Now, for my next question. The old mail server on the network is running Redhat 6.2, and was connected via a UUCP link. linuxconf back in those days didn't handle the sendmail config very well, so I always had to tweak the sendmail.cf file by hand. It contains (and still does, for this part of the hardware is still installed at the moment) the following lines:
DMfred.com DSmirror DNuucp-dom
This means that all outgoing mail from that server is sent by uucp to a UUCP host (defined in the UUCP subsystem files) 'mirror' which acts as a smart-host for onward delivery.
I want to have the old host (for the moment) forward all its outgoing mail onto the new server (the one we just got working above), so tried changing those lines to:
DMfred.com DSmailgate DNsmtp
where mailgate is defined in /etc/hosts on that server. All of a sudden, instead of being placed in the outgoing UUCP queue, all the mail is now held in /var/spool/mqueue with the legend (Deferred: No route to host)
There is also a maillog entry saying:
to=jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, ctladdr=root (0/0), delay=00:01:40, xdelay=00:00:19, mailer=smtp, relay=relay-1.mail.demon.net. [194.217.242.208], stat=Deferred: No route to host
Demon Internet is the ISP concerned, and would be the destination once the email had reached the new mail server. But I haven't allowed the LAN machines any real access to the 'Net (everything goes through proxies on the firewall) so it is right to say that it can't route directly to Demon's machine, but I can't see how the old server thinks that it should deliver it directly - why doesn't it just open the SMTP port on the new server and deliver it there ?
Unfortunately I'm not familiar with UUCP setups so I don't really know what's going on there. Is it not possible for you to generate a sendmail.cf from a simple sendmail.mc file on that server, naming mailgate as the smart host?
I've always given Linuxconf a wide berth due to its habit of configuring open relays.
Paul.
