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VMSmail gateway for Linux
-------------------------
Definitions
-----------
The "gateway machine" is a Linux system that runs both vmsmaild and has a
vmsmail user set up for forwarding mail from Linux to VMS. You really only
need one of these machines on a (DECnet) network though there is no harm in
setting up more to provide redundancy.
The "gateway user" is a user on the gateway machine. This user exists only to
forward mail to VMS so it should not be an existing Linux user. All mail
sent to the gateway user will be forwarded to VMS. If a failure occurs
during this forwarding (eg the address is not a valid VMS user address)
then a delivery failure message will be sent to the originating user.
Installation
------------
Installing the VMSmail gateway for linux is slightly more complicated than
just copying the files and starting a daemon (though you need to do that
too!)
After going through the normal "make; make install" routine you will have
a running vmsmaild daemon and a mail forwarding program (sendvmsmail) in
/usr/local/sbin. This will allow users to send mail from VMSmail to Linux
users.
To enable Linux (or other TCP/IP mail) users to send to VMSmail you need to
set up a VMSmail gateway username on the Linux machine that is to be the
gateway - this is usually just one machine in the network, the one that
also runs vmsmaild. I recommend you call this user 'vmsmail'. If you
prefer to call it something else you will need to add an entry to the
configuration file (see later).
After creating this user you should create a file in its default directory
called .forward containing the single line:
|/usr/local/sbin/sendvmsmail
This causes all mail send to the 'vmsmail' user to be piped through the
sendvmsmail command which will attempt to send the message to a VMS system.
If you don't want to create a username for forwarding on your system you can
add the following entry to your /etc/aliases file:
vmsmail: |/usr/local/sbin/sendvmsmail
and run the command 'newaliases'. Again, you can change the name 'vmsmail' to
anything you like as long as it is specified in the /etc/vmsmail.conf file.
If you use this method you should start the vmsmaild daemon with the -U flag
to stop it checking for the existance of the username in /etc/passwd.
Configuration file
------------------
By default the VMSmail gateway programs use the function gethostname(2) to
determine the system's name when forming mail addresses. If you find this
is not returning the name you need then you can change the name by editting
the /etc/vmsmail.conf file.
Similarly the name 'vmsmail' is the default username for forwarding from
Linux to VMS, If you don't like this then the configuration file allows
you to change it.
The /etc/vmsmail.conf file takes three, optional, entries
hostname=<host name>
username=<user name>
smtphost=<hostname>
eg:
hostname=myhost.domain.net
username=vms
smtphost=mail.demon.co.uk
The 'username' entry must always match the username you are using for
forwarding or mail sending/replying will fail.
The smtphost entry instructs the daemon to send mail directly using SMTP. If
this line is omitted it will use /usr/sbin/sendmail on the local machine.
If you change any of the entries while the system is running you will need
to restart the vmsmaild daemon.
Sending mail from VMS to Linux
------------------------------
This is dead easy, simply mail to host::user (eg linux::patrick) and the mail
will be sent.
You can also send to any SMTP accessible email address, suppose your Linux
box is connected to the internet and is called 'linux', you can mail me from
VMS by using the following address:
linux::"patrick@tykepenguin.com"
Sending mail from Linux to VMS
------------------------------
This is the slightly more complicated bit. Mail sent from VMS via the gateway
will automatically have the correct return address set in the header.
If you want to send a message to a VMS user from the gateway machine then
send the message to 'vmsmail' with the VMS mail specification where the
user's full name would go. eg:
vmsmail (node::user)
or
node::user <vmsmail>
if you are on another machine then the format is similar:
vmsmail@linux (node::user)
or
node::user <vmsmail>
Note that if you have changed the vmsmail user in /etc/vmsmail.conf then you
will also need to change the username 'vmsmail' in the mail address.
eg:
Sending to VMS user SYSTEM on node BIGVAX
vmsmail@linux (BIGVAX::SYSTEM)
If there are any failures in sending the message then a failure message will
be sent to the originating user.
KNOWN PROBLEMS
--------------
All this assumes you have a working mail system on your Linux box. If you
haven't then all bets are off. Before sending problem reports to me
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE make sure that you can send mail between users
on your Linux box and (ideally) between it and other Linux/Unix boxes on
the same network.
I have noticed some problems using the 'mail' program on Solaris sending
mail to the gateway - it seems that it doesn't like the multi-part names.
dtmail and mailx seem to work fine though so use those (mailx is a
proper replacement for mail anyway).
With Eduardo's kernel, binary files will only work if you start vmsmaild seperately - they will not work if you run vmsmaild from dnetd.
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