[Mailman-Users] Pain, seeking Mailman/Postfix wisdom

[Brad Knowles]

John Jackson wrote:

> I have: (2) domain names for the same host, of the form:
> 
>   namexxx.department.domain.tld (has an A and MX record)
>   nameyyy.department.domain.tld (has a CNAME and MX record)

First off, you can't mix CNAMEs and MX records.  That is prohibited by the 
RFCs, and most nameservers will refuse to load the entire zone if there is a 
single error like this.

Moreover, with regards to mail, things don't work as you would expect with 
CNAMEs.  Host names get re-written and all.

With regards to mail, you really, really need to stick to just pure A and MX 
records.  You can have some TXT or other info records, but for the basic 
types of records, stick to just A and MX.

> What I originally hoped for was to host some Mailman lists on my server 
> and still have a handful of user accounts on the server be able to 
> receive email directly.  Both the lists and the local users would have 
> the same email address after the @, like so:
> 
>      listone at namexxx.department.domain.tld
>      listtwo at namexxx.department.domain.tld
> 
>      userone at namexxx.department.domain.tld
>      usertwo at namexxx.department.domain.tld

You can do that, but I don't think you can do it with 
postfix-to-mailman-2.1.py.  Take a look at the installation instructions at 
<http://www.list.org/mailman-install/>, especially the postfix-specific 
stuff at <http://www.list.org/mailman-install/node12.html>.

> My 'pain' is coming from frustration and confusion trying to learn 
> Postfix and Mailman well enough to figure out whether I can do any of 
> this or not.

Both Mailman and postfix have online documentation (see 
<http://www.list.org/docs.html/> and 
<http://www.postfix.org/documentation.html>, respectively), as well as FAQs 
(see <http://wiki.list.org/display/DOC/Frequently+Asked+Questions> and 
<http://www.postfix.org/docs.html>, respectively).

We also have an overall wiki page at <http://wiki.list.org/>, and a 
documents section underneath that (see <http://wiki.list.org/display/DOC/Home>).

Both groups also have mailing lists to support their software (see 
<http://www.list.org/lists.html> and <http://www.postfix.org/lists.html>, 
respectively).  You can find out how to search our archives via the 
instructions in FAQ 1.18 at 
<http://wiki.list.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=4030520>, and there are 
links to the searchable archives of the postfix-* mailing lists at that same 
URL listed above.

> I've been mucking around in the configs of both and trying to follow 
> examples and suggestions in the documentation and from information found 
> by sifting through them Internets with Google ;)

These are the primary places to search, and we try to provide good links to 
other documents that we find online that have helpful information.

However, when you're dealing with two different pieces of software and 
trying to figure out how you can interface them, it can be difficult to get 
enough documentation in single place.  I find that I learn mostly by 
trial-and-error, with various documents sitting in front of me.

> Do any of you have a take on it you would be kind enough to share with 
> me? Thanks very much, for any/all help or advice, comments, etc.

I think the problem is that there is too much documentation, and it's hard 
to know where to start.  I believe the term is "information overload".


Anyway, if you've got any questions that are not answered by the various 
sources listed above, please feel free to come back and tell us what you've 
searched for and what you've found so far, and what your problems are. 
We'll try to provide whatever help we can.

-- 
Brad Knowles
<brad at shub-internet.org>        If you like Jazz/R&B guitar, check out
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