > machine at the office also running RH 7.3 and sendmail, which I assume > > > > will > > > > > pick up and queue the mail. The DNS TTLs are reasonably short, > > fortunately. > > > > > > > > > > I've done this following O'Reilly/Sendmail book 2nd edition, but > > its not > > > > > always crystal clear if you don't already understand it! Is there > > > > anything > > > > > else I have to do on the backup machine (pointed to by the new MX > > > > records), > > > > > particularly is there anything I have to do to its sendmail config > > files? > > > > > > > > > > Any other pointers or "gotcha"s to this whole process? > > > > > > > > > > Dick > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > -- ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø Karl Hiramoto <karl(a)hiramoto.org> Work: 978-425-2090 ext 25 Cell: 508-517-4819 http://karl.hiramoto.org/ AOL IM ID = KarlH420 Yahoo_IM = karl_hiramoto ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø People are always available for work in the past tense.

Oct. 2, 2003

Re: [Wlug] mail disaster recovery

by Richard Goodman

; <<>> DiG 9.2.1 <<>> -t MX mydomain.net ;; global options: printcmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 3412 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;mydomain.net. IN MX ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: mydomain.net. 2924 IN SOA mydomain.net. rlg.bach.mydomain. net. 2003100202 10800 3600 604800 3600 ;; Query time: 7 msec ;; SERVER: 67.100.202.xxx#53(67.100.202.xxx) ;; WHEN: Thu Oct 2 13:47:15 2003 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 75 I'd already gotten that output but didn't see any MX output, just the question. Your interpretation? Further suggestions? I'm losing mail at this point, but would like to stop the hemorraging. The SOA serial# indicates it is the most recent version of the modified (secondary) DNS Dick At 01:37 PM 10/2/2003 -0400, you wrote: >do a: >dig -t MX domain.com > >should show you if the DNS is reporting the backup mail sever >correctly. > > >On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, Richard Goodman wrote: > > > Karl, > > That was exactly what I was looking for. > > Did the local-host-names changes; I already had the RELAY lines in access > > on the backup machine. > > Since the primary DNS is on the down IP address, I modified the secondary > > (slave) DNS which is one of my office boxes by adding a second MX line: > > > > my-host MX 99 temp.server.domain. <--dot at end > > and restarted that named. > > > > > > Its been quite a while and I'm not seeing any mail queueing, and I know > > there's mail that should be coming in on a regular basis. What else > might I > > have missed? > > > > What can I use (nslookup, dig ? with what parameters) to see whether the > > MX lines are right? When I send a test email from an off-site machine, the > > sending sendmail log says "Connection timed out" and shows the down IP > address. > > > > Dick > > > > At 03:52 PM 10/1/2003 -0400, you wrote: > > > > >on the backup RH mail box: > > >add you domain to the backup /etc/mail/local-host-names and set it > > >to relay in /etc/mail/access > > > > > >type make in the /etc/mail/ directory and restart sendmail. > > > > > >you can try testing it. send mail to your domian. also, could telnet > > >to mailserver.com 25 and put SMTP comands to verify it is accepting > > >mail for that domain. > > > > > >when it is buffering the mail, it should show up in /var/spool/mail > > > > > >if your home DSL is going to be down for some time, you might just > > >want to bring the box into the office, and point the DNS directly at > > >it, if you can. > > > > > > > > >On Wed, 1 Oct 2003, Richard Goodman wrote: > > > > > > > My home DSL has been down for over 48 hours and it appears that it > will be > > > > down for several more days. (I spare you the gory details). I am > concerned > > > > about losing mail coming into various domains at that site. > > > > That RH 7.3 machine runs mail/web/primary DNS for those domains. > > > > > > > > I have modified the secondary DNS records for those domains (on a > machine > > > > at my office - also on DSL) with an higher cost MX record pointing to a > > > > machine at the office also running RH 7.3 and sendmail, which I assume > > > will > > > > pick up and queue the mail. The DNS TTLs are reasonably short, > fortunately. > > > > > > > > I've done this following O'Reilly/Sendmail book 2nd edition, but > its not > > > > always crystal clear if you don't already understand it! Is there > > > anything > > > > else I have to do on the backup machine (pointed to by the new MX > > > records), > > > > particularly is there anything I have to do to its sendmail config > files? > > > > > > > > Any other pointers or "gotcha"s to this whole process? > > > > > > > > Dick

Oct. 2, 2003

Re: [Wlug] mail disaster recovery

by Karl Hiramoto

do a: dig -t MX domain.com should show you if the DNS is reporting the backup mail sever correctly. On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, Richard Goodman wrote: > Karl, > That was exactly what I was looking for. > Did the local-host-names changes; I already had the RELAY lines in access > on the backup machine. > Since the primary DNS is on the down IP address, I modified the secondary > (slave) DNS which is one of my office boxes by adding a second MX line: > > my-host MX 99 temp.server.domain. <--dot at end > and restarted that named. > > > Its been quite a while and I'm not seeing any mail queueing, and I know > there's mail that should be coming in on a regular basis. What else might I > have missed? > > What can I use (nslookup, dig ? with what parameters) to see whether the > MX lines are right? When I send a test email from an off-site machine, the > sending sendmail log says "Connection timed out" and shows the down IP address. > > Dick > > At 03:52 PM 10/1/2003 -0400, you wrote: > > >on the backup RH mail box: > >add you domain to the backup /etc/mail/local-host-names and set it > >to relay in /etc/mail/access > > > >type make in the /etc/mail/ directory and restart sendmail. > > > >you can try testing it. send mail to your domian. also, could telnet > >to mailserver.com 25 and put SMTP comands to verify it is accepting > >mail for that domain. > > > >when it is buffering the mail, it should show up in /var/spool/mail > > > >if your home DSL is going to be down for some time, you might just > >want to bring the box into the office, and point the DNS directly at > >it, if you can. > > > > > >On Wed, 1 Oct 2003, Richard Goodman wrote: > > > > > My home DSL has been down for over 48 hours and it appears that it will be > > > down for several more days. (I spare you the gory details). I am concerned > > > about losing mail coming into various domains at that site. > > > That RH 7.3 machine runs mail/web/primary DNS for those domains. > > > > > > I have modified the secondary DNS records for those domains (on a machine > > > at my office - also on DSL) with an higher cost MX record pointing to a > > > machine at the office also running RH 7.3 and sendmail, which I assume > > will > > > pick up and queue the mail. The DNS TTLs are reasonably short, fortunately. > > > > > > I've done this following O'Reilly/Sendmail book 2nd edition, but its not > > > always crystal clear if you don't already understand it! Is there > > anything > > > else I have to do on the backup machine (pointed to by the new MX > > records), > > > particularly is there anything I have to do to its sendmail config files? > > > > > > Any other pointers or "gotcha"s to this whole process? > > > > > > Dick > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > -- ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø Karl Hiramoto <karl(a)hiramoto.org> Work: 978-425-2090 ext 25 Cell: 508-517-4819 http://karl.hiramoto.org/ AOL IM ID = KarlH420 Yahoo_IM = karl_hiramoto ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø People are always available for work in the past tense.

Oct. 2, 2003

Re: [Wlug] mail disaster recovery

by Richard Goodman

Karl, That was exactly what I was looking for. Did the local-host-names changes; I already had the RELAY lines in access on the backup machine. Since the primary DNS is on the down IP address, I modified the secondary (slave) DNS which is one of my office boxes by adding a second MX line: my-host MX 99 temp.server.domain. <--dot at end and restarted that named. Its been quite a while and I'm not seeing any mail queueing, and I know there's mail that should be coming in on a regular basis. What else might I have missed? What can I use (nslookup, dig ? with what parameters) to see whether the MX lines are right? When I send a test email from an off-site machine, the sending sendmail log says "Connection timed out" and shows the down IP address. Dick At 03:52 PM 10/1/2003 -0400, you wrote: >on the backup RH mail box: >add you domain to the backup /etc/mail/local-host-names and set it >to relay in /etc/mail/access > >type make in the /etc/mail/ directory and restart sendmail. > >you can try testing it. send mail to your domian. also, could telnet >to mailserver.com 25 and put SMTP comands to verify it is accepting >mail for that domain. > >when it is buffering the mail, it should show up in /var/spool/mail > >if your home DSL is going to be down for some time, you might just >want to bring the box into the office, and point the DNS directly at >it, if you can. > > >On Wed, 1 Oct 2003, Richard Goodman wrote: > > > My home DSL has been down for over 48 hours and it appears that it will be > > down for several more days. (I spare you the gory details). I am concerned > > about losing mail coming into various domains at that site. > > That RH 7.3 machine runs mail/web/primary DNS for those domains. > > > > I have modified the secondary DNS records for those domains (on a machine > > at my office - also on DSL) with an higher cost MX record pointing to a > > machine at the office also running RH 7.3 and sendmail, which I assume > will > > pick up and queue the mail. The DNS TTLs are reasonably short, fortunately. > > > > I've done this following O'Reilly/Sendmail book 2nd edition, but its not > > always crystal clear if you don't already understand it! Is there > anything > > else I have to do on the backup machine (pointed to by the new MX > records), > > particularly is there anything I have to do to its sendmail config files? > > > > Any other pointers or "gotcha"s to this whole process? > > > > Dick

Oct. 2, 2003

Re: [Wlug] 1st posting: Worcester ISP? Distros? LAC?

by Gregory Avedissian

Hi Brian, I'm just an end user, still finding my way around after a couple years. My experience with a dialup account is that I've never had to talk to my ISP about linux. Setting up the account in SuSE 7.2 was easier than in win98. My experience with Debian 3.0 - The installer is archaic. First, you have to put in all four disks to be read. Then you get to select a base package, then you get to fill in more selections from a list of everything. You can use the arrow keys to scroll up and down the list of over a thousand packages and the space key to select them. If you pick something that has conflicts or dependencies, you jump to another screen and then somehow, if you do the right keystrokes, you get to the list of conflicts or dependencies, and then by some unknown keystrokes, you can get back to the main list. If you have the misfortune to hit the enter key during this process, the installation begins, and you have to wait until it's done to add in the rest of the packages. If you don't do it then, you'll have to scan in all four disks next time to add stuff. I did this a couple weeks ago, and I did manage to get a working installation. Setting up XFree went very smoothly (a new experience for me). It worked fine, but every time I booted up, it brought me to a graphical login screen for X, and I wasn't allowed to log in as root. So I logged in as user, hit ctrl-alt-F2 to get another login screen, and logged in as root. Tried to run a second X-session from root, but it wouldn't work. After two days of screwing around with trying to install what I wanted, I wiped it out and installed SuSE 7.2. It took me about an hour. Have fun, Greg Brian McLinden wrote: > Hi all, > > Newbie here. I want to get to the command line and some interesting scripting > projects as soon as possible. Would you help me get there? Some preliminaries: > > First, I live in Worcester. Can you help me find an ISP that will know how to > talk to a Linux newbie like me? > > Second, I want to multiboot with distros that are easy to tinker with AFTER > that so-caloled "easy install." I hear that RPM-based approaches give > headaches in this regard. So here is my provisional list: > > - Debian 3.0 > > - Slackware 9.1 > > - Libranet 2.8.1 (a commercial tailoring of Debian) > > How might you comment on or modify this selection so I can learn Linux with the > least impediment to changes after the install? What order would you tackle them > in? > > Finally, on Saturday I may order a SCSI box with Los Alamos Computers, > laclinux.com. Any word about them, good or bad? They are willing to pre-install > a multi-boot for any selection of distros that I want! > > May I phone you if you would be open to that? What are good times for us to > talk? > > Glad to be onboard, > Brian > > ++++++++++++++++++++++++ > Brian L. McLinden > 6 Wachusett Street - #34 > Worcester, MA 01609-2647 > (508) 752-3033 > ++++++++++++++++++++++++ > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search > http://shopping.yahoo.com > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > >

Oct. 2, 2003

Re: mail disaster probablity

by Bob George

"Keith Wright" <kwright(a)free-comp-shop.com> wrote: > [...] > Hey, I wouldn't mind a few of the sort-of-gory details. I'll respond to my bits! > I have > recently installed Speakeasy DSL and am thinking of running my own DNS > and mail. I have no first-hand experience with DSL, but I would expect it's shares a lot of characteristics (in terms of terms-of-services, reliability) with other residential services. There's usually no guarantee of stellar reliability, and many don't support (or allow) "servers". That's an important consideration if your mail is important to you. > I am willing to have a bit of trouble in order to learn how > it works, but is it common for DSL to "go down"? Why is that? Again, I don't use DSL, but I have had plenty of outages both here and back in Phoenix that have nothing to do with the unerlying technology. Your ISP can have routing problems to the rest of the world, their equipment or DNS servers can be misconfigured, and of course denial-of-service attacks can take their toll. Here, I've become much more familiar with power-related problems. Not "common" but certainly not business-class either. > [...] Losing my mail was fine, but the family went nuts when I > > was on the road and we had an outage. > > What's up with that? DSL or TV cable? Why outage? In the example I cited, it was HFC (cable). The reasons for the outage varied from power outages (my end and theirs), changes in service (it's residential -- they change it when they want i.e. sudden port blocking) and those mysterious 3 hour drops that I never could pin down exactly. > > I wound up moving my SMTP to a $2/mo. hosting plan that will queue > > mail for me until I poll using POP via fetchmail. I've permanently > > pointed my MX record there, as their reliability is far better than > > mine (residential cable). > > Wow! Where did you find mail hosting for $2/mo? There are no doubt others, but I went with bmhost.com. It's nothing stellar if you're after hosting for a big website, but you get 10M storage and connectivity seems good. I poll it every 5 minutes via fetchmail and sort things out on my server. They're not particulary linux-aware though, but the servers are RedHat. You can get (chroot) ssh access. The important thing is I can survive an outage on my end without losing mail, and they offer webmail for those situations. Tell 'em I sent ya (ttlexceeded.com is the domain I host there) and we can probably pool to save a few bucks. I paid dyndns.org the $30 one-time fee for "custom" DNS, so I've got my DNS set up there, with dynamically updated entries for my home system (updated via the dhclient scripts), but nice, stable entries pointing at bmhost for MX and web addresses. The only thing I can't do is set up anti-UCE on my SMTP server though bmhost offers some, and they do provide anti-virus scanning standard, so I don't get the glamor of fighting those on my own... which I've found gives me a lot more free time. Of course, none of this applies if you're running a business on your home system. - Bob

Oct. 2, 2003

Re: [Wlug] Re: mail disaster probablity

by Josh Huber

Mike Frysinger <vapier(a)gentoo.org> writes: > usually it depends on the provider ... i had shitty service with > verizon and ive heard similar horror stories with earthlink ... > speakeasy is the only one ive never heard anything bad about ... but > thats probably why they cost a little bit more than everyone else :) Speakeasy is excellent. I've had them at my current apartment for 1 1/2 years, and there were only two (very short) outages. They don't mind if you share your connection via wireless, you get static ip addresses, they don't block ports, let you run servers, etc. Very good ISP. -- Josh Huber

Oct. 2, 2003

Re: [Wlug] 1st posting: Worcester ISP? Distros? LAC?

by Mike Frysinger

On Thursday 02 October 2003 07:27, Brian McLinden wrote: > First, I live in Worcester. Can you help me find an ISP that will know how > to talk to a Linux newbie like me? speakeasy is the only provider i know of that knows the word 'linux' :) that said, it's probably easier to setup dsl/cable than a dialup service simply because you only have to mess around with nic's rather than modems (ugh) ... > Second, I want to multiboot with distros that are easy to tinker with AFTER > that so-caloled "easy install." I hear that RPM-based approaches give > headaches in this regard. So here is my provisional list: > > - Debian 3.0 > > - Slackware 9.1 > > - Libranet 2.8.1 (a commercial tailoring of Debian) > > How might you comment on or modify this selection so I can learn Linux with > the least impediment to changes after the install? What order would you > tackle them in? i'd recommend slackware above deb but deb comes with a package manager so i guess it's up to you ;) if you're looking to really dig into linux i might even suggest Gentoo because you tend to learn a lot about how packages work together ... but i'd be a little hesitant about doing so ... -mike

Oct. 2, 2003

Re: [Wlug] Re: mail disaster probablity

by Mike Frysinger

On Thursday 02 October 2003 00:02, Keith Wright wrote: > Hey, I wouldn't mind a few of the sort-of-gory details. I have > recently installed Speakeasy DSL and am thinking of running my own DNS > and mail. I am willing to have a bit of trouble in order to learn how > it works, but is it common for DSL to "go down"? Why is that? usually it depends on the provider ... i had shitty service with verizon and ive heard similar horror stories with earthlink ... speakeasy is the only one ive never heard anything bad about ... but thats probably why they cost a little bit more than everyone else :) -mike

Oct. 2, 2003