[Mailman-Users] Using a hostname other than the server's primary name...

[Brad Knowles]

At 11:45 AM -0500 2004/04/28, Roedel, Mark wrote:

>  The box that currently hosts our Mailman lists has several different
>  hostnames, some of which (including its primary) are only resolvable
>  from inside our firewall.

	[ ... deletia ... ]

>  Is it possible to override this behavior?

	Yes, but it depends on your MTA.  We recently did this on a mail 
server I am responsible for.

	With postfix, you set $myhostname equal to the value you want the 
outside world to see.  You will also need to set $smtp_bind_address 
to the IP address you want to use for outbound connections.

	So long as $myhostname resolves to the IP address specified in 
$smtp_bind_address, for which the reverse DNS points back to the same 
name claimed in $myhostname, you should be set.

	Note that you may need to make firewall changes to support these 
application changes.  Many firewalls are configured to allow incoming 
connections, and outgoing packets are only allowed for "established" 
connections (i.e., in response to a given incoming connection). 
Outbound connections are typically more limited, and may not include 
the IP address you specify in $smtp_bind_address.

>  Any way (using the SMTPDirect handler, in case that matters) to ensure
>  that all headers that refer to the list address use the correct
>  hostname?  Reply-To is the most visible problem for list subscribers,
>  and although I can of course override that by providing an explicit
>  reply-to address, it seems like it'd also be to our benefit to have
>  Sender/Errors-To/Return-Path contain reachable addresses as well...

	There's no way to fix this problem from within Mailman.  You have 
to fix this problem inside your MTA.

-- 
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles at skynet.be>

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
     -Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.

   SAGE member since 1995.  See <http://www.sage.org/> for more info.