sendmail

Larger Cover

sendmail, 4th Edition

By Bryan Costales, Claus Assmann, George Jansen, Gregory Neil Shapiro

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Released: October 2007

Pages: 1312

A classic O'Reilly title since 1993, sendmail now covers Versions 8.10 through 8.14 of this email routing program, including dozens of new features, options, and macros. This edition also takes a more nuts-and-bolts approach than its predecessors. It includes both an administration handbook and a reference guide that provide you with clear options for installing, configuring and managing sendmail's latest versions and companion programs.

The sendmail program has withstood the test of time because of its ability to solve the mail-routing needs of all sites large or small, complex or simple. But it's also difficult to configure and even more difficult to understand. That's why this book has proven valuable since the dawn of email. With it, you will be able to configure the program to meet any need, so that you never again have to call in a sendmail guru to bail you out.

sendmail includes the following sections:

Some Basics is especially useful for people new to the program. It covers the basic concepts underlying mail delivery and the roles sendmail plays in that delivery

Administration covers all aspects of handling sendmail, from downloading and installing new releases to managing mailing lists and aliases

Configuration Reference contains a heavily cross-referenced guide for configuring and tuning sendmail. Every arcane detail of sendmail is listed alphabetically

Appendices contain more detail about sendmail than you may ever need

sendmail

Chapter 1 Some Basics
1. Email Basics
2. Requests for Comments (RFCs)
3. Email and sendmail
4. Basic Parts of sendmail
5. Basic Parts of a Mail Message
6. Basic Roles of sendmail
7. Basic Modes of sendmail
8. The sendmail.cf File
Administration
1. Chapter 2 Download, Build, and Install
  1. Vendor Versus Compiling
  2. Download the Source
  3. What's Where in the Source
  4. Build sendmail
  5. Install sendmail
  6. Pitfalls
  7. Build m4 Macro Reference
2. Chapter 3 Tune sendmail with Compile-Time Macros
  1. Before You Begin, a Checklist
  2. To Port, Tune, or Debug
  3. Pitfalls
  4. Compile-Time Macro Reference
3. Chapter 4 Maintain Security with sendmail
  1. Why root?
  2. The Environment
  3. SMTP Probes
  4. The Configuration File
  5. Permissions
  6. The aliases File
  7. Forged Mail
  8. Security Features
  9. Other Security Information
  10. Pitfalls
4. Chapter 5 Authentication and Encryption
  1. Support SMTP AUTH
  2. Public Key Cryptography
  3. STARTTLS
  4. Pitfalls
5. Chapter 6 The sendmail Command Line
  1. Alternative argv[0] Names
  2. Command-Line Switches
  3. List of Recipient Addresses
  4. Processing the Command Line
  5. sendmail's exit( ) Status
  6. Pitfalls
  7. Alphabetized Command-Line Switches
6. Chapter 7 How to Handle Spam
  1. The Local_check_ Rule Sets
  2. How DNSBL Works
  3. Check Headers with Rule Sets
  4. Relaying
  5. The access Database
  6. Spam Suppression Features
  7. Pitfalls
7. Chapter 8 Test Rule Sets with -bt
  1. Overview
  2. Configuration Lines
  3. Dump a sendmail Macro or Class
  4. Show an Item
  5. Complex Actions Made Simple
  6. Process-Specified Addresses
  7. Add Debugging for Detail
  8. Batch Rule-Set Testing
  9. Pitfalls
8. Chapter 9 DNS and sendmail
  1. Overview
  2. How sendmail Uses DNS
  3. Set Up MX Records
  4. How to Use dig
  5. Pitfalls
9. Chapter 10 Build and Use Companion Programs
  1. The Build Script
  2. The editmap Program
  3. The mail.local Delivery Agent
  4. The mailstats Program
  5. The makemap Program
  6. The praliases Program
  7. The rmail Delivery Agent
  8. The smrsh Program
  9. The vacation Program
  10. Pitfalls
10. Chapter 11 Manage the Queue
  1. Overview of the Queue
  2. Parts of a Queued Message
  3. Using Multiple Queue Directories
  4. Queue Groups (V8.12 and Later)
  5. Bogus qf Files
  6. Printing the Queue
  7. How the Queue Is Processed
  8. Cause Queues to Be Processed
  9. Process Alternative Queues
  10. Queue Quarantining
  11. Pitfalls
  12. The qf File Internals
11. Chapter 12 Maintain Aliases
  1. The aliases(5) File
  2. Forms of Alias Delivery
  3. Write a Delivery Agent Script
  4. Special Aliases
  5. The aliases Database
  6. Prevent Aliasing with -n
  7. Pitfalls
12. Chapter 13 Mailing Lists and ~/.forward
  1. Internal Mailing Lists
  2. :include: Mailing Lists
  3. Defining a Mailing List Owner
  4. Exploder Mailing Lists
  5. Problems with Mailing Lists
  6. Mail List Etiquette
  7. Packages That Help
  8. The User's ~/.forward File
  9. Pitfalls
13. Chapter 14 Signals, Transactions, and Syslog
  1. Signal the Daemon
  2. Log Transactions with -X
  3. Log with syslog
  4. Pitfalls
  5. Other Useful Logging
  6. Alphabetized syslog Equates
14. Chapter 15 Debug sendmail with -d
  1. The Syntax of -d
  2. The Behavior of -d
  3. Interpret the Output
  4. The -D Debug File Switch
  5. Table of All -d Categories
  6. Pitfalls
  7. Reference for -d in Numerical Order
Configuration Reference
1. Chapter 16 Configuration File Overview
  1. Overall Syntax
  2. Comments
  3. V8 Comments
  4. Continuation Lines
  5. The V Configuration Command
  6. Pitfalls
2. Chapter 17 Configure sendmail.cf with m4
  1. The m4 Preprocessor
  2. Configure with m4
  3. m4 Macros by Function
  4. Masquerading
  5. Relays
  6. UUCP Support
  7. Pitfalls
  8. Configuration File Feature Reference
3. Chapter 18 The R (Rules) Configuration Command
  1. Why Rules?
  2. The R Configuration Command
  3. Tokenizing Rules
  4. The Workspace
  5. The Behavior of a Rule
  6. The LHS
  7. The RHS
  8. Pitfalls
  9. Rule Operator Reference
4. Chapter 19 The S (Rule Sets) Configuration Command
  1. The S Configuration Command
  2. The Sequence of Rule Sets
  3. The canonify Rule Set 3
  4. The final Rule Set 4
  5. The parse Rule Set 0
  6. The localaddr Rule Set 5
  7. Rule Sets 1 and 2
  8. Pitfalls
  9. Policy Rule Set Reference
5. Chapter 20 The M (Mail Delivery Agent) Configuration Command
  1. The M Configuration Command
  2. The Symbolic Delivery Agent Name
  3. The mc Configuration Syntax
  4. Delivery Agents by Name
  5. Delivery Agent Equates
  6. How a Delivery Agent Is Executed
  7. Pitfalls
  8. Delivery Agent F= Flags
6. Chapter 21 The D (Define a Macro) Configuration Command
  1. Preassigned sendmail Macros
  2. Command-Line Definitions
  3. Configuration-File Definitions
  4. Macro Names
  5. Macro Expansion: $ and $&
  6. Macro Conditionals: $?, $|, and $.
  7. Macros with mc Configuration
  8. Pitfalls
  9. Alphabetized sendmail Macros
7. Chapter 22 The C and F (Class Macro) Configuration Commands
  1. Class Configuration Commands
  2. Access Classes in Rules
  3. Classes with mc Configuration
  4. Internal Class Macros
  5. Pitfalls
  6. Alphabetized Class Macros
8. Chapter 23 The K (Database-Map) Configuration Command
  1. Enable at Compile Time
  2. The K Configuration Command
  3. The K Command Switches
  4. Use $( and $) in Rules
  5. Database Maps with mc Configuration
  6. Pitfalls
  7. Alphabetized Database-Map Types
9. Chapter 24 The O (Options) Configuration Command
  1. Overview
  2. Command-Line Options
  3. Configuration File Options
  4. Options in the mc File
  5. Alphabetical Table of All Options
  6. Option Argument Types
  7. Interrelating Options
  8. Pitfalls
  9. Alphabetized Options
10. Chapter 25 The H (Headers) Configuration Command
  1. Overview
  2. Header Names
  3. Header Field Contents
  4. ?flags? in Header Definitions
  5. Rules Check Header Contents
  6. Header Behavior in conf.c
  7. Headers and mc Configuration
  8. Headers by Category
  9. Forwarding with Re-Sent Headers
  10. Precedence
  11. Pitfalls
  12. Alphabetized Header Reference
11. Chapter 26 The X (Milters) Configuration Command
  1. Create Milter Support
  2. Add Configuration Support
  3. Build a Milter
  4. Pitfalls
  5. smfi_ Routine Reference
  6. xxfi_ Routine Reference
Appendixes
1. Appendix The mc Configuration Macros and Directives
2. Appendix What's New Since Edition 3
  1. Chapter 1, Some Basics
  2. Chapter 2, Download, Build, and Install
  3. Chapter 3, Tune sendmail with Compile-Time Macros
  4. Chapter 4, Maintain Security with sendmail
  5. Chapter 5, Authentication and Encryption
  6. Chapter 6, The sendmail Command Line
  7. Chapter 7, How to Handle Spam
  8. Chapter 8, Test Rule Sets with -bt
  9. Chapter 9, DNS and sendmail
  10. Chapter 10, Build and Use Companion Programs
  11. Chapter 11, Manage the Queue
  12. Chapter 12, Maintain Aliases
  13. Chapter 13, Mailing Lists and ~/.forward
  14. Chapter 14, Signals, Transactions, and Syslog
  15. Chapter 15, Debug sendmail with -d
  16. Chapter 16, Configuration File Overview
  17. Chapter 17, Configure sendmail.cf with m4
  18. Chapter 18, The R (Rules) Configuration Command
  19. Chapter 19, The S (Rule Sets) Configuration Command
  20. Chapter 20, The M (Mail Delivery Agent) Configuration Command
  21. Chapter 21, The D (Define a Macro) Configuration Command
  22. Chapter 22, The C and F (Class Macro) Configuration Commands
  23. Chapter 23, The K (Database-Map) Configuration Command
  24. Chapter 24, The O (Options) Configuration Command
  25. Chapter 25, The H (Headers) Configuration Command
  26. Chapter 26, The X (Milters) Configuration Command
3. Appendix The checkcompat( ) Function
  1. How checkcompat( ) Works

Bibliography
Colophon

Title:

sendmail, 4th Edition

By:

Bryan Costales, Claus Assmann, George Jansen, Gregory Neil Shapiro

Publisher:

O'Reilly Media

Formats:

Print
Ebook
Safari Books Online

Print:

October 2007

Ebook:

December 2008

Pages:

1312

Print ISBN:

978-0-596-51029-9

| ISBN 10:

0-596-51029-2

Ebook ISBN:

978-0-596-15969-6

| ISBN 10:

0-596-15969-2

Bryan Costales

Bryan Costales lives and writes in San Francisco, California. He has been active in system administration and software development for more than 20 years and has been writing articles and books about computer software for more than 25 years. His most notable books are "C from A to Z" (Prentice Hall), "Unix Communications" (Howard Sams), and "sendmail" (O'Reilly). In addition to technical books, he also writes fiction and hosts a free multimedia web site.

View Bryan Costales's full profile page.
Claus Assmann

Claus Assmann is a member of the Sendmail Consortium and works for Sendmail, Inc. He is the maintainer of sendmail 8 and currently implements a new MTA (message transfer agent) named MeTA1. His main interests in computertechnology are security and performance. He studied computer science at the University of Kiel in Germany, where he received his Ph.D. in 1992.

View Claus Assmann's full profile page.
George Jansen

George Jansen is a freelance writer who has worked with Bryan Costales on several of Bryan's books. His first novel, The Jesse James Scrapbook, is published by Hilliard & Harris. His second, The Fade-away, is published by Pocol Press. Helives in the Bay Area, drives a brand new Toyota Yaris, and enjoys baseball, classic jazz, and taking long naps.

View George Jansen's full profile page.
Gregory Neil Shapiro

Gregory Shapiro began his professional career as a systems administrator for Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) after graduating from the university in 1992. During his tenure as Senior Unix Systems Administrator, he became involved with beta testing the BIND name server, the sendmail mailtransfer agent, and other Unix utilities such as emacs and screen. His involvement with sendmail grew until he became Principal Engineer at Sendmail, Inc., where he continued tosupport the open source version while working on Sendmail's commercial products. He later moved into the IT team as the Senior Unix Network Systems Administrator. He is now Director, Strategic Technology at Sendmail, Inc. He is also aFreeBSD committer and has served as program committee member for BSDCon 2002 and program chair for BSDCon 2003. Greg lives in California and enjoys reading science fiction and fantasy books, traveling, and seeing moviesand theater productions.

View Gregory Neil Shapiro's full profile page.