i am not sure how to configure it correctly. Every i try to do mail.visualx.net. it tells me cannot find host. I know i set everything correct and stuff like that. I followed all the instructiosn from the webmin book but it still doesnt work. can someone walk me thru this? Thanks.

What can't you configure? Webmin or sendmail?

I'm assuming you can't get sendmail to configure using Webmin. If it can't find a host, the problem is likely not with sendmail or Webmin. Do you have the correct DNS records set up for the host you are attempting to use? Try

ping mail.visualx.net

If you get any errors there, check the configuration on your DNS server. If not...hmmm...

ok i could get ping mail.visualx.net. All i cannot do now is receive mail and send mail. I tried using AOL to send to my email but it doesnt work. Can someone please explain to me the procedures to making this work because I followed all the explainations i could find. Thanks a lot.

What about an MX record in your DNS? Having the address (A) record is vital, but the MX record still must exist for it to be recognized as a mail server.

i added an address and a mx record. i could connect to the server using outlook but i dont receive mail. i also cannot send mail.

Can you telnet to your smtp server from your client system?
telnet ip.of.mail.server 25

[root@sls-ce4p12 root]# telnet 66.36.240.89 25
Trying 66.36.240.89...
telnet: connect to address 66.36.240.89: Connection refused

Is your sendmail even running. if you do a ps aux

root 20817 0.0 0.3 4540 1768 ? S 16:19 0:00 sendmail: accepti

run /sbin/iptables -L

1 - if you have a list of stuff there, you are blocking access to this port. if it is blocked by your firewall, you will not be able to receive mail.

2 - <a href="http://www.nmia.com/%7Eglenn/protech/sendmail.htm">sendmail help</a>
this is the easiest to follow to setup sendmail. forget webmin, until you are a real sysadmin. its for Redhat, but should be pertenant for any distro...

good luck

In addition to checking your firwall (iptables) check if the sendmail process is only listening on the loopback:
netstat -nlp

If so you will need to "dnl" the line in sendmail.cf that tells sendmail only to listen on the loopback. Then rebuild the config and restart sendmail.

i dnled that DAMEON-OPTIONS line and rebuilt the config by using

m4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc > /etc/sendmail.cf

now i get:

Starting sendmail: 554 5.0.0 /etc/sendmail.cf: line 64: unknown configuration line "visualx.net"
[FAILED]

It sounds like you have made another change to that file b accident (inserted a newline or something)

divert(-1)
dnl This is the sendmail macro config file. If you make changes to this file,
dnl you need the sendmail-cf rpm installed and then have to generate a
dnl new /etc/sendmail.cf by running the following command:
dnl
dnl m4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc > /etc/sendmail.cf
dnl
include(`/usr/share/sendmail-cf/m4/cf.m4')
VERSIONID(`linux setup for Red Hat Linux')dnl
OSTYPE(`linux')
dnl Uncomment and edit the following line if your mail needs to be sent out
dnl through an external mail server:
dnl define(`SMART_HOST',`smtp.your.provider')
define(`confDEF_USER_ID',``8:12'')dnl
undefine(`UUCP_RELAY')dnl
undefine(`BITNET_RELAY')dnl
define(`confAUTO_REBUILD')dnl
define(`confTO_CONNECT', `1m')dnl
define(`confTRY_NULL_MX_LIST',true)dnl
define(`confDONT_PROBE_INTERFACES',true)dnl
define(`PROCMAIL_MAILER_PATH',`/usr/bin/procmail')dnl
define(`ALIAS_FILE', `/etc/aliases')dnl
dnl define(`STATUS_FILE', `/etc/mail/statistics')dnl
define(`UUCP_MAILER_MAX', `2000000')dnl
define(`confUSERDB_SPEC', `/etc/mail/userdb.db')dnl
define(`confPRIVACY_FLAGS', `authwarnings,novrfy,noexpn,restrictqrun')dnl
define(`confAUTH_OPTIONS', `A')dnl
dnl TRUST_AUTH_MECH(`DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5 LOGIN PLAIN')dnl
dnl define(`confAUTH_MECHANISMS', `DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5 LOGIN PLAIN')dnl
dnl define(`confAUTH_MECHANISMS', `DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5 LOGIN PLAIN')dnl
dnl define(`confTO_QUEUEWARN', `4h')dnl
dnl define(`confTO_QUEUERETURN', `5d')dnl
dnl define(`confQUEUE_LA', `12')dnl
dnl define(`confREFUSE_LA', `18')dnl
dnl FEATURE(delay_checks)dnl
FEATURE(`no_default_msa',`dnl')dnl
FEATURE(`smrsh',`/usr/sbin/smrsh')dnl
FEATURE(`mailertable',`hash -o /etc/mail/mailertable.db')dnl
FEATURE(`virtusertable',`hash -o /etc/mail/virtusertable.db')dnl
FEATURE(redirect)dnl
FEATURE(always_add_domain)dnl
FEATURE(use_cw_file)dnl
FEATURE(use_ct_file)dnl
dnl The '-t' option will retry delivery if e.g. the user runs over his quota.
FEATURE(local_procmail,`',`procmail -t -Y -a $h -d $u')dnl
FEATURE(`access_db',`hash -o /etc/mail/access.db')dnl
FEATURE(`blacklist_recipients')dnl
EXPOSED_USER(`root')dnl
dnl This changes sendmail to only listen on the loopback device 127.0.0.1
dnl and not on any other network devices. Comment this out if you want
dnl to accept email over the network.
dnl DAEMON_OPTIONS(`Port=smtp,Addr=127.0.0.1, Name=MTA')
dnl NOTE: binding both IPv4 and IPv6 daemon to the same port requires
dnl a kernel patch
dnl DAEMON_OPTIONS(`port=smtp,Addr=::1, Name=MTA-v6, Family=inet6')
dnl We strongly recommend to comment this one out if you want to protect
dnl yourself from spam. However, the laptop and users on computers that do
dnl not have 24x7 DNS do need this.
FEATURE(`accept_unresolvable_domains')dnl
dnl FEATURE(`relay_based_on_MX')dnl
MAILER(smtp)dnl
MAILER(procmail)dnl
Cwlocalhost.localdomain

here's my sendmail.mc. Hoping this would help.