Mailscanner and Sendmail Null Client

[William Burns]

John Rudd wrote:

>A) use libwrap on the scan array machines to only accept connections
>from the primaries
>
>B) have the primaries in their relay domain (so they accept all
>messages, no matter what the to/from might be, and thus the primaries
>are responsible for being set up to not do promiscusious relaying)
>
>
Aren't A and B redundant?
I'm thinking I'd just use my "access" file to relay mail from the
primaries if that's what I wanted to do.

>C) have the sendmail config be a null client which points back to the
>primaries.
>
>
So your primaries are smart-host(s)
That should work for the scanner side of the configs.

>I'm trying to think of ways to set up a dedicated 'scanning array' using
>mailscanner.  What I envision is this:
>
>
>1) If the primary email servers receive email that didn't come from the
>scan array, then they send that message to the scan array (this is
>pretty trivial to set up under CommuniGate Pro).
>
>
Ok... If your "primary" side is really that trivial, then it sounds like
you're done.
I assume that your communigate config will still only accept mail for
legit users in your domain.
..and that it will send mail to the scanner(s) even if it would
otherwise have been delivered locally.

>2) the scan array is a load balanced group of machines running sendmail
>+ mailscanner.  When they're done scanning messages, they send all
>messages back to the primary email servers (no matter what their actual
>destination might be).
>
>
>
So... The primaries have to relay for the scanners too.
Unusual, but it should work.

Just curious... Why bother?
The scanner machines could send mail directly to end destinations just
as easily as your "primary" server(s).
Are you trying to avoid having to look at sendmail logs on the scanner
machines? It's the only reason I can think of to send outbound mail back
to a primary. Any postmaster/bounce messages will then be generated by
the primaries, so the mail logs of errors should all be on the primaries.

How many different primaries will there be?
If you've got multiple primaries hosting multiple domains, you'll need a
mailertable on your scanners too.

By the way, if that's your intent, then I don't think you'll be able to
get your scanners to forward mail back to the "correct" smart-host. (The
one that originally sent the scanner that piece of mail) So that's going
to ruin the "simplicity" of your mail logs on the primaries, since
outbound mail could leave through any primary, instead of the one
primary that your end-user sends his outbound mail to.

And.. Unlike having mailscanner on the same machine as your primary,
each  message will have two message IDs on your primary ... one for
inbound and one for outbound mail.

>Can I just have one .cf file set up to be a null client, or does the
>first sendmail process (the one that does queueonly) need to be a real
>config and not just a null client?
>
>
AFAIK, a sendmail config w/ a smart host (null_client config) is just as
"real" as one without.
One config should work fine.

----------
I wonder... How hard would it be to have mailscanner style sendmail-in
and sendmail-out queue directories on your primaries, but to automate
file transfer from the sendmail-in queue, to a sendmail-in queue on a
dedicated mailscanner machine, and back from the sendmail-out queue
directory.

-Bill

-------------------------- MailScanner list ----------------------
To leave, send    leave mailscanner    to jiscmail at jiscmail.ac.uk
Before posting, please see the Most Asked Questions at
http://www.mailscanner.biz/maq/     and the archives at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/mailscanner.html