Sir, This is in continuation of previous discussion on the subject. As mentioned earlier, I am trying to configure mail on Linux LAN. I shall use the names of two machines "dtlaptop" and "unix11". The domain name is "awt.com.pk". First I installed sendmail on two machines, "dtlaptop" and "unix11". I tried to send the mail from one to the other. It did not go anywhere. It kept sitting on the sender's machine. Giving a message after expiry time that mail could not be delivered because of "relaying denied". I tried a method of enclosing the address in square brackets. But it still did not work. Then I installed DNS on the machine "dtlaptop". I also configured "dtlaptop" as mailserver with an MX entry in the DNS records. On the "unix11", I gave the address of "dtlaptop" as the name-server. I ran the "named" server. I found that now I could send the mail from any user of one machine to any user of the other machine. I killed the "named" server, and I found that I could not send the mail. I restarted the "named" server and I could again send the mail. So, it appears that /etc/hosts file is not sufficient. We have to install the DNS to send the mail. Is my conclusion correct? So far so good. But there is one problem. When I wish to send mail from a user at one host to a user on the other host, I have to mention the hostname. For example, if I wish to send the mail from user1 on "dtlaptop" to user2 on "unix11", I have to give the recipient address as user1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx If I do not give the hostname, then my mail does not go and keeps sitting at the sender machine. So, the problem is why do I have to mention the hostname in the address. Why can't I give the address as user1@xxxxxxxxxx It should automatically locate the mail server and deliver the mail there. (I have created all my users on the mail server). I think, my problem can be solved thru creating an alias. But then why do we need the entry of "MX" in the DNS records. Then any host can receive the mail. For example, in this case users at unix11 are also receiving the mail. Or maybe I am missing something. I tried to check the DNS configuration thru "dig". Here are the results of a query thru dig: $ dig any awt.com.pk ; <<>> DiG 9.2.1 <<>> any awt.com.pk ;; global options: printcmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 27595 ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;awt.com.pk. IN ANY ;; ANSWER SECTION: awt.com.pk. 259200 IN SOA awt.com.pk. hostmaster.awt.com.pk. 199802151 28800 7200 2419200 86400 awt.com.pk. 259200 IN NS dtlaptop.awt.com.pk. awt.com.pk. 259200 IN MX 10 dtlaptop.awt.com.pk. ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION: dtlaptop.awt.com.pk. 259200 IN A 192.168.1.249 ;; Query time: 0 msec ;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1) ;; WHEN: Sat Jan 8 22:18:03 2005 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 130 Thanks, bye __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page ? Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com -- redhat-list mailing list unsubscribe mailto:redhat-list-request@xxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list