Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!eru!luth!sunic!dkuug!freja.diku.dk!rimfaxe.diku.dk!zonker
From: zonker@rimfaxe.diku.dk (Claus Engdahl)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail
Subject: Problems reading .forward
Keywords: sendmail forward
Message-ID: <1990Apr8.204942.9137@diku.dk>
Date: 8 Apr 90 20:49:42 GMT
Sender: news@diku.dk (The Netnews System)
Distribution: comp
Organization: Department Of Computer Science, University Of Copenhagen
Lines: 38


Hi.

Just wanted to hear if we're the only site with this problem:

When one of the machines containing our user-homedirectories is down,
the mail system is unable to read the .forward file. In these cases
the mail is dropped/delivered in a pretty random fashion.


We have several machines running sendmail (V. 5.61++/IDA-1.2.8).

The users homedirectories are spread over several machines (some of
the users have acces to several machines, but the majority can acces
only one).  If a user isnt allowed acces to a machine, (s)he is given
a special "no-login" shell.

Under normal circumstances we dont have any problems: the users simply
leave the address for their machine in the .forward file. 
If however the machine with their homedirectory is down, sendmail is
unable to read their .forward, and simply drops the mail on a machine
where the user has an entry in the passwd file.

In a few cases mail has been dropped on a machine where the user
couldn't read it.


What we need is some sort of global (machine-independent) "forward-
database". We're currently considering implementing such a database,
using yp. 

Does such a system already exist (together with sendmail)?




zonker@diku.dk
My motto is: Honi soit qui pense  ;-)