--- See below --- Thanks! That actually made sense! I'm 2 for 2! Last question,...Where do I register MX numbers- with my ISP ? --- Well you need to register your domain with the Internic (aka Network Solutions) or some other such agency. Then you register your Network IP's with them as well after they/it has been assigned to you by your ISP. The Internic creates a new entry for your domain in their top level database... In effect anyone looking for DNS results, for whatever your domain is called gets "pushed" to the DNS server that is designated as authoritive for your domain, be it at your ISP or your own computer on your network. This resolves the IP address of your domain. Then remote Mail Exchangers (MX) can query your authoritive DNS to find out which COMPUTER in your domain handles your E-mail. If your ISP is going to be the first tier "authority" for your domain, you can almost add entries at will to your own private DNS if you so choose. If you can also coerce, eh, talk, your ISP into having their mail server act as a MX for your domain, you get operational redundancy of a sort. The idea is that a remote MX looking for yours, may fail to find it if your connection is down. Instead the next MX record in your ISP's DNS kicks in, and your messages get routed to the ISP's mail server. The mail server knows that it is not the highest priority for those messages, so it holds them until your server comes on line again. If your private DNS also has an MX record for your ISP, your local sendmail program will poll the ISP to see if it has any mail awaiting delivery. It's all magic. --- I'm assuming that I would build or buy a server and configure it with SMTP and POP3 server programs (Sendmail and Fetchmail). This machine would then be given a Public Ip (Class A) number by my ISP, then enter the MX number somewhere in a configuration file on the server, and make sure that my ISP updates his "MX Number Server" (MXNS??) to correspond with my configuration? --- The DNS server's database holds MX records, as it also holds Cnames, machine info and other records many of which are never really used... Since Linux is so fast and efficient, especially with non-gui programs, you could set it up to be a DNS/Router/gateway/mail/proxy/http/http-cache/DHCP/Bootp/Ftp/Samba/Mars- nwe/Firewall/NFS server for your network. It will perform all of these tasks with aplomb. I've set up small Linux boxes to do all of this, that have sat "headless" (no monitor or keyboard) for years tucked in a closet or basement. These machines only get noticed when someone accidentally shuts them off or in rare cases get hacked into by the script kiddies. --- Possibly he would update his DNS server instead of a "MXNS" server, or that may there is no MXNS server but only DNS, and that DNS does the same job for MX numbers as it does for DNS services? --- Correct. You do not need to run your own DNS, but running one simplifies setting up SMTP/POP/SENDMAIL & other services. --- Either way, my ISP could also become my backup MX server provider? --- Correct a nice way to avoid loosing messages... --- I've never had to do this before, but I think it's coming. That's why I'm trying to gain a basic understanding of what needs to be done. Is there an easier set of GPL packages I can use instead of Sendmail and Fetchmail? Something with a GUI interface? --- You could use postfix, but I find sendmail a snap to set up. Even though there are a myriad of options and configuration settings, you normally only have to set up 4-8 lines to get everything running. E.G. "Present yourself as, domain for which we accept mail for, etc." I believe Linuxconf also has a Sendmail module that is not enabled by default. If you enable it, you can do all of this from Linuxconf. Remember that you should also have the M4 package installed as well. This package has the rules and configuration files which sendmail needs to figure out how to deal with mail. You only have to edit one file or use Linuxconf, unless you want aliasing, which only requires another file. --- Sorry about the "20 Questions" thing. I usually try to figure this stuff out on my own, but without a basic understanding of what I need to know, I won't be able to RTFM with much hope of understanding it. --- The O'Reilly book on Sendmail, calls it the "Gordian Knot, it defies all attempts to unravel it." Actually READING the sendmail manual is likely to send you into despair or suicide... That said most of the work is already done for you in a typical Mandrake install. I'm used to editing the /etc/sendmail.conf files directly but Linuxconf should do what you want. Good luck. -JMS --- Lanman |-----Original Message----- |From: Lanman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] |Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2001 11:09 AM |To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Newbie List |Subject: Re: [newbie] MX numbers | | |
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