|-----Original Message-----
|From: Matt Stegman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
|Sent: Monday, June 19, 2000 11:46 AM
|To: Linux-Mandrake Expert List
|Subject: Re: [expert] Email Setup with Cablemodem Account - How To?
|
|
|
|On Mon, 19 Jun 2000, Jose M. Sanchez wrote:
|> If your E-mail is working this way under Winblows then it was
|probably not
|> by design... but rather luck.
|>
|> The "mail" entries are the default for Winblows. They are supposed to be
|> changed by the user to what is appropriate.
|
|They're also the default because they'll usually work - if the client DNS
|info is setup correctly.
|
|In Windows' DNS setup (UNIX equiv. is /etc/resolv.conf) there is a setting
|named "Domain Suffix Search Order:" (equivalent to the "search" line in
|resolv.conf) that lists anywhere from one to several domains. If you
|specify a hostname, for instance, "mail", your computer will try to look
|that name up. On the internet, this will fail; no machine is named simply
|"mail." Now, your computer will suffix the domains listed in this "Domain
|Suffix Search Order" field to the hostname, and attempt to lookup the
|hostname again.
|
|Example: my resolv.conf contains "ksu.edu" and "cc.ksu.edu" and
|"cis.ksu.edu". Now, let's say I try to contact "polaris" via TCP/IP.
|The initial lookup fails - "polaris" does not exist. Next, the computer
|tries "polaris.ksu.edu", which again fails. Next, we try
|"polaris.cc.ksu.edu", which also fails. Finally, we try
|"polaris.cis.ksu.edu" which succeeds. The IP address returned from that
|final lookup is used as the address for "polaris," then.
|
|Thus, if you have the correct domains listed in your resolv.conf, or
|Windows' TCP/IP stack "Domain Suffix Search Order" field, you can use
|"mail" or "www" or "ftp" as easy contact names: no need to type in the
|entire fully qualified Internet hostname. Thus, "mail" in the server name
|field, will work for many people without any extra configuration.
|
All correct... but you are making one big and highly unlikely assumption...
That he entered the domain suffixes in Windows.
Remember, you are dealing with a user that never even fixed his E-Mail
entries...
It is many more times as unlikely that the domain suffix search order was
added by him... something else kicked in here... namely that the DHCP server
assigned his machine to be a member of his ISP's domain...
In so doing, "mail" will resolve to his ISP's domain...
|> The fact that it may be working for you is attributable to the ISP's DNS
|> automatically appending the isp's domain to the request...
|
|It's not your ISP's DNS server which adds the suffix: it's your client
|that does so!
Eh, no...
Ask him to check his settings, and you'll find the domain suffix search
order blank...
-JMS
