Thanks to Mark Lo and Jerry Walsh, (and some others) for suggestions and help.. looks like I've corrected the error. For anyone curious, Jerry suggested that I: Remove the file and start over in it just put: 127.:allow,RELAYCLIENT="" save the file as /etc/tcp.smtp then compile the file with: tcprules /etc/tcp.smtp.cdb /etc/tcp.smtp.tmp < /etc/tcp.smtp This fixed the problem. Thanks again. James