qmail only sending to ip or HOTMAIL!!
 

Hi, i have recently inherited an ISP and there seems to have been a problem with the qmail configuration for quite a while - trouble is it will only send mails out to an IP address or HOTMAIL ie any perl scripts i write can only mail directly to an IP address or to whoever@hotmail.com.
I guess this is a configuration problem has anyone any ideas where the file that restricts qmail like this is ?
Thanks 4 your time

check the /var/qmail/control/ files

Thanks, but unfortunately I had already checked these files and there are no such restrictions in here. I should have mentioned this before sorry.

Any other ideas ?

"/var/qmail/bin/qmail-showctl" will show u some information about your qmail configuration.

the qmail config files.
http://lifewithqmail.org/lwq.html#config-files

good luck

Thanks maxut but no joy All of the configuration files appear ok I am looking for something containing Hotmail as this, i assume, would need to be present in order to restrict all mail out to addresses containing hotmail only. Do you think it could be a user thing rather than a qmail thing ?

How about /etc/tcp.smtp

nope, nothing there either, could this be a remnant of a sendmail config ??

surely yes, it is possible. a user can type anything else as his mail address. if your qmail has smtp-auth-pacth that user must login as real account name and password to send mails. relaying mustnt be allowed also. /etc/tcp.smtp

u can use "fgrep" to search files that contain "hotmail" word:
fgrep -r hotmail /var/qmail


do your clients use webmail interface?

good luck.

If it were me, I'd start over. Get yourself a brand new server and setup qmail and all your extras from scratch... this way you know what you're working with. Sounds like you're working with somebody else's crap that needs to be wiped out.

I have to assume this isn't a production box. If it is, your users are probably fit to be tied because they can only send to hotmail. I'd either wipe out qmail and start over on that machine or get a new machine and install it from scratch.

sounds like a mighty fine idea to me - I just need to convince the bods that be ;)

Well, if you don't start over and get a new box, at the very least you should be able to wipe it out and start over without needing to get too much approval. I mean, surely this isn't a production box. If its not, then you're not really losing anything except your time spent getting it setup again.

I also recommend using a howto like www.qmailrocks.org. I personally prefer the one listed in my signature, but everyone has their own preference. By using a howto like this, you're able to pass this server on to another admin in the future and he can easily tell what you've got installed based on the howto that was used.

Maybe your nameserving is f.cked up and hotmail is in /etc/hosts or in some weird leftover cache.

Does dig nslookup give you the right stuff?

Found it.........

It appears that I have in fact misled all of you with the question posted - it was in fact due to the verification of the return address by qmail.

Turns out that mailing to the ip and Hotmail was coded and the scripts were 'faking' a return address and therefore fooling qmail into thinking that these mails were ok to send as the return address was valid.

Any standard mails attempting to go out however were using the default return address set up in the /qmail/control files which was a bad address.

Fixed the files in the /qmail/control dir and all is hunky dory!

Thanks to everyone for their help.

Jugger