VCS SMTP support on Unix - problems and suggestions

[Andy_Tsouladze]

There are several problems related to SMTP in VCS that I would like to describe here. I am speaking about SFRAC
4.0MP1 on Solaris 8, but I guess the issues below are generic.

1. On Unix, typical approach to sending mail out is to invoke sendmail directly using /usr/lib/sendmail. This is what most programs do. There is no need to define SMTP server. I do not see any compelling reason why VCS does it differently.

2. During sfrac installation/configuration using installsfrac script, at some point there are SMTP related questions. When SMTP server is specified, installation script tries to ping it, and if ping fails, it refuses to proceed. Problem is, ICMP traffic may be blocked, but that does not mean the mail server is unreachable. If this check is needed at all, maybe it would be better to resolve the name and try to connect to port 25. In any event, there should be an "override" option, meaning "I wanf this name even though the test fails".

3. Same scenario as in (2). I wanted to specify `localhost' as my SMTP server. The script does not accept it because it wants domain name. This really does not make sense. Fortunately, I can specify localhost later, while doing regular VCS configuration.

4. It is a good thing that we now have SmtpServerVrfyOff option. Thanks. However, since most mail servers these days do not support VRFY at all, I guess default value for SmtpServerVrfyOff should be 1. Better yet, change the option to SmtpServerVrfy and set it to 0.

Regards,

Andy

[Herve_Regad-Pel]

Hi Andy,

I'm a newbye here, but just feel like posting
comments today :)

I agree 100% with all of your points ... except
1-.

Hardly any vendor would wish to put knowledge
of sendmail.cf on the critical path of using SMTP
with their product :)

Further more, today, in many companies, the mail
infrastructure is distinct from the rest (data center),
thus it's largely simpler to put the mail relay, than, say,
discover that this mail relay is in fact called "Smart relay
host" in sendmail (DS) !
And plus all the differences between OSes in default
config for sendmail (MX ? not MX ? and all that).

It's probably to avoid tons of support calls about that.