Mail Setup - Domain Name vs. Host Name

I tried to search for this one, but the terms are so common that it made things a little difficult. Anyways, it's a simple question (I think):
My mail service is working fine, however I just noticed that in server admin (under Mail), the domain name is set as mail.mydomain.com and the host name is set to mydomain.com. That's counter to my understanding of what should be in those fields (it should be the reverse, if my understanding of the relevant terms is correct). However, when I tried to switch them I get the following error, albeit only when I try to send mail from one domain hosted on this machine to another domain hosted on the same machine:
mail for mydomain.com loops back to myself.
Any ideas?

You are correct, it should be the other way around.
That said, there is a bug in Server Admin. It will sometimes not correctly references the domain name portion in the mydestination parameter in /etc/postfix/main.cf.
So while it would be a good idea to swap things, you will need to also add the domain name as a local host alias in Server Admin to get mail going again.
HTH,
Alex

Similar Messages

How to properly setup domain name ISP v. Registrar

Mac OS Server 10.6 (SLS). I have a static IP which my ISP assigned an alias for ease of their management. I have a domain name from a registrar (not from the same ISP) which is registered using their DNS with an MX record, A records, etc (they do not offer PTR records). When I install SLS and enter the route IP address, it picks up the alias of my ISP which is not my domain name. I am using OpenDNS as my DNS server.
When I ping my domain, it properly resolves to my IP address. When I nslookup my ip address, it non-authoriatively tells me the alias assigned by my ISP (and not my registrar). When I dig my IP address, it shows me my registrars name. Regardless, under Server Admin the ethernet says my DNS is the ISPs.
Help! Should I setup the DNS server so I can manage locally? I do not want to have to pay my ISP additional fees for DNS nor domain name management / transfers? What am I doing wrong, it can't be this hard?
Thanks,
Jas

I have a domain name from a registrar (not from the same ISP) which is registered using their DNS with an MX record, A records, etc (they do not offer PTR records)
Sure. The registrar has no control over the IP address(es) you get from your ISP. They can't handle reverse DNS for you.
When I nslookup my ip address, it non-authoriatively tells me the alias assigned by my ISP (and not my registrar)
That's correct - the IP address you're using is 'owned' by your ISP. Therefore any reverse lookup will ultimately query your ISP's servers and return whatever name your ISP has defined.
Should I setup the DNS server so I can manage locally?
Generally you don't manage the reverse DNS unless you have your own IP addresses. The easiest solution by far would be to ask you ISP to change the reverse DNS entries for your IP address(es).
Failing that, they can SWIP your IP addresses to you DNS server - this makes your DNS server authoritative for those IPs (in the same way you can be authoritative for your domain), but that's more work, and many ISPs refrain from doing that.
I do not want to have to pay my ISP additional fees for DNS nor domain name management / transfers?
Are they charging you for this? Then change ISPs. I'm not aware of any ISP that charges for setting up reverse DNS for clients.

Having problems with maverick and outgoing mail with domain name

hi
i just upgraded my operating system from mountain lion to maverick. i did a clean install on a new hard drive.
anyways, my desktop mac mini computer using mountain lion is having no problems with my outgoing mail with my domain name.
smtp.1and1.com
custom port 993
SSL
password
using the exact same info on my laptop with maverick
no dice.
mail comes in but can't email out with my domain name
i tried - smtp.1and1.com:(email address)
any suggestions
thanks
phil

Hi, Phillip Chin.
Thank you for the question. The article below will help you troubleshoot the issue that you are experiencing with mail.
OS X Mail: Troubleshooting sending and receiving email messages
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3276
Cheers,
Jason H.

Mail autoformats domain name as link as I type

Just recently, I have noticed that Mail is autoformatting domain names as links, and leaving the insertion point before the thing it thinks is a link.
For example, if I type foo.bar.com and hit the spacebar, after a few moments I will see
| foo.bar.com
(the '|' indicates where the insertion point has moved to)
This is quite annoying as I constantly write emails containing domain names and it really messes with my typing.
It is possible that this is due to the MailTags add-on that I have installed. I'll be checking that

That was very quick, silver. Very many thanks.... still finding my way, as I use both English and French.
Will be back next time I get lost.
Eric

Domain name/"primary DNS" name/mail host name/mail server name/mx name

Hi,
I have registered my domain name (N.com) with an external dns server and created an MX record (mail.N.com) for it as well. My server sits behind a router and internet traffic is port(80)-forwarded to my server's fixed internal ip address (I can access my webpages from the internet just fine). When I initially setup the server I was asked to give it a "primary DNS name." I naturally assumed that N.com was supposed to be entered here, but that just caused all kinds of problems (though I still do not understand why). So I reinstalled and currently have server.N.com as the primary DNS name of the server (although it shows up in Server Admin and Workgroup Manager as server.local--why is that?)
I have had no luck getting any email from the internet with the default settings in mail services (domain name of N.com and host name of server.N.com). Having no luck with the defaults, I assumed that maybe I needed to change the host name to "mail.N.com" so that it matched the MX record. I also changed the user preferences in Workgroup Manager to receive mail from mail.N.com--but still no luck. Could someone tell me what I am doing wrong and how come none of the Mail Service literature mentions anything about what a mail "host name" is supposed to be? Is it supposed to be the same as the "Mail Server" name that Workgroup Manager asks each user for? and is it the same as the MX record name?
I am just needing some help to connect all these variously named, but undefined, dots.
Also, how come I can access webmail from the internet using www.N.com/webmail but can't do it from any computers within my physical network (I have to use IPaddress/webmail or server.local/webmail)?
Also, should my user email addresses be [email protected] or [email protected] (which is the current default)?
Thanks in advance and good luck!
John

I had been told by a friend that ... regular email coming in from the internet would go through port 80
Unfortunately you were misinformed.
My MX record needs the extra subname (such as "mail") in front of the domain name, right?
Not at all. A MX record for 'N.com' is entirely valid (expected, in fact).
An MX record tells remote mail servers where to send mail for any domain/subdomain. If you think about it, let's say you worked for Apple and you wanted people to be able to send email to [email protected], well then you need an MX record for 'apple.com'.
You can see if you dig MX apple.com that they actually have 9 MX records, but the point still stands.
Now, you might also have MX records for subdomains so that you can have [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc. Each of these subdomains would need a separate MX record.
So, in general, for any set of email addresses @[anything.]domain.com you have a MX record telling remote mail servers where to send that mail.
Of course the MX record name is mail.N.com, but I think you are implying that the in the Mail settings of Server Admin where it asks for domain name all I need to put there is the N.com, right?
What I mean is that you need to set the domain name to whatever domain name you expect to receive mail at.
If you want users to have email addresses in the form of [email protected], then you enter 'N.com'.
If you want users to have email addresses in the form of [email protected] then you enter 'mail.N.com'.
If you want both forms, enter one in the main domain and add the other(s) in the Advanced -> Hosting -> Local Host Aliases section.
Is there anything in the Mail settings that needs to have the full MX record name (mail.N.com)?
Yes. Either the 'domain name' or the 'Local Host Aliases' needs to contain the same thing as your MX record. That's because the MX record tells remote servers to send mail to this machine, but the machine won't accept the mail unless it is configured to do so.
What is the "host name" supposed to be?
This should be the name that remote servers see when this machine tries to send outgoing mail.
Ideally this should match the reverse DNS of your IP address, that way when it connects to a remote server it says "Hi, I'm $hostname" and the remote server can lookup the machine's IP address and see the same result. This will reduce the problem of remote servers thinking you're sending them spam.
If you only have a single IP address then this probably needs to be something like 'N.com'. If you don't have control over your reverse DNS then you're going to run into a problem.
Also in the user accounts (in Workgroup Manager) what should the "mail server name" be? Is it the host name or the domain name?
Off hand, I don't know.
Also, why are all the default user email addresses [email protected] (the name I gave the server at setup)? Why doesn't the user accounts create [email protected] as the default address?
Presumably because the mail server says it is 'server.N.com' and therefore any accounts on that machine would be [email protected]. Changing the domain name (as above) should fix that.

I have a mobleme account and an existing iweb website. I would like to create a second website with a registered domain name. How do I do this?

I have a mobleme account and an existing iweb website. I would like to create a second website with a registered domain name. How do I do this?

All you need to do is create your second site in iWeb, move it to the top of lhe list of sites in the left hand pane and publish to your MobileMe account. You must make sure the second site has a different name from the first.
Then setup domain name forwarding to the second site following Apple's instructions here: iWeb: Using your own domain name. You will need to setup forwarding at your domain name provider also.
The key is that the second site (with the domain name) must the top top size in iWeb.
Note: with MobileMe scheduled to be discontinued on June 30, 2012, you might begin looking into obtaining another host. When you do you'll find that both sites will need to have a domain name.
When the time comes take a look at HostExcellence.com. I've had excellent results with it. They have a couple of packages that offer free domain names. And most important they have outstanding 24/7, ear-to-ear customer support.
OT

Mail setup question

This is a example and I hope it's not too confusing but I don't want to give out the domain name I'm using so I will call it example.com for this question.
If have a server and named it mail.example.com. So if I make a account called User, I will get the mail box [email protected] The problem is the user I created has an existing email account called [email protected] I'm planning to stop the old mail server and have this one host the email. How can I get this server to assign the user the email address "[email protected]" off the old server? We can hack this through the terminal to get it to work but don't want to change the files this way. I want to know how to do it through the GUI.
Thanks

In Server Admin
Under the General Tab for Mail
Set Domain name to: example.com
Set the Host name to: mail.example.com
Then in the Advance Tab Select the Hosting tab
and make sure the "Include server's domain as local host alias" is checked.
These settings should allow any new user to have the their email default to
[email protected]
*I have noticed that squirrelmail will still use [email protected]
To fix squirrelMail you will need to go to the command line
Type: sudo /etc/squirrelmail/config/conf.pl
to mail changes to default configuration.
2 Enter : for Server Settings
Then
1 Enter :for Domain
Type your domain then Enter
Q to quite then save your changes.
Hope this helps

Noob Mail Setup Question

What is the difference between Snow Leopard Server Mail's "Domain Name" vs. "Host Name" settings? For what purpose is each name used? Please provide an example of proper settings for a machine "named" server.domain.com.
How do either of these settings relate to each Workgroup Manager User's "Mail Server" setting?
How do any of these settings relate to the "Incoming Mail Server" setting in OS X Mail clients?
Thanks,
Larry Goldman

You'll want to establish unicast DNS on your LAN. (Apple networking engineers recommend against using the .local top-level domain for unicast DNS, as that tends to cause weird problems.) (I wouldn't particularly trust a mail server to operate with a Bonjour domain.)
If you've started your adventure here without setting up DNS services on your local network, then you'll need to drop back and set that up. [Here is how to set up DNS on your local network|http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/1436].
Review [this thread|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13306775] and [this thread|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13303251] for information on establishing SMTP and troubleshooting your public forward and reverse DNS and your MX record for your mail server, and for a common tweak needed to allow remote authenticated client access via SASL. And FWIW, you'll need a static IP address and open SMTP-related ports from your ISP; it's increasingly common for an ISP to block the SMTP ports on a residential service tier.

Mail server config inconsistent when host name differs from domain name

Hi,
I've installed Leopard server on host server.example.com but want to server email for example.com the host name for incoming mail should be mx01.example.com. DNS is setup properly resolving server.example.com and mx01.example.com (both forward and reverse, mx01 having a separate IP) and mx01.example.com is set as MX for example.com. Both IPs are routed to the internal server by the firewall.
In Server Admin, server.example.com is set as computer name (also resolved to the proper internal IP by our internal DNS), and in mail settings -> General, domain name is set to example.com and host name to mx01.example.com (so that the mail server identifies itself properly when connected on port 25).
Normal mail traffic works perfectly: Users can send and receive mail from/to addresses like <user_shortname>@example.com. I've got problems with mailing lists, though:
First, group based mailing lists (for groups created in Workgroup Manager) have the wrong addresses: <group_shortname>@server.example.com. Those addresses are linked when you view the croup in Directory.app. You can send mails to eg [email protected] when connecting to the server via telnet on port 25, but get an error email ([email protected]>: mail for server.example.com loops back to myself, Reporting-MTA: mx01.example.com) back.
Second, mailman based mailing lists also have the wrong addresses: <listname>@server.example.com and at the bottom of the mails received from the lists, there are also links to the lists web page with the url mx01.example.com instead of the host's name server.example.com.
mx01 should only be used by incoming SMTP, but if this isn't possible, I could revert to using server.example.com for the MX record as well. But the email addresses should definitely use the domain name and not the full server name as domain part. This is a typical email server setup and I can't understand why leopard server handles this differently. Does anyone have a workaround for this or could tell me how to setup an email system properly?
Thanks a lot in advance!!
Cheers, Thomas

Well, you pointed me into the right direction: Changing the mail server's host name helped a bit. I just dumped the name mx01.example.org. The host is called server.example.org and in mail settings, the domain name is set to example.org while the host name is set to server.example.com. The MX record will have to point to server.example.org, then.
The server now accepts emails to group based mailing lists à la <group_shortname>@example.org. In Directory.app, the link the the group's mailing list still opens a new Mail to <group_shortname>@server.example.org, though.
For mailman based mailing lists, the link to the list's listinfo page in the bottom of emails received from the list is now correctly pointing to server.example.org. The list's address shown there still is <list_name>@server.example.org.

Can't setup my domain name email with mail

Mail version 4.5
I have a domain name and an email with that domain ( [email protected] )
I am tring to set it up with mail but it dosen't work.
Any tutorial about this?

You will have to get the server names from your domain name provider - both incoming (POP or IMAP) and outgoing (SMTP) and obviously you will need your username and password.
The setup procedure is described here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1277

Can leopard server setup mail to work in a closed LAN environment with no domain name?

I just need to get emails from tape libraries, xserve RAID etc. Can't quite figure out the Domain Name and Host Name settings in Server admin.

I haven't done extensive testing of Yahoo, but every test I tried worked.
When forwarding mail you do have to make sure that the original mailbox actually exists though. To prevent spam, Yahoo actually checks the from addresses to make sure they really exist.
Some people just set a "forwarder" from a non-existent email address in their domain (that is possible with Hostgator for example). Yahoo will not let those be received. There has to be an actual existing original mailbox.
doug

Forwarding domain name w/ Mecca Hosting

Has anyone used Mecca Hosting? I have my domain name with them, but I can't figure out how to forward my .Mac site to my domain name (or the other way around, I'm not sure). I'm very new to this, so any help is appreciated!

I e-mailed them my URL and asked them how they can forward it to my domain name, and here's what they said:
"This is something that is typically done as a temporary measure. A forward would mean that your site would have to rely on 2 hosting services in order to function correctly. In addition, the search engines do not follow these forwards and would not find your website. We can setup a forward for you, but it is not recommended if you wish to use your own domain. "
And then again, this:
"We're not saying that we cannot do it; what we're saying that what you wish to do is not advisable. Your visitors would first be directed to your web server with us and would request to download a web page; our server would them provide them with a web page that tells them to go to another site; the visitor's web browser would then connect to your website on your .Mac account.
As you can imagine, not only is this very slow, but it is also not as reliable. If one of the 2 providers has a problem, your site will not be displayed; so, you're always dependent on both providers to have a functional website.
Finally, the search engines ignore these types of forwards, so the website would never be found by search engines.
In any case, if you really wish to do this, we can go ahead and do it for you. You would not need the web hosting services that you have purchased, as they would not be used to do a URL forward. "
Any thoughts, those of you who understand all this? Thanks in advance for your time.

Postfix relay=none, ... status=deferred (Host or domain name not found...

Hi,
I actually posted this question 2 weeks ago but under the wrong topic. So, first of all wanted to apologise for double-posting... but since no one replied, I thought I'd try again under the right topic.
I've been trying to solve this all day today (that was Feb 26th). I used to be able to send emails but for some reason it does not work anymore. At first I thought it was a problem with php (I use entropy pack php 5.2.6) but after searching the topic, I think it is a problem with my network. BTW OS is 10.5.5 and Postfix version 2.4.3
First of all, after computer restart, I don't think postfix starts automatically
Running 'sudo postfix start' gives me:
postfix/postfix-script: starting the Postfix mail system
Looking at '/var/log/mail.log' I find:
Feb 27 12:51:04 AMs-MBP postfix/qmgr331: AA70A7A7C77: from=<[email protected]>, size=842, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Feb 27 12:52:19 AMs-MBP postfix/smtp456: AA70A7A7C77: to=<[email protected]>, relay=none, delay=3437, delays=3362/0.02/75/0, dsn=4.4.3, status=deferred (Host or domain name not found. Name service error for name=email.com type=MX: Host not found, try again)
Running 'sudo postfix check' does not give me any errors
Checking my '/etc/resolv.conf' it has nameserver 192.168.1.1
Running 'ifconfig | grep netmask | grep -v 127.0.0.1 | awk {'print $2'}L' gives:
192.168.1.5
Checking http://switch.richard5.net/2006/08/19/fatal-open-lock-file-pidmasterpid/ and running 'launchctl list' gives me a long list but no item matches org.postfix.master
Running 'ps aux|grep postfix' gives
AM 546 0.3 0.0 599820 468 s000 S+ 1:41pm 0:00.00 grep postfix
_postfix 331 0.0 0.0 599816 824 ?? S 11:56am 0:00.04 qmgr -l -t fifo -u
root 329 0.0 0.0 600784 752 ?? Ss 11:56am 0:00.11 /usr/libexec/postfix/master
_postfix 519 0.0 0.0 599768 752 ?? S 1:36pm 0:00.01 pickup -l -t fifo -u
Running 'postconf inet_interfaces' at first gave me
inet_interfaces = localhost
which I changed to All in '/etc/postfix/main.cf'
I looked at http://www.postfix-book.com/debugging.html
Running 'telnet localhost 25' gives me
Trying ::1...
telnet: connect to address ::1: Connection refused
Trying fe80::1...
telnet: connect to address fe80::1: Connection refused
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 AMs-MBP.local ESMTP Postfix
quit
221 2.0.0 Bye
Connection closed by foreign host.
But running 'telnet 10.1.2.233 25' gives me
Trying 10.1.2.233...
telnet: connect to address 10.1.2.233: Operation timed out
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host
Running 'ping 134.169.9.107' takes a long time. After a while I stop it and get:
PING 134.169.9.107 (134.169.9.107): 56 data bytes
^C
o
+ 134.169.9.107 ping statistics ---
28 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss
I have not idea what the problem is and/or how to fix it. I know the messages get to the postfix daemon but for some reason they do not continue on their way.
Please, does anyone have an idea of how to fix this?
TIA,
Elle

Dynamic IP addresses with DynDNS Updater (or equivalent) makes it pretty darned reliable, particularly if you buy DynDNS' Mailhop Forward service, which prevents the likes of roadrunner.com and aol.com from blocking mail coming from your server just because it lives in dynamicIP-land. Way cheaper than paying your ISP extra for a static IPA, too, and totally acceptable for low-volume, residential-based servers for personal not-for-profit use.
Regarding reliable delivery to a dynIPA server, you are only at risk of non-receipt for perhaps a few minutes immediately following when your ISP rotates your WAN IPA, until DynDNS Updater (or equivalent) updates the DynDNS (or equivalent) servers with your new WAN IPA. But that's really not a problem because I think all, well, okay, most, smtp servers will queue for a redelivery attempt if the initial delivery attempt just happens to occur at that time.
I wouldn't suggest this practice for high-volume enterprise-class servers or for people trying to run a bootleg mail server business for profit (besides, the ISP would shut it down as an abuse of terms of service, anyways), but for low-volume, residential-based servers for personal use and enjoyment, which I suspect is the case for the O.P., I can't say that I find anything unreliable about my dynamic IP-based mail server.

Domain name, host name - what goes where?

So to clear the pipeline and reduce the amount of configuration, I decided to get rid of my router and plug my server directly into the modem, thus using the server as the gateway/router for other computers in my home. Hopefully this will eliminate the need for an internal/private network DNS configuration as well as an external/public DNS configuration.
I have a registered public domain name of N.com and an associated public MX record for this domain which is also named N.com (as opposed to mail.N.com or something similar).
I reinstalled the Leopard Server software and when the setup asked for a "primary DNS name" I named it N.com (the same name as my registered public domain). I went into firewall settings in the Server Admin and "allowed"/opened port 25 as well as 80 for email and web services respectively.
When I looked in the Mail settings the default domain name is "localdomain" and the default hostname is N.com (the same as my registered public domain). Default user addresses are [email protected] I have no problem seeing the server's webpages from the internet, but I still cannot get any mail from the internet to show up in my user accounts.
What more do I need to do?

an educated guess-
does the client's email system have something like Spam
Assassin filtering
incoming mail?
is this cgi script matt wright's formmail?
If yes to both- Spam Assassin is rating the formmail
generated email as spam
based on the subject line and default first line of text in
the message
body.
A fix-
1) hand edit the formmail script, find and change:
Below is the result of your feedback form
to any other text
2) use the optional field to change the subject line from the
default.

Domain name/host name/external hosts

I have an external website, for argument sake: waterworld.net
I want to host the mail internally, and i have set up DNS records with my name registrar that has the A record point to my external web host, and I have created an MX record of "mail.waterworld.net" which points to the ip address of where I am hosting the mail server.
Should i give my server a name that looks like a fqdn based on my website? or should it be called something simple like "server.loc"? currently, that is what I have done.
Then in the general settings of the mail server, under Domain name (where it reads: enter the LOCAL internet domain name), should I use:
server.loc
waterworld.net, or
mail.waterworld.net
Then the next option, Hostname, I am guessing that is one of:
waterworld.net, or
mail.waterworld.net
I have done a search, and the closest I have found was this post, but it's a different question based around a similar situation.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10580535&#10580535
I am not a total newbie, and have been running my own mail server for a few years now, and I'm pretty sure I didn't do it correct last time, so thought I would try and get it right from the start this time. Sorry guys, if this is a really basic question, but I want to get this right.
thanks

Then in the general settings of the mail server, under Domain name (where it reads: enter the LOCAL internet domain name), should I use:
[snip]
This field sets the primary domain of the server - the domain it accepts mail for. in this case it would make sense to set 'waterworld.net'.
Then the next option, Hostname,
This sets the name it advertises itself as when sending outgoing mail. This should be mail.waterworld.net.

Mail Setup - Domain Name vs. Host Name

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