More often than not, the words "sendmail configuration" strike dread in
the hearts of sendmail and system administrators--and not without
reason. sendmail configuration languages are as complex as any other
programming languages, but used much more infrequently--only when
sendmail is installed or configured. The average system administrator
doesn't get enough practice to truly master this inscrutable
technology.Fortunately, there's help. The sendmail Cookbook provides
step-by-step solutions for the administrator who needs to solve
configuration problems fast. Say you need to configure sendmail to relay
mail for your clients without creating an open relay that will be abused
by spammers. A recipe in the Cookbook shows you how to do just that. No
more wading through pages of dense documentation and tutorials and
creating your own custom solution--just go directly to the recipe that
addresses your specific problem.Each recipe in the sendmail Cookbook
outlines a configuration problem, presents the configuration code that
solves that problem, and then explains the code in detail. The
discussion of the code is critical because it provides the insight you
need to tweak the code for your own circumstances.The sendmail
Cookbook begins with an overview of the configuration languages,
offering a quick how-to for downloading and compiling the sendmail
distribution. Next, you'll find a baseline configuration recipe upon
which many of the subsequent configurations, or recipes, in the book are
based. Recipes in the following chapters stand on their own and offer
solutions for properly configuring important sendmail functions such as:
- Delivering and forwarding mail
- Relaying
- Masquerading
- Routing mail
- Controlling spam
- Strong authentication
- Securing the mail transport
- Managing the queue
- Securing sendmail
sendmail Cookbook is more than just a new approach to discussing
sendmail configuration. The book also provides lots of new material that
doesn't get much coverage elsewhere--STARTTLS and AUTH are given entire
chapters, and LDAP is covered in recipes throughout the book. But most
of all, this book is about saving time--something that most system
administrators have in short supply. Pick up the sendmail Cookbook and
say good-bye to sendmail dread.
