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From: pjp@globalserve.net (???)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Hostname for box w/ part time internet connection
Date: 7 Jul 1997 01:52:39 GMT
Organization: Globalserve Communications Inc.
Lines: 76
Message-ID: <slrn5s0iv6.4i5.pjp@irc.globalserve.net>
References: <24aac599.u9t27e.1@slip106.termserv.siu.edu> <t9v7p5.lc2.ln@shift.utell.net> <JOHN.97Jul1124606@beethoven.zyqad.co.uk> <33C021EA.1298E996@auburn.campus.mci.net>
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In article <33C021EA.1298E996@auburn.campus.mci.net>, Anthony Jenkins wrote:
> hostname=auburn.campus.mci.net
>which happens to be the domain name of my ISP. My main problem relates
>ro receiving/sending email. My ISP has a POP account for me with the
>username ajenkins@auburn.campus.mci.net (see the Reply to: line above)
>When I log into my machine as, say, root (I know...it's a no-no, but I'm
you don't have to name your machine this but you can also "masqerade" your
hostname within sendmail. In sendmail.cf you should find the line starting
with DM. and you should add the hostname to it.
on my home machine I have my entry masqueraded to DMvex.net so I would be
pjp@vex.net when I mail from there. Here is a clip from the sendmail.cf file
# who I masquerade as (null for no masquerading) (see also $=M)
DMvex.net
so now you can always name your machine dagreatest.of.all.time.net or
whatever ;)
outgoing mail will always be delivered as you@whatever.your.masquerade.is
>the only one with access to my machine) and email someone using mail(1),
>it sets my reply address, I believe, as root@auburn.campus.mci.net. If
>someone replied to that address, it should (rightfully) be routed to my
>ISP's network which would look for a user named 'root' to deliver the
>message to. I guess my question is how does a machine connected to the
>internet via PPP (ppp(1)) appear to the internet? I believe that
>machine is assigned an IP address, and reverse lookups on my IP yield
>something like host-pm.###.auburn.campus.mci.net (don't remember
>exactly). For someone to route an email to my machine directly, he/she
>would have to use that assigned hostname and the username of someone at
>this host (I have 3 usernames corresponding: root, ajenkins & jenkian),
>right? Am I stuck with the POP account as my emailbox? An idea popped
Well as far as I understand how SMTP works is it checks any MX records
at the network it is mailing to first and will use the specified hosts
listed to deliver mail to.
bug % host -t mx auburn.campus.mci.net
auburn.campus.mci.net mail is handled (pri=100) by aus-e.mp.campus.mci.net
auburn.campus.mci.net mail is handled (pri=100) by aus-d.mp.campus.mci.net
auburn.campus.mci.net mail is handled (pri=100) by aus-c.mp.campus.mci.net
auburn.campus.mci.net mail is handled (pri=200) by aus-b.mp.campus.mci.net
auburn.campus.mci.net mail is handled (pri=200) by aus-a.mp.campus.mci.net
auburn.campus.mci.net mail is handled (pri=100) by aus-f.mp.campus.mci.net
as you can see auburn.campus.mci.net has many mailhosts with different
priorities (so that if one mail host is down another can take over and mail
does not get lost).
Since SMTP always goes for MX hosts over absolute hostnames (I shouldn't say
always since I'm not 100% sure I'll have to reread teh rfc) your mail will
not get delivered to your dynamic PPP host. Sometimes networks have no
MX entries meaning the mail goes to the absolute hostname mentioned.
Other times networks do mail caching and forwarding meaning mail will go
to a network's MX listed hosts and from there be forwarded to the approptirate
host.
This is not the case usually and most likely not for PPP dynamic ip's.
I think you'll be stuck using POP mail or IMAP. You could use a program
called fetchmail and/or fetchpop to get your mail and store it into your
mail folder. This could be a cron job and be totally hidden from you...
that way you could get mail to your box with ease.
>into my head from all the suggestions of having routed(8) negotiate with
>my ISP's router the name of my "intranet of one machine", which I should
>be able to pick at will, but I'd be right back to the problem mentioned
>by several people of having a NIC-unrecognized name visible on the
>internet.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Anthony Jenkins
Hope I helped,
Peter