>Details:
>I'll be installing iMail on a machine named neptune.castleweb.com.

That's the MS networking NetBIOS machine name, aka, proprietary legacy 
stuff.  That name has nothing to do with the tcp/ip DNS namespace.

>Based on the manual,

which is wrong

>this is the "primary host" (manual, p.18).

no, you want your default IMail host name to be castleweb.com so reply-to 
for all users is @castleweb.com, rather than @neptune.castleweb.com.

>However, there are no real accounts here -- mail will all be for other 
>domains.

then why create it?

>  I have
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] forwarding to my real e-mail account.

If you insist.  Then you'll need A and MX records neptune.castleweb.com

>iMail will process mail for several domains (a.com, b.com, c.com, etc.). 
>All have MX records aliased

why aliased?  avoid CNAMEs

>  to the same IP
>address as neptune.castleweb.com (mail.a.com, mail.b.com, etc.). I can 
>change the mail.a.com IP addresses to be
>different, but would prefer not to for ease of maintenance.

mail.domain.com is pretty, even totally, useless and counter-productive as 
a mail hostname, has nothing to do with any RFC or other internet convention.

>Questions:
>
>1. When adding a.com to iMail, I prefer to add "a.com" rather than 
>"mail.a.com", since this domain is what is displayed
>in the Web interface. Is this acceptable, or must I add "mail.a.com" and 
>setup an alias "a.com"?

the virtual mail hostname is a.com.  there is no need for the mail host 
alias of mail.a.com. KISS

>2. When adding a.com, b.com, etc., should I add these as virtual domains?

sure, why waste ip space?

>  iMail lets me add them as either virtual or
>IP. The documentation leads me to believe that they must be virtual.

must? no, virtual is good enough.

>3. When accessing mail through WebMail, will it make a difference in what 
>the user sees if I use virtual or IP-based?
>That is, will a user from a.com see the URL in their browser as 
>neptune.castleweb.com (the primary host) or mail.a.com
>when they connect? I'd prefer the latter, of course.

they must browse to URL http://webmail.a.com and login with the fully 
qualified domain name.

[EMAIL PROTECTED]

>I am grateful for any and all assistance.

since you seem to be starting, get it "right"

In Imail, the virtual mail host name is a.com, period. no need for aliases.

In DNS:

a.com.   MX 10  mx1.castleweb.com.
a.com.   MX 20  mx2.castleweb.com.

; mail customres use the following to contact the mail functions

smtp.a.com.     A ip.ad.re.ss   ; users send their outbound mail here
pop.a.com.      A ip.ad.re.ss   ; users read mailboxes
imap.a.com.     A ip.ad.re.ss   ; users read mailboxes
webmail.a.com.  A ip.ad.re.ss   ; users do it interactively

;mail.a.com.   ; just say no

Len


http://MenAndMice.com/DNS-training
http://BIND8NT.MEIway.com : ISC BIND for NT4 & W2K
http://IMGate.MEIway.com  : Build free, hi-perf, anti-abuse mail gateways


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