Re: Postfix, ETRN and retrieval from POP boxes..

On 30/4/06 09:32, in article C07A34BD.19AF03%chrisridd@xxxxxxx, "Chris Ridd"
<chrisridd@xxxxxxx> wrote:

I've posted this on the OS X Server mailing list, but the reply I've got
have confused me somewhat, so I hoping someone here might have an opinion.

I'll be visiting a customer next week who've been sold an Xserve G5 by
someone with the promise it'll fix all their problems, but omitted any
mention of how or training. They are as I understand it fairly non-technical
users. Most of its fairly straight-forward server config, but mail is going
to get a bit messy.

My first impression is that the best solution is rather than having mail
delivered directly to the server, keep having mail delivered to their hosted
internet side mailbox, then grab that mail on a timed schedule and deliver
to the local Postfix mailboxes. So I thought fetchmail and a cron job,
something I've looked at in the past.

When I suggested fetchmail, responder on the Server list post this

" Why wouldn't you just have the front end do whatever it needs to do
and still relay the message along to the backend? On the scant
details provided fetchmail would seem like a really wretched
alternative.

Alternatively use ETRN, it's all fetchmail basically does and none of
the fetchmail headaches, just pure SMTP."

I have no idea what he is suggesting. Reading the docs for Postfix ETRN, it
suggests to me this is a mechanism for queuing mail in OUTGOING queues until
the delivery server comes available. I can't find anything about configuring
Postfix for POP mail retrieval.

Anyone suggest some reading, or help clarify what is being suggested?

I think the suggestion is to not use POP at all for transferring the
messages to your box, use SMTP. It looks like ETRN is used to provoke the
remote MTA to start shunting stuff to your MTA.

That's wot http://www.stepwise.com/Articles/Workbench/eart.3.0.html seems to
suggest.

What I can see is the section on configuring user/pass details to
authenticate to the remote MTA.

Well, that's what a quick google for "etrn" suggests.

Do you know if the remote MTA supports ETRN?

I doubt it. It's just your bog-standard Wanadoo/BT/whoeverISP mailbox.

You'll also need to tell the
remote MTA to not deliver stuff to their "hosted internet side mailbox".

So (forgive the ignorance) what's the point? It just means mail is held for
a while on the server. I'd still need DNS configured to be able to deliver
it somewhere, etc. Basically I'd have to do everything required to do direct
mail delivery. Only advantage is the server can be turned off.

Fetchmail seems neater. Am I being pigheaded and going to give myself a
headache?

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Postfix, ETRN and retrieval from POP boxes..
    ... When I suggested fetchmail, responder on the Server list post this ... I have no idea what he is suggesting. ... Reading the docs for Postfix ETRN, ... Do you know if the remote MTA supports ETRN? ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)
  • Re: [SLE] postfix, fetchmail and RSET
    ... >> Here goes something wrong in fetchmail trying to get the second message ... I think the mail server is broken and implements RSET badly. ... The ETRN mode allows you to ask a compliant ... >| your client machine and begin forwarding any items ...
    (SuSE)
  • Odp: Email and DMZs (iptables)?
    ... > fetchmail or whatever, and running a pop server in the server outside, how ... The easiest way is to use fetchmail. ... locally on the Red server, a way of the email through SMTP is ended. ... > special daemon that will attack the internal machine as it fetches mail, ...
    (Focus-Linux)
  • [SLE] Seeking help with mail-server setup
    ... ISP's POP server with Kmail and sending directly from Kmail to the ISP's ... So, I thought I'd set fetchmail to get my mail from the ISP onto the tower, ... then use CyrusIMAP to serve my mailreader on the laptop. ...
    (SuSE)
  • Re: Fetchmail sanity check
    ... >> server was installed with sendmail. ... >> one instance of fetchmail is still running when cron thinks ... and I also control the pop3 server at the ISP. ... poll mail..net protocol POP3 user bv is bv here fetchall ...
    (comp.unix.sco.misc)