Newbie question

Kevin Darcy kcd at daimlerchrysler.com
Wed Oct 23 01:08:25 UTC 2002


Kid wrote:

> Hy, maybe you all think this is a stupid question, but I really don't know
> how to do it.
> I've got a few domains registerred with my isp. I told them to redirect all
> mail send to the domain to our ip adres. Then the email has to be delivered
> to sendmail by bind, so how do I do that? I know it has something to do with
> an MX entry in the config file, but where is the config file, and what do I
> put in the file? I have a Redhat 7.3 server+bind 9.2 and sendmail V9.

(sendmail V9? According to www.sendmail.org, the latest release is 8.12.6).

DNS is basically just a database of names and addresses; BIND doesn't
"deliver" or "redirect" anything, it just answers queries about names with
records (called "resource records") out of its database. The particular type of
resource record that is important to you here is the MX type (stands for "Mail
eXchanger"). That is what mailers will query when then want to find out where
to deliver mail on the Internet.

So, with that little bit of background, if your ISP is hosting your DNS, tell
them to add/change your MX to point to the name of your mailhost. Note well
that MX records point to *names*, not addresses: your mailhost *must* already
have a DNS name, or you must get one added, in order for the MX record to work.

The fact that you're running BIND on your own server, and the configuration of
that nameserver instance, is pretty much irrelevant unless you plan to start
hosting DNS yourself (and that would have certain requirements, e.g. at least 2
nameservers on permanent IP addresses).


- Kevin




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