[ILUG] Setting up a mail server

[Niall O Broin]

On 20 Apr 2006, at 14:30, Timothy Murphy wrote:

> I've purchased a domain "gayleard.com" (from euroDNS)
> and am wondering if it is possible for mail sent to say  
> "tim at gayeard.com"
> to be delivered to my computer?

I'm guessing that the missing l is a typo? (though TBH I'd wonder if  
gayleard was a typo too)

> I tried sending a test message, but I see from /var/log/maillog
> that the mailing failed with the message:
>
> Name server: mail.eircom.net.gayleard.com.: host not found

You set your DNS up wrongly:

devbox:~ # dig mx gayleard.com

; <<>> DiG 9.3.1 <<>> mx gayleard.com
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 56078
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;gayleard.com.                  IN      MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
gayleard.com.           3600    IN      MX      10  
mail.eircom.net.gayleard.com.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
gayleard.com.           3600    IN      NS      ns2.eurodns.com.
gayleard.com.           3600    IN      NS      ns1.eurodns.com.



but unless you have a static IP, or are prepared to use a dynamic DNS  
service, you won't be able to set it up correctly anyway, where  
correctly means to deliver mail for the domain to a mail server which  
is expecting it.

> The euroDNS FAQ says
> ------------------------------------------------
> As EuroDNS is a domain name reseller,
> there is no email hosting included if you buy a domain on our system.
> You can use our email forwarding feature
> to forward all emails sent to whatever user @yournewdomain.tld
> to one existing email address.
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> Does this mean, in effect, that I cannot send email
> to this new domain?

No - it means, in effect, that you can - you simply need to use the  
facility provided by EuroDNS to redirect all mail to  
ANYBODY at gayleard.com to an email address of your choice. This will  
require that you change the MX record for the domain to something  
EuroDNS provides. I bet they document this all on their web site.


Niall