> I have two mail servers - on is located in a different country - My
> question is how do I become a backup for that other server in
> the event that it goes down or looses connectivity??
Firstly, consider why you are setting up a secondary. Does it offer
any advantages over letting the senders keep mail in their queue? Does it
allow mail system maintenance to go without disrupting mail flow? In some
cases a secondary offers no tangible benefit, and causes maintenance
headaches, which WILL cause mail to bounce if you don't stay on top of it.
To do it, however,
Add that servers domain to /var/qmail/control/rcpthosts, but make
sure that it is not in locals or anything like that. Send mail* to that
domain via your mail server to make sure you're configured correctly. Set
up the MX records for the domain so that your server is a listed MX server,
albeit with a lower priority (lower priority == higher number).
An option is to use smtproutes to hardwire the forwarding, instead
of trusting DNS records to be correct. The plus is that someone can mess up
DNS and your secondary will still forward; the minus is that if you want to
change your primary mail server you have to remember to do so in two places,
which can create maintenance problems.
* An easy way to test is to telnet to port 25 of the secondary from
a remote location and send mail by hand. That means using SMTP commands
HELO, MAIL FROM, RCPT TO, and DATA. The archives of this list are full of
examples.
--
gowen -- Greg Owen -- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
