sendmail problem, I think

[davepass]

I am attempting to have a php page generate an email using it's mail() function. When I do this, I do not receive any php errors (meaning that the function executed and returned true), but the email is still not sent.

I'm guessing I have sendmail misconfigured somehow.

I don't know a ton about it so I'll give you the info I have and hope someone can point me in the right direction.

I checked to see if sendmail is running.

# ps -ef | grep exim produces

dpassud 2809 2668 0 21:04 pts/2 00:00:00 grep exim


When I kill it and restart using

# sendmail -bd -q20m


The following appears in the syslog

Nov 30 20:53:01 stampy /USR/SBIN/CRON[2789]: (mail) CMD ( if [ -x /usr/sbin/exim -a -f /etc/exim/exim.conf ]; then /usr/sbin/exim -q ; fi)

When I looked at the /var/log/mail.log, it shows activity from today, but I can't figure out what I did to create the entries. At any rate it looks like this:

Nov 30 15:13:36 stampy sendmail[2119]: My unqualified host name (stampy) unk
nown; sleeping for retry
Nov 30 15:14:36 stampy sendmail[2119]: unable to qualify my own domain name (b
allsack) -- using short name
Nov 30 15:14:36 stampy sendmail[2119]: iAUMEaQN002119: from=www-data, size=49,
class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<200411302214.iAUMEaQN002119@stampy>, relay=www-data
@localhost
Nov 30 15:14:36 stampy sm-mta[2122]: iAUMEajV002122: ruleset=check_mail, arg1=
<www-data@stampy>, relay=stampy [127.0.0.1], reject=553 5.1.8 <www-data@ball
sack>... Domain of sender address www-data@stampy does not exist
Nov 30 15:14:36 stampy sendmail[2119]: iAUMEaQN002119: to=dave@budonk.com, ctl
addr=www-data (33/33), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=30039,
relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=5.6.0, stat=Data format error
Nov 30 15:14:36 stampy sendmail[2119]: iAUMEaQN002119: iAUMEaQO002119: DSN: Da
ta format error
Nov 30 15:14:36 stampy sm-mta[2122]: iAUMEajV002122: from=<www-data@stampy>,
size=49, class=0, nrcpts=0, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MSA, relay=stampy [127.0.0.1]

Nov 30 15:14:37 stampy sm-mta[2122]: iAUMEajW002122: from=<>, size=1965, class
=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<200411302214.iAUMEaQO002119@stampy>, proto=ESMTP, daemon=
MSA, relay=stampy [127.0.0.1]
Nov 30 15:14:37 stampy sendmail[2119]: iAUMEaQO002119: to=www-data, delay=00:0
0:01, xdelay=00:00:01, mailer=relay, pri=31073, relay=[127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, st
at=Sent (iAUMEajW002122 Message accepted for delivery)
Nov 30 15:14:37 stampy sm-mta[2123]: iAUMEajW002122: to=dpassudetti, delay=00:
00:01, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=local, pri=32146, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent

/var/log/exim/paniclog contains

2004-11-30 21:17:37 socket bind() to port 25 for address (any IPv4) failed: Address already in use: daemon abandoned

when I execute my script, /var/log/exim/mainlog shows:

2004-11-30 21:21:19 1CZLzT-0000kP-00 <= www-data@stampy U=wwwdata P=local S=3
98
2004-11-30 21:21:21 1CZLzT-0000kP-00 == dave@ample.com T=remote_smtp defer (-4
4): retry time not reached for any host
2004-11-30 21:21:29 1CZLzT-0000kP-00 ** dave@budonk.com R=lookuphost T=remote_sm
tp: SMTP error from remote mailer after MAIL FROM:<www-data@stampy> SIZE=1434:
host mailhost.budonk.com [216.219.254.203]: 553 5.1.8 <www-data@stampy>... Do
main of sender address www-data@stampy does not ist
2004-11-30 21:21:29 1CZLzd-0000kU-00 <= <> R=1CZLzT-0000kP-00 U=mail P=local S=1
356
2004-11-30 21:21:29 1CZLzT-0000kP-00 Error message sent to www-data@stampy
2004-11-30 21:21:30 1CZLzd-0000kU-00 => dpassudetti <www-data@stampy> D=localu
ser T=local_delivery
2004-11-30 21:21:30 1CZLzd-0000kU-00 Completed

and just now, the same log spit out a bunch of

2004-11-30 21:23:01 Start queue run: pid=2889
2004-11-30 21:23:02 1CZLqb-0000jp-00 == dave@example.com T=remote_smtp defer (-4
4): retry time not reached for any host
2004-11-30 21:23:03 1CZLot-0000jf-00 == dave@example.com T=remote_smtp defer (-4
4): retry time not reached for any host
2004-11-30 21:23:04 1CZL6n-0000iA-00 == dave@example.com T=remote_smtp defer (-4
4): retry time not reached for any host
2004-11-30 21:23:05 1CZL6P-0000i0-00 == dave@example.com T=remote_smtp defer (-4
4): retry time not reached for any host
2004-11-30 21:23:06 1CZKeq-0000gn-00 == dave@example.com T=remote_smtp defer (-4
4): retry time not reached for any host
2004-11-30 21:23:07 1CZHqx-0000e8-00 == dave@example.com T=remote_smtp defer (-4
4): retry time not reached for any host
2004-11-30 21:23:08 1CZHt3-0000eF-00 == dave@example.com T=remote_smtp defer (-4
4): retry time not reached for any host
2004-11-30 21:23:09 1CZKkd-0000h5-00 == dave@example.com T=remote_smtp defer (-4
4): retry time not reached for any host
2004-11-30 21:23:10 1CZL7R-0000iL-00 == dave@example.com T=remote_smtp defer (-4
4): retry time not reached for any host
2004-11-30 21:23:11 1CZLvn-0000kD-00 == dave@example.com T=remote_smtp defer (-4
4): retry time not reached for any host
2004-11-30 21:23:12 1CZLzT-0000kP-00 == dave@example.com T=remote_smtp defer (-4
4): retry time not reached for any host
2004-11-30 21:23:12 End queue run: pid=2889

Found 1 more clue. This message sent to my user on the linux box.

From MAILER-DAEMON Tue Nov 30 22:06:09 2004
Return-path: <>
Envelope-to: www-data@stampy
Received: from mail by stampy with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian))
id 1CZMgr-0000n0-00
for <www-data@stampy>; Tue, 30 Nov 2004 22:06:09 -0700
X-Failed-Recipients: dave@budonk.com
From: Mail Delivery System <Mailer-Daemon@stampy>
To: www-data@stampy
Subject: Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender
Message-Id: <E1CZMgr-0000n0-00@stampy>
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 22:06:09 -0700

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software (Exim).

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

dave@budonk.com
SMTP error from remote mailer after MAIL FROM:<www-data@stampy> SIZE=1406:
host mailhost.budonk.com [216.219.254.203]: 553 5.1.8 <www-data@stampy>...
Domain of sender address www-data@stampy does not exist

------ This is a copy of the message, including all the headers. ------

Return-path: <www-data@stampy>
Received: from www-data by stampy with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian))
id 1CZMgo-0000ms-00; Tue, 30 Nov 2004 22:06:06 -0700
To: dave@budonk.com
Subject: php mail
To: dave@budonk.com^M
From: jbiggs@budonk.com^M
Reply-To: jbiggs@budonk.com^M
Message-Id: <E1CZMgo-0000ms-00@stampy>
Sender: www-data <www-data@stampy>
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 22:06:06 -0700


it worked man

All any of this means to me is that something isn't configured right. Any ideas as to what?

When I ran eximcinfig and sendmailconfig, I pretty much accepted all the defaults.

[wassy121]

It looks like your hostname is not configured correctly. If you look at the headers it reads:

Return-path: <www-data@stampy>

Since I am not positive on the OS, you will want to find out how and where to change your hostname, so that the command:

hostname

returns a valid domain name like 'stampy.com'.

I hope this points you in the right direction. Also, thank you for posting lots of output. It really helps in figuring out what is wrong

Best,

Samuel

[davepass]

Thanks!
I'm afraid I'm still at a bit of a loss.

My distro is Debian 3.

Would hostname be something like an environment variable that is set at the OS level or somewhere in the sendmail/exim config?

[wassy121]

It is set at the system level. Since I am not fluent in debian, all I can say is it is almost definately in /etc somewhere. You may be able to just run 'hostname stampy.com' to set it to stampy.com, but this will not hold if/when you reboot your machine. It is set at boot time by one of the scripts in /etc/rc.d/ so if you run 'grep -Ri hostname /etc/rc.d/*' you should be able to find a good starting point on where to set the variable.

Best,

Samuel

[davepass]

ok. that got me a little further. now the email i get from the system is

From MAILER-DAEMON Wed Dec 01 00:20:12 2004
Return-path: <>
Envelope-to: www-data@budonk.com
Received: from mail by budonk.com with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian))
id 1CZOma-00006G-00
for <www-data@budonk.com>; Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:20:12 -0700
X-Failed-Recipients: dave@budonk.com
From: Mail Delivery System <Mailer-Daemon@budonk.com>
To: www-data@budonk.com
Subject: Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender
Message-Id: <E1CZOma-00006G-00@budonk.com>
Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:20:12 -0700

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software (Exim).

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

dave@budonk.com
unknown local-part "dave" in domain "budonk.com"

------ This is a copy of the message, including all the headers. ------

Return-path: <www-data@budonk.com>
Received: from www-data by budonk.com with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian))
id 1CZOma-00006C-00; Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:20:12 -0700
To: dave@budonk.com
Subject: php mail
To: dave@budonk.com
From: jbiggs@budonk.com
Reply-To: jbiggs@budonk.com
Message-Id: <E1CZOma-00006C-00@budonk.com>
Sender: www-data <www-data@budonk.com>
Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:20:12 -0700


it worked man

I haven't checked the other logs. Time for sleep. Will check in the a.m. to see if anything different surfaces.

Thanks for the help thus far

[wassy121]

It looks like you set your hostname to budonk.com, but I am not sure if that is correct. This will make exim think that anything bound for $USER@budonk.com will be delivered locally. This means it will try to forward the email into /var/spool/mail/dave (or wherever exim puts the local mail spool). If you want it to deliver externally, you have to make your hostname something different like 'laptop.budonk.com'.

Best,

Samuel

[davepass]

Shoot, that seems to have brought back the old problem of the domain "laptop.budonk.com" not existing.

Here's the email sent to my user on the box:

From MAILER-DAEMON Wed Dec 01 09:34:29 2004
Return-path: <>
Envelope-to: www-data@laptop.budonk.com
Received: from mail by stampy with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian))
id 1CZXQz-00004r-00
for <www-data@laptop.budonk.com>; Wed, 01 Dec 2004 09:34:29 -0700
X-Failed-Recipients: dave@budonk.com
From: Mail Delivery System <Mailer-Daemon@laptop.budonk.com>
To: www-data@laptop.budonk.com
Subject: Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender
Message-Id: <E1CZXQz-00004r-00@stampy>
Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 09:34:29 -0700

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software (Exim).

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

dave@budonk.com
SMTP error from remote mailer after MAIL FROM:<www-data@laptop.budonk.com>
SIZE=1417:
host mailhost.budonk.com [216.219.254.203]: 553 5.1.8 <www-data@stampy.bud
onk.com>... Domain of sender address www-data@laptop.budonk.com does not exist

------ This is a copy of the message, including all the headers. ------

Return-path: <www-data@laptop.budonk.com>
Received: from www-data by stampy with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian))
id 1CZXQo-00004b-00; Wed, 01 Dec 2004 09:34:18 -0700
To: dave@budonk.com
Subject: php mail
To: dave@budonk.com
From: jbiggs@budonk.com
Reply-To: jbiggs@budonk.com
Message-Id: <E1CZXQo-00004b-00@stampy>
Sender: www-data <www-data@laptop.budonk.com>
Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 09:34:18 -0700


it worked man

I did catch a line in the boot secquence that reads:

/usr/share/sendmail/sendmail not found/executable, aborting.

To me it sounds like it is looking for a sym link to the sendmail executable in the wrong place? Exim is starting up though. . . would it be worth it to create a sym link at /usr/share/sendmail/sendmail to /usr/sbin/sendmail?


Also got this again from /var/log/exim/mainlog when executing the script:

2004-12-01 09:50:19 1CZXgJ-00005R-00 <= www-data@laptop.budonk.com U=www-data
P=local S=381
2004-12-01 09:50:23 1CZXgJ-00005R-00 ** dave@budonk.com R=lookuphost T=remote_sm
tp: SMTP error from remote mailer after MAIL FROM:<www-data@laptop.budonk.com>
SIZE=1417: host mailhost.budonk.com [216.219.254.203]: 553 5.1.8 <www-data@sta
mpy.budonk.com>... Domain of sender address www-data@laptop.budonk.com does n
ot exist
2004-12-01 09:50:24 1CZXgO-00005W-00 <= <> R=1CZXgJ-00005R-00 U=mail P=local S=1
416
2004-12-01 09:50:24 1CZXgJ-00005R-00 Error message sent to www-data@laptop.bud
onk.com
2004-12-01 09:50:24 1CZXgJ-00005R-00 Completed
2004-12-01 09:50:24 1CZXgO-00005W-00 => dpassudetti <www-data@laptop.budonk.co
m> D=localuser T=local_delivery
2004-12-01 09:50:24 1CZXgO-00005W-00 Completed

[wassy121]

This is an error that could be fixed with masquerading in sendmail. However, with exim I am less knowledgeable. Someone else, or google, should be able to help further. Search for 'exim domain masquerading'.

Best,

Samuel

[davepass]

ok, will do.

Thanks for getting me this far - much appreciated.

-dave

[davepass]

Got it to work. In case any is interested:

It seems as though my web host's incoming mail server was rejecting the message because the header stated that the message was coming from the domain "budonk.com" (I set this when I ran eximconfig), when in fact the message was really being sent from my ISP. So I ran eximconfig again, set it so that the header would say my ISP's domain (comcast.net) and it worked like a charm.