Bypassing MX Records for Local Hosts

[Michael Fleming]

$ mu show/ver
Process Software MultiNet V4.4 Rev A-X, COMPAQ AlphaServer DS20E 833
MHz, OpenVMS AXP V7.3

We have anti-spam boxes for which we have MX records for several
local machines; i.e., anytime anyone sends mail to these defined
machines they are supposed to go through the anti-spam boxes first.
All works as it should.

However, in order to save wear and tear on the anti-spam boxes, we
would like local MTA's to not use the MX record and send directly to
each other. Reading the documentation, it seemed to me that defining
LOCAL DOMAINS would solve the problem with Multinet, but it hasn't.
Below is my mail config. I have restarted mail
(@MULTINET:START_SMTP.COM) but mail from Multinet continues to be
routed through the anti-spam box.

So, what am I missing?

Thanks.

$ mu config/mail
Process Software Mail Configuration Utility V4.4(28)
[Reading in configuration from MULTINET_ROOT:[MULTINET]
START_SMTP_LOCAL.COM]
[Reading in configuration from MULTINET_COMMON_ROOT:[MULTINET]
START_SMTP.COM]
MAIL-CONFIG>show
SMTP host name: none (will use IP host
name)
Host name alias file: none
Postmaster userid: none (will use POSTMASTER)
Forwarder: mailhub.csub.edu
Send all REMOTE mail to forwarder: TRUE
Send all LOCAL mail to forwarder: TRUE
DECnet mail domain: none
Failed local mail will be returned to sender.
Retry Interval: 120 minutes
Return Interval: 96 hours
VMS Mail REPLY control: REPLY-TO
VMS Mail header control: MAJOR
Use RFC822 To: header as VMS Mail To: TRUE
Lowercase username on outgoing VMS Mail: TRUE
Disallow user Reply-To's: FALSE
Delivery Receipts enabled: FALSE
PSImail delivery disabled: FALSE
Include Resent Headers on VMS MAIL forwards: TRUE
Alias file name: MULTINET:SMTP_ALIASES.
SEND broadcast class: 16
Start queue manager: TRUE

"Local" domains that bypass forwarder and gateway processing:
.csubak.edu
.csub.edu

Number of SMTP server queues:
Node name Count
--------- -----
(default) 20

No queue groupings.
Start RFC 2789 MIB agent: FALSE
Accounting host: 127.0.0.1
Accounting port: 8091
MAIL-CONFIG>^Z

[Jim]

Post by Michael Fleming
$ mu show/ver
Process Software MultiNet V4.4 Rev A-X, COMPAQ AlphaServer DS20E 833
MHz, OpenVMS AXP V7.3
We have anti-spam boxes for which we have MX records for several
local machines; i.e., anytime anyone sends mail to these defined
machines they are supposed to go through the anti-spam boxes first.
All works as it should.
However, in order to save wear and tear on the anti-spam boxes, we
would like local MTA's to not use the MX record and send directly to
each other. Reading the documentation, it seemed to me that defining
LOCAL DOMAINS would solve the problem with Multinet, but it hasn't.
Below is my mail config. I have restarted mail
routed through the anti-spam box.
So, what am I missing?
Thanks.
$ mu config/mail
Process Software Mail Configuration Utility V4.4(28)
[Reading in configuration from MULTINET_ROOT:[MULTINET]
START_SMTP_LOCAL.COM]
[Reading in configuration from MULTINET_COMMON_ROOT:[MULTINET]
START_SMTP.COM]
MAIL-CONFIG>show
SMTP host name: none (will use IP host
name)
Host name alias file: none
Postmaster userid: none (will use POSTMASTER)
Forwarder: mailhub.csub.edu
Send all REMOTE mail to forwarder: TRUE
Send all LOCAL mail to forwarder: TRUE
DECnet mail domain: none
Failed local mail will be returned to sender.
Retry Interval: 120 minutes
Return Interval: 96 hours
VMS Mail REPLY control: REPLY-TO
VMS Mail header control: MAJOR
Use RFC822 To: header as VMS Mail To: TRUE
Lowercase username on outgoing VMS Mail: TRUE
Disallow user Reply-To's: FALSE
Delivery Receipts enabled: FALSE
PSImail delivery disabled: FALSE
Include Resent Headers on VMS MAIL forwards: TRUE
Alias file name: MULTINET:SMTP_ALIASES.
SEND broadcast class: 16
Start queue manager: TRUE
.csubak.edu
.csub.edu
Node name Count
--------- -----
(default) 20
No queue groupings.
Start RFC 2789 MIB agent: FALSE
Accounting host: 127.0.0.1
Accounting port: 8091
MAIL-CONFIG>^Z
Send all LOCAL mail to forwarder: TRUE

Perhaps this should be FALSE ?

[Michael Corbett]

Post by Michael Fleming
$ mu show/ver
Process Software MultiNet V4.4 Rev A-X, COMPAQ AlphaServer DS20E 833
MHz, OpenVMS AXP V7.3
We have anti-spam boxes for which we have MX records for several local
machines; i.e., anytime anyone sends mail to these defined machines they
are supposed to go through the anti-spam boxes first. All works as it
should.
However, in order to save wear and tear on the anti-spam boxes, we would
like local MTA's to not use the MX record and send directly to each
other. Reading the documentation, it seemed to me that defining LOCAL
DOMAINS would solve the problem with Multinet, but it hasn't. Below is
mail from Multinet continues to be routed through the anti-spam box.
So, what am I missing?
Thanks.
$ mu config/mail
MAIL-CONFIG>show
Forwarder: mailhub.csub.edu
Send all REMOTE mail to forwarder: TRUE
Send all LOCAL mail to forwarder: TRUE
.csubak.edu
.csub.edu

The LOCAL domains tells it to not use the forwarder for these
addresses, it does not tell it to not use the MX record -

LOCAL-DOMAIN

Adds a domain to a list of domains that the TCPware SMTP symbiont
considers to be local. If users send mail to hosts beyond
the local domains, TCPware forwards the mail to the mail hub
specified by the FORWARDER parameter. The local domain list
affects mail forwarding only when the FORWARD-REMOTE-MAIL
parameter is TRUE.

I don't know of a way to get it to ignore the MX record. Multinet
was designed to work where all the local MTAs are configured to
relay through a central host, like your anti-spam boxes, and then
you configure the LOCAL-DOMAINs as exceptions.

regards
Mike