RE: Part time hosts file

Neil Moore-Smith (nms@crescendo.ltd.uk)
Fri, 9 Oct 1998 22:27:32 +0100


I think the problem may be more to do with DNS. Ping and telnet just
require an IP address, and this can come from the hosts file, DNS/BIND or
NIS (if you have that). However, sendmail needs to know which host is the
mail server for "kitty", as it need not be kitty itself. So it does a DNS
lookup, asking for the MX (mail exchanger) address record for kitty. If
your DNS does not have an MX record configured for kitty, then you can't
send mail to it.

Alternatively, perhaps it does, but your DNS server address is wrong.
Here's how to test it. Type in as follows.

nslookup

server 204.146.247.41

set q=MX

kitty.n7vvl.ampr.org

This will return either the MX record for kitty, or an error message.

Neil

On Friday, October 09, 1998 5:09 PM, Willy Peake [SMTP:wlpeake@ibm.net]
wrote:
> I'm a new Linux user but having a lot of fun.
>
> My problem is not all programs use the hosts file.
> Ping, telnet and some others do. They find the second
> computer [kitty.n7vvl.ampr.org] fine.
>
> But programs like sendmail and host don't. When I send a message
> to user@kitty, in the var/log/messages file, sendmail correctly forms
> machine name to kitty.n7vvl.ampr.org and then says it can't find it.
>
> I have these files set up:
>
> hosts:
> 192.168.13.1 thunder.n7vvl.ampr.org thunder
> 192.168.13.13 kitty.n7vvl.ampr.org kitty
> 127.0.0.1 localhost.n7vvl.ampr.org localhost
>
> host.conf:
> order hosts,bind
> multi on
>
> resolv.conf:
> search n7vvl.ampr.org
> nameserver 204.146.247.41
>
> It seems like it picks up the info from the resolv.conf file
> but doesn't make connect to hosts file.
>
> I think the routing table is working because of ping kitty does work.
>
> Slackware 3.5, 2.0.34
>
> Some help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
>
> Willy Peake (A trying to be rid of windows user or at least co-exist)
> wlpeake@ibm.net
>
>
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