Hi,

I am running sendmail 8.14.2 under Slackware 12.1. I want to configure sendmail so that I can send email from PHP scripts using the mail() function. I want this to be a send email only configuration. I have modified the cf file to specify my ISP as the SMART_HOST. If I enter:

sendmail -bv myname@mts.net

I get the following response:

myname@mts.net... deliverable: mailer relay, host smtp.mts.net, user myname@mts.net

PHP is configured to use /usr/bin/sendmail -t -i

When I try to send email using the mail() function of PHP I get the following:

Jun 16 13:01:11 myhost sendmail[3675]: n5GI1B4L003675: to=myname@mts.net, ctladdr=apache (80/80), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=30160, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: Connection refused by [127.0.0.1]

Why is localhost [127.0.0.1] the relay? Why would it be refusing a connection when I'm trying to send email out from localhost?

Here is the content of my sendmail.mc file which I used to generate my sendmail.cf file:

dnl# This is the default sendmail .mc file for Slackware. To generate
dnl# the sendmail.cf file from this (perhaps after making some changes),
dnl# use the m4 files in /usr/share/sendmail/cf like this:
dnl#
dnl# cp sendmail-slackware.mc /usr/share/sendmail/cf/config.mc
dnl# cd /usr/share/sendmail/cf
dnl# sh Build config.cf
dnl#
dnl# You may then install the resulting .cf file:
dnl# cp config.cf /etc/mail/sendmail.cf
dnl#
include(`../m4/cf.m4')
VERSIONID(`default setup for Slackware Linux')dnl
OSTYPE(`linux')dnl
dnl# These settings help protect against people verifying email addresses
dnl# at your site in order to send you email that you probably don't want:
define(`confPRIVACY_FLAGS', `authwarnings,novrfy,noexpn,restrictqrun')dnl
dnl# Uncomment the line below to send outgoing mail through an external server:
define(`SMART_HOST',`smtp.mts.net')dnl
dnl# No timeout for ident:
define(`confTO_IDENT', `0')dnl
dnl# Enable the line below to use smrsh to restrict what sendmail can run:
dnl FEATURE(`smrsh',`/usr/sbin/smrsh')dnl
dnl# See the README in /usr/share/sendmail/cf for a ton of information on
dnl# how these options work:
FEATURE(`use_cw_file')dnl
FEATURE(`use_ct_file')dnl
FEATURE(`mailertable',`hash -o /etc/mail/mailertable.db')dnl
FEATURE(`virtusertable',`hash -o /etc/mail/virtusertable.db')dnl
FEATURE(`access_db', `hash -T<TMPF> /etc/mail/access')dnl
FEATURE(`blacklist_recipients')dnl
FEATURE(`local_procmail',`',`procmail -t -Y -a $h -d $u')dnl
FEATURE(`always_add_domain')dnl
FEATURE(`redirect')dnl
dnl# Turn this feature on if you don't always have DNS, or enjoy junk mail:
dnl FEATURE(`accept_unresolvable_domains')dnl
EXPOSED_USER(`root')dnl
dnl# Also accept mail for localhost.localdomain:
LOCAL_DOMAIN(`localhost.localdomain')dnl
MAILER(local)dnl
MAILER(smtp)dnl
MAILER(procmail)dnl

If it matters I do not have a local domain name. Could the problem be the last few lines in the above file? If so, what should they be?

What other info do I need to supply in order for you help?

Thanks,
Randy

You have to allow relay to the IP configured for your NIC:

In your sendmail.mc (likely in /etc/mail) you should see a line like:
Below that you need to add a similar line that specifies your IP. If your IP is 10.30.22.5 you'd add:
DAEMON_OPTIONS(`Port=smtp,Addr=10.30.22.5, Name=MTA')dnl

You would then need to compile the mc file into the cf file. Check to be sure you have sendmail-cf package installed in addition to the sendmail package. To compile you type:

make <directory of mail files> e.g. make /etc/mail. This will create a new sendmail.cf file from the sendmail.mc.

Thanks for your reply. I don't have any DAEMON_OPTIONS lines in my sendmail.mc file. Does it matter where I place these lines in the file?

Thanks,
Randy

Hmmm - it may be you have a precanned sendmail.cf:

Do you have a this in sendmail.cf?
If so then just add a line like it with your IP and do NOT do the make I mentioned e.g.:
Stop and restart sendmail afterwards.

Hi,

No, this is what I have in the sendmail.cf file:

# SMTP daemon options
O DaemonPortOptions=Name=MTA
O DaemonPortOptions=Port=587, Name=MSA, M=E

I am using Slackware 12.1 and it comes with a file named
sendmail-slackware.mc which appears to be non-standard.

Thanks,
Randy

Hi,

It turns out I had to add a fully qualified name for my host in /etc/hosts. I was getting a data format error from my ISP.

Thanks for your help.

Randy