Xref: utzoo comp.unix.aix:3714 comp.mail.sendmail:2752 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!decwrl!mejac!orchard.la.locus.com!turnkey!jackv From: jackv@turnkey.tcc.com (Jack F. Vogel) Newsgroups: comp.unix.aix,comp.mail.sendmail Subject: Re: Strange Sendmail message returning from my rs/6000 Message-ID: <1991Feb22.174520.5533@turnkey.tcc.com> Date: 22 Feb 91 17:45:20 GMT References: <3368@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> Reply-To: jackv@turnkey.TCC.COM (Jack F. Vogel) Organization: Turnkey Computer Consultants, Westchester, CA Lines: 44 In article <3368@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> joed@cca.ucsf.edu (Joe DeBattista) writes: [.....incoming mail is bouncing....] > ----- Transcript of session follows ----- >>>> HELO itsa ><<< 553 Local configuration error, hostname not recognized as local >554 ... Service unavailable: Bad file number I believe the usual cause of an error like this is that your sendmail is not resolving the fully qualified name 'itsa.ucsf.edu' to the local mailer as it should. Thus it does a nameserver/hosts lookup and attempts to talk smtp to itself, the message "HELO itsa" is the clue to this. The solution is to make sure that you have the D,E,F, and G macros defined in sendmail.cf. D should be the full domain name, E,F, and possibly G are the pieces that make up D. In your case it should look as follows: DDucsf.edu DEucsf DFedu Warning, DON'T define G if you don't need it, as in this case, someone a while back had a "DG" with no value but since it was defined it caused havoc in the rewrite rules that use these macros. >I'm also curious if there is anyplace that all the error messages >that sendmail generates, are in a specific place, with hints as to >the possible problem and fix. Thanks for any helpful hints. sendmail messages are logged in /usr/spool/mqueue/syslog, at least that's where most systems have it, I believe the 6000 is normal in this behavior. However, it may not be as verbose as the above message. The other thing to do is to define a bounces alias and have the P option set, then you will be copied on any bounces on the system. Good Luck! Disclaimer: I don't speak for the company. -- Jack F. Vogel jackv@locus.com AIX370 Technical Support - or - Locus Computing Corp. jackv@turnkey.TCC.COM Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com