[TriLUG] Sendmail oddities

[mark at thefowles.com]

I may be wrong, but doesn't MailScanner once installed take the place of
"sendmail" as far as control?

> Hi Gang,
>    I think this is related to a buggered MailScanner install, but take a
> look and let me know if it sounds like a good hunch:
>
> (FC3 server on relatively new hardware)
>
> - During init, MailScanner tries to start but fails due to
> something-or-other.  Bad config, maybe; just haven't had time to futz
> with it.
> - Later in init, sendmail starts with an [ OK ] result.
>
> All seems well.  Furthermore:
> from somewhere outside, telnet myserver.net 25 results in a normal
> conversation with sendmail, from MAIL FROM:<...> through DATA ... all
> the way to RSET and QUIT.  200-code success on every command.
>
> HOWEVER...
> The message from said entirely normal conversation seems, by all
> appearances, to be falling into the bit bucket--it does not end up in
> the recipient's mailbox.  Yet:
>
> % service sendmail status
> sendmail (pid blah blah blah) is running...
>
> % service dovecot status
> dovecot (pid blah blah blah) is running...
>
> BUT:
> when I go to the sendmail module of webmin on that server, the
> start/stop button at the bottom is showing the START option, not the
> STOP option, and once I click Start Sendmail in webmin, sendmail begins
> actually functioning correctly.
>
> So:
> - Why does sendmail indicate itself to be running to the service command
> (and the init script), and carry out valid conversations on port 25, if
> it's not really running [correctly]?
> - Where do those messages go?
> - And how come only webmin is alert enough to realize that sendmail is
> in fact /not/ running [properly], and is able to correct it?  What does
> it know that I don't? (obviously lots, but still...)
>
> Thanks a ton,
> ~Brian
>
>
> --
> ----------------
> Brian A. Henning
> strutmasters.com
> 336.597.2397x238
> ----------------
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