Comments on: Solaris and sendmail

By: Eric Kimminau

Eric Kimminau — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 03:48:58 +0000

sendmail uses SMF. you may check the status of sendmail:

# svcs svc:/network/smtp:sendmail
STATE STIME FMRI
disabled 12:33:32 svc:/network/smtp:sendmail

the above shows that sendmail is stopped. you may start it with:

# svcadm enable svc:/network/smtp:sendmail
# svcs svc:/network/smtp:sendmail
STATE STIME FMRI
online 12:34:58 svc:/network/smtp:sendmail

# ps -ef |grep sendmail

root 13578 1 0 12:34:59 ? 0:00 /usr/lib/sendmail -bd -q15m -C /etc/mail/local.cf

root 13589 13556 0 12:37:05 pts/1 0:00 grep sendmail

smmsp 13581 1 0 12:34:59 ? 0:00 /usr/lib/sendmail -Ac -q15m

# netstat -a |grep smtp
localhost.smtp *.* 0 0 49152 0 LISTEN

now we see that sendmail is running but remote clients could not connect. this is the default behavior. to change this we have to change the “local_only” SMF property:

# svccfg -s svc:/network/smtp:sendmail listprop config/local_only
config/local_only boolean true

now we change the property to false:
# svccfg -s svc:/network/smtp:sendmail setprop config/local_only = false
# svccfg -s svc:/network/smtp:sendmail listprop config/local_only
config/local_only boolean false

now restart sendmail:
# svcadm restart svc:/network/smtp:sendmail

# netstat -a |grep smtp
*.smtp *.* 0 0 49152 0 LISTEN
*.smtp *.* 0 0 49152 0 LISTEN

*.smtp *.* 0 0 49152 0 LISTEN please check the documentation on how to properly tweak sendmail’s configuration for your needs.

By: manchi

manchi — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 12:56:11 +0000

hi,
I just got my solaris 10 up, and I really hate sendmail too.

when I was trying to install postfix, there was an error saying that i have sendmail install.

but there is a problem to remove sendmail from solaris 10!!

there is not in pkgrm , may I know how to do it in SMF ? pls help!!! pls help!!

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 16:39:35 +0000

You know, I think I will log an RFE on this one (if someone hasn’t already). I realize there’s the whole retraining aspect, but I really don’t think it would be a big deal if you frame the context properly - just because it took a long time to train the engineers on how to make something work in sendmail DOESN’T mean it will take that long for them to learn how to do it in postfix. The fact that it took so much effort to train your staff on something that should be simple ought to be an indicator of a problem on its own.. With an MTA like postfix, almost everything you want to do is self-evident. I know I certainly felt empowered the first time I looked at postfix after years of sendmail work.

So I’d argue that the retraining would not be a tremendous undertaking, and just think of the upside for customers! A capable MTA that’s robust, secure, and much easier to wrap your head around and get working!

By: James

James — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 05:30:47 +0000

You need to get this logged as an RFE within Sun, and then get the powers that be within their engineering community to accept it and run with it.

Good luck!

If you want to have an even-money chance of succeeding, you will need
to supply Sun with the full business case and cost-benefit analysis.
There are a lot of sendmail-trained engineers within Sun, the cost of re-training would be enormous.