Help configuring VMS mail with Dynaccess.com
mcbi...@yahoo.com
on my home VMS system. For the past couple of years I have been using
VMS mail for incoming SMTP and a C program I wrote for the outgoing
SMTP. Since VMS mail doesn't have authentication I had to use this
method. Although my ISP doesn't restrict port 25, I never could get
outgoing to work, probably due to the fact that I have a dynamic
address. I used DYNDNS.COM for my incoming and it worked fine.
I am hoping to be able to use VMS mail for both with the Dynaccess.com
service but so far I am having problems. I set up an account at
Dynaccess.com based on recomendations in older posts in COV. I can now
receive email by sending to user...@accountname.dynaccess.com but I
am unable to get the outgoing mail to work.
I reconfigured the domain to be accountname.dynaccess.com and set up a
name in the host table that is accountname.dynaccess.com. I found that
without the machine's own hostname in the local table, all incoming
SMTP mail gets rejected with a "NOSPAMRLY" response.
When I try to send outgoing mail, it gets returned with 550 %TCPIP-E-
SMTP_NOSUCHUSER, no such user, USER...@DOMAIN.COM.
I am guessing that I may have my domain info configured incorrectly
for a dynamic IP address. I am not sure if my computer name should be
part of the domain or not.
Here is my specific config info (without actual names in order to
avoid spam:
VMS: 7.3-1
TCP: 5.4 ECO 2
domain: myaccount.dynaccess.com
gateway address: 192.168.1.1
local host record: myaccount.dynaccess.com, 192.168.1.2
SMTP alternate gateway: dynaccess.com
BIND resolver: myaccount.dynaccess.com
The node name is different from the "myaccount" name.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Bill
JF Mezei
> I reconfigured the domain to be accountname.dynaccess.com and set up a
> name in the host table that is accountname.dynaccess.com. I found that
> without the machine's own hostname in the local table, all incoming
> SMTP mail gets rejected with a "NOSPAMRLY" response.
You also need to update the smtp config files to let the software know that
accountname.dynaccess.com is a "local" name. The receiver needs to know
that this is a local machine instead of thinking a remote user is
attempting to relay messages.
This goes in the TCPIP$SMTP_LOCAL_ALIASES.TXT file
> When I try to send outgoing mail, it gets returned with 550 %TCPIP-E-
> SMTP_NOSUCHUSER, no such user, USER...@DOMAIN.COM.
Do not trust the messages returned by the symbiont, they are often misleading.
$DEFINE/SYSTEM TCPIP$SMTP_SYMB_TRACE 1
$TCPIP STOP MAIL
$WAIT 00:00:15
$TCPIP START MAIL
The symbion't log file TCPIP$SMTP_LOGFILE.LOG will contain a full log fo
the conversation between your node and the remote node and you will see the
exact error message sent by the remote node. (and what your node tried to do.
you can see more logical names that can be set at :
http://www.vaxination.ca/vms/tcpip_smtp_systartup.com
For outbound emails, you want:
TCPIP> SET CONF SMTP /SUBSTITUTE=NAME=myaccount.dnaccess.com
You may also try
SET CONF SMTP/SUBSTITUTE=HIDDEN
this completely replaces the domain/host name without trace of the original
names. However, it is no longer documented for some reason, but still works.
To debug the receiving end, you can also set a logical to get the receiver
to also log the full dialogue to see exactly what is going on.
Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply
mcbi...@yahoo.com writes:
> Hello all. I am trying to make some changes in SMTP mail configuration
> on my home VMS system. For the past couple of years I have been using
> VMS mail for incoming SMTP and a C program I wrote for the outgoing
> SMTP. Since VMS mail doesn't have authentication I had to use this
> method. Although my ISP doesn't restrict port 25, I never could get
> outgoing to work, probably due to the fact that I have a dynamic
> address. I used DYNDNS.COM for my incoming and it worked fine.
What is probably happening is that your dynamic DNS address is being
rejected by mail servers somewhere down the line. I had the same
problem when I set up email at home. However, I CAN send outgoing mail
with the standard TCPIP software. I avoid the "we reject mail from
volatile addresses" problem by sending it through an SMTP relay server
provided by my dynamic-DNS provider, http://www.dynaccess.com/ . (They
offer more services than DYNDNS.COM for less money. The pricing
structure is different (packages with more and more features, rather
than buying things à la carte), but for me works out to about half what
I would pay for similar features at DYNDNS.COM (and includes some
features DYNDNS.COM doesn't offer). I highly recommend them. If you
switch, you could just set the alternate gateway to their SMTP relay
server and you're in business. The important thing: no SMTP
authentication is needed; it is based on the IP address, which the
dynamic-DNS provider knows anyway, of course. It is not a
pay-per-message system, but rather a reasonable number of messages is
included in the flat rate.) (I also have email addresses with
DYNDNS.COM, so I am familiar with them too.)
> I am hoping to be able to use VMS mail for both with the Dynaccess.com
> service but so far I am having problems. I set up an account at
> Dynaccess.com based on recomendations in older posts in COV. I can now
> receive email by sending to user...@accountname.dynaccess.com but I
> am unable to get the outgoing mail to work.
Wait---do you mean dyndns.com or dynaccess.com? They are two separate
companies.
> I reconfigured the domain to be accountname.dynaccess.com and set up a
> name in the host table that is accountname.dynaccess.com. I found that
> without the machine's own hostname in the local table, all incoming
> SMTP mail gets rejected with a "NOSPAMRLY" response.
Yes. It has to know what its name is in order to receive email. If
not, it thinks it is for elsewhere and properly rejects it.
> When I try to send outgoing mail, it gets returned with 550 %TCPIP-E-
> SMTP_NOSUCHUSER, no such user, USER...@DOMAIN.COM.
I think the error message is wrong. I think this error occurs when your
alternate gateway doesn't work.
> I am guessing that I may have my domain info configured incorrectly
> for a dynamic IP address. I am not sure if my computer name should be
> part of the domain or not.
>
> Here is my specific config info (without actual names in order to
> avoid spam:
>
> VMS: 7.3-1
> TCP: 5.4 ECO 2
> domain: myaccount.dynaccess.com
> gateway address: 192.168.1.1
> local host record: myaccount.dynaccess.com, 192.168.1.2
> SMTP alternate gateway: dynaccess.com
> BIND resolver: myaccount.dynaccess.com
>
> The node name is different from the "myaccount" name.
There are several issues here. First, again, you are now talking about
http://www.dynaccess.com, not http://www.dynds.org/, right? Second, the
address 192.168.1.1 is not routable; you need a NAT or PAT router or
something similar to connect to the outside world. Third, you need an
alternate gateway.
I have been a satisfied dynaccess.com customer for many, many years. All
my email is done with VMS MAIL from my cluster at home, which receives
email directly and sends it via the SMTP relay server at dynaccess.com.
What is the output of the following TCPIP commands?
SHOW NAME
SHOW CONFIGURATION NAME
SHOW HOST/LOCAL
SHOW CONFIGURATION SMTP
SHOW ROUTE
SHOW ROUTE/PERMANENT
SHOW CONFIGURATION INTERFACE/FULL
SHOW INTERFACE/FULL
mcbi...@yahoo.com
remove CLOTHES to reply) wrote:
> What is probably happening is that your dynamic DNS address is being
> rejected by mail servers somewhere down the line. I had the same
> problem when I set up email at home. However, I CAN send outgoing mail
> with the standard TCPIP software. I avoid the "we reject mail from
> volatile addresses" problem by sending it through an SMTP relay server
> provided by my dynamic-DNS provider,http://www.dynaccess.com/. (They
> offer more services than DYNDNS.COM for less money. The pricing
> structure is different (packages with more and more features, rather
> than buying things à la carte), but for me works out to about half what
> I would pay for similar features at DYNDNS.COM (and includes some
> features DYNDNS.COM doesn't offer). I highly recommend them. If you
> switch, you could just set the alternate gateway to their SMTP relay
> server and you're in business. The important thing: no SMTP
> authentication is needed; it is based on the IP address, which the
> dynamic-DNS provider knows anyway, of course. It is not a
> pay-per-message system, but rather a reasonable number of messages is
> included in the flat rate.) (I also have email addresses with
> DYNDNS.COM, so I am familiar with them too.)
>
I _am_ using dynaccess to send SMTP but that is what is not working
the way I have it configured.
In my SMTP config I have dynaccess.com specified as my alternate
gateway. Is that correct?
>
> Wait---do you mean dyndns.com or dynaccess.com? They are two separate
> companies.
>
I was using dyndns.com before. With them I was able to receive SMTP
but I could only send by using a C program I wrote that would connect
to an SMTP server that required authentication at my ISP. I am now
using dynaccess.com based on recommendations in posts in COV.
> I think the error message is wrong. I think this error occurs when your
> alternate gateway doesn't work.
>
I agree but I am not sure what I am doing wrong in my configuration.
> There are several issues here. First, again, you are now talking abouthttp://www.dynaccess.com, nothttp://www.dynds.org/, right? Second, the
> address 192.168.1.1 is not routable; you need a NAT or PAT router or
> something similar to connect to the outside world. Third, you need an
> alternate gateway.
>
I know that address is not routable. That is the address of my alpha.
It is connected to a NAT router on a DSL line. The alternate gateway
is set to "dynaccess.com".
> I have been a satisfied dynaccess.com customer for many, many years. All
> my email is done with VMS MAIL from my cluster at home, which receives
> email directly and sends it via the SMTP relay server at dynaccess.com.
> What is the output of the following TCPIP commands?
>
> SHOW NAME
> SHOW CONFIGURATION NAME
> SHOW HOST/LOCAL
> SHOW CONFIGURATION SMTP
> SHOW ROUTE
> SHOW ROUTE/PERMANENT
> SHOW CONFIGURATION INTERFACE/FULL
> SHOW INTERFACE/FULL
TCPIP> show name
BIND Resolver Parameters
Local domain: batcave.dynaccess.com
System
State: Started, Enabled
Transport: TCP
Domain: BATCAVE.DYNACCESS.COM
Retry: 4
Timeout: 4
Servers: dns1, dns2
Path: No values defined
Process
State: Enabled
Transport:
Domain:
Retry:
Timeout:
Servers:
Path:
TCPIP> show config name
BIND Resolver Configuration
Transport: TCP
Domain: BATCAVE.DYNACCESS.COM
Retry: 4
Timeout: 4
Servers: 205.171.3.65, 205.171.2.65
Path: No values defined
TCPIP> show host/local
LOCAL database
Host address Host name
127.0.0.1 LOCALHOST, localhost
192.168.1.1 Linksys
192.168.1.2 batcave
205.171.3.65 dns1, DNS1
205.171.2.65 dns2, DNS2
192.168.1.6 ds6, DS6
192.168.1.3 hyde, HYDE
64.58.4.38 pop3.mho.com, POP3.MHO.COM
192.168.1.4 scooby, SCOOBY
192.168.1.5 scrappy, SCRAPPY
66.252.192.11 secure.wcox.com
*** Note: I have tried both "batcave" alone, as well as the fully
qualified name for the 192.168.1.2 local host entry.
TCPIP> show config smtp
SMTP Configuration
Options
Initial interval: 0 00:30:00.00 Address_max: 16
NOEIGHT_BIT
Retry interval: 0 01:00:00.00 Hop_count_max: 16
NORELAY
Maximum interval: 3 00:00:00.00
HEADERS
Timeout Initial Mail Receipt Data
Terminate
Send: 5 5 5 3
10
Receive: 5
Alternate gateway: DYNACCESS.COM
General gateway: not defined
Substitute domain: BATCAVE.DYNACCESS.COM
Zone: not defined
Postmaster: TCPIP$SMTP
Log file: SYS$SPECIFIC:[TCPIP$SMTP]TCPIP$SMTP_LOGFILE.LOG
Generic queue Queues Participating nodes
TCPIP$SMTP_SHAGGY_00 1 SHAGGY
TCPIP> show route
DYNAMIC
Type Destination Gateway
AN 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1
AH 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1
AN 192.168.1.0/24 192.168.1.2
AH 192.168.1.2 192.168.1.2
TCPIP> show route/perm
PERMANENT
Type Destination Gateway
PN 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1
TCPIP> show config interface/full
Interface: LO0
IP_Addr: 127.0.0.1 NETWRK: 255.0.0.0 BRDCST:
C_Addr: C_NETWRK: C_BRDCST:
Flags:
Receive buffer: 0
Interface: WE1
IP_Addr: 192.168.0.250 NETWRK: 255.255.255.0 BRDCST:
192.168.0.255
C_Addr: C_NETWRK: C_BRDCST:
Flags:
Receive buffer: 0
Interface: WE0
IP_Addr: 192.168.1.2 NETWRK: 255.255.255.0 BRDCST:
192.168.1.255
C_Addr: C_NETWRK: C_BRDCST:
Flags:
Receive buffer: 0
TCPIP> show interface/full
Interface: LO0
IP_Addr: 127.0.0.1 NETWRK: 255.0.0.0 BRDCST:
MTU: 4096
Flags: UP LOOP NOARP MCAST SMPX
RECEIVE SEND
Packets 84 84
Errors 0 0
Collisions: 0
Interface: WE0
IP_Addr: 192.168.1.2 NETWRK: 255.255.255.0 BRDCST:
192.168.1.255
Cluster
C_Addr: 192.168.1.2 C_NETWRK: 255.255.255.0 C_BRDCST:
192.168.1.255
Ethernet_Addr: AA-00-04-00-8C-28 MTU: 1500
Flags: UP BRDCST RUN MCAST SMPX
RECEIVE SEND
Packets 1825 2119
Errors 0 0
Collisions: 0
JF Mezei
> In my SMTP config I have dynaccess.com specified as my alternate
> gateway. Is that correct?
the gateway must be a full qualified host name, not a domain. You need to
find the name/ip of dynaccess' SMTP server.
You need
TCPIP> SET CONF SMTP/GATEWAY=ALTERNATE=fqhn
TCPIP> SET CONF SMTP/ZONE=yourdomain.com
This way, any mail destined to a recipient that is not in yourdomain.com
gets relayed to the smtp server "fqhn"
"dynaccess.com" doesn't appear to have a SMTP server on it. You need to
find the full name of dynaccess' SMTP server.
mcbi...@yahoo.com
SMTP mail either. When the SMTP connection is made, I get the
following error:
%%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 7-FEB-2007 22:38:58.72 %%%%%%%%%%%
Message from user TCPIP$SMTP on SHAGGY
TCPIP-W-SMTP_UNRSLVMF, MAIL FROM:<<user...@gmail.com>> has
unresolvable domain
I think I am definitely missing something as far as configuration
goes. When I do a "SHOW NAME" in TCPIP now I get the following:
TCPIP> show name
TCPIP> show name
BIND Resolver Parameters
Local domain: * Mismatch *
System
State: Started, Disabled
Transport: UDP
Domain:
Retry: Not defined
Timeout: Not defined
Servers: No values defined
Path: No values defined
Process
State: Disabled
Transport:
Domain:
Retry:
Timeout:
Servers:
Path:
TCPIP> show config name
BIND Resolver Configuration
Transport: TCP
Domain: BATCAVE.DYNACCESS.COM
Retry: 4
Timeout: 4
Servers: 205.171.3.65, 205.171.2.65
Path: No values defined
Any ideas?
Thanks.
JF Mezei
> BIND Resolver Parameters
> Local domain: * Mismatch *
> System
> State: Started, Disabled
> Transport: UDP
> Domain:
> Retry: Not defined
> Timeout: Not defined
> Servers: No values defined
> Path: No values defined
> TCPIP> show config name
>
> BIND Resolver Configuration
> Transport: TCP
> Domain: BATCAVE.DYNACCESS.COM
> Retry: 4
> Timeout: 4
> Servers: 205.171.3.65, 205.171.2.65
> Path: No values defined
What happens when you do $nslookup www.chocolate.com ?
The first 2 lines of the output will tell you which DNS server is being
used. This should fail right now because your resolved is in "Disabled"
state. But the nslookup is good to test your resolver.
Ok, in your permanent config, it shows transport of TCP, it should be UDP.
(although I do not think this is a showstopper).
What do the following logicals translate to ?
TCPIP$BIND_DOMAIN
TCPIP$INET_DOMAIN
The TCPIP SET CONF NAME/DOMAIN= should probably match what those two
logicals say (they should point to the same domain)
When playing with a system that is already up, remember to
TCPIP> SET NAME /something /SYSTEM so it affects the systemwide definitions.
In your case, since you are in disabled state, you also want /ENABLE in
your command to force an attempt to restart it.
Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply
mcbi...@yahoo.com writes:
> Alternate gateway: DYNACCESS.COM
That's the problem. I have
Alternate gateway: SMTP-RELAY.DYNACCESS.DE
TCPIP> sh host DYNACCESS.COM
BIND database
Server: 194.25.2.129 DNS03.BTX.DTAG.DE
Host address Host name
217.114.73.101 DYNACCESS.COM
TCPIP> sh host SMTP-RELAY.DYNACCESS.DE
BIND database
Server: 194.25.2.129 DNS03.BTX.DTAG.DE
Host address Host name
62.112.159.161 SMTP-RELAY.DYNACCESS.DE
80.86.187.163 SMTP-RELAY.DYNACCESS.DE
In order to make use of SMTP-RELAY.DYNACCESS.DE, you need to have at
least the Heartbeat-A tarif. (You don't have to use the heartbeat
feature, though.)
Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply
mcbi...@yahoo.com writes:
> Well, now I have everything completely hosed. I can no longer receive
> SMTP mail either. When the SMTP connection is made, I get the
> following error:
>
> %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 7-FEB-2007 22:38:58.72 %%%%%%%%%%%
> Message from user TCPIP$SMTP on SHAGGY
> TCPIP-W-SMTP_UNRSLVMF, MAIL FROM:<<user...@gmail.com>> has
> unresolvable domain
>
> I think I am definitely missing something as far as configuration
> goes. When I do a "SHOW NAME" in TCPIP now I get the following:
This appears to be a nameserver problem.
All NAT routers have their own nameserver for their own use which they
get from the provider via DHCP. Some of them will act as a nameserver
for stuff on the LAN (forwarding requests to their own name server).
Thus, use your NAT router as your name server in VMS. If that doesn't
work (and it depends on the NAT router), look into your NAT router and
see what nameserver(s) it is using and use that information to configure
your nameserver(s) on the VMS box.
Richard B. gilbert
This appears to be a rather strange NAT router to say the least. A
router does not need DNS at all in order to function as a router!
The typical NAT router configures itself via DHCP and, as part of the
process, is given the addresses of two or three DNS servers. It also
acts as a DHCP server and supplies these addresses to its clients. It
makes no use of the DNS server addresses other than to pass them along
to its clients.
mcbi...@yahoo.com
Other than the outgoing SMTP, _everything_ was working before. I had
the DNS correctly pointed to dns1 and dns2 which were in my local
hosts table. Incoming SMTP worked fine as well. Now I have everything
so screwed up in my configuration it's going to take a bit of work to
get it straightened out. I ended up reconfiguring my adapter and
changing the domain name. Unfortunately, it looks like most of that
was unnecessary as the reason my new outgoing SMTP configuration
wasn't working was because I didn't read the DYNACCESS.COM website
info carefully; that is, I didn't notice that I needed the "heartbeat-
a" tariff in order to send outgoing SMTP.
Since I've been mucking around with the TCP configuration my CSWS
(Apache)/PHP/Oracle have also stopped working.
I guess I am looking at a complete reconfig as if I had just installed
a new VMS box. It's not entirely a bad thing. I had gotten kind of
rusty with much of this so I guess it's a good chance to refresh my
memory.
Bill
Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply
<rgilb...@comcast.net> writes:
> The typical NAT router configures itself via DHCP and, as part of the
> process, is given the addresses of two or three DNS servers. It also
> acts as a DHCP server and supplies these addresses to its clients. It
> makes no use of the DNS server addresses other than to pass them along
> to its clients.
I have several NAT routers. All of them are DHCP clients with respect
to the WAN, and can be DHCP servers with respect to the LAN (I don't use
DHCP on my VMS machines, though). ALL of them pick up DNS servers when
they are configured via DHCP. However, only SOME of them will in turn
act as a nameserver for machines on the LAN. Thus, the ones that don't
must be getting the DNS servers for some other reason.
JF Mezei
> to the WAN, and can be DHCP servers with respect to the LAN (I don't use
> DHCP on my VMS machines, though). ALL of them pick up DNS servers when
> they are configured via DHCP. However, only SOME of them will in turn
> act as a nameserver for machines on the LAN. Thus, the ones that don't
> must be getting the DNS servers for some other reason.
The DNS server(s) are supplied as part of pretty default DHCP and PPP/PPPoE
dialogues.
A router can accept the DHCP/PPPoE information and do nothing with it. Or
it could use this as part of its own DHCP server , providing those DNS
settings to lan side clients.
If a router acts as a DNS server, it is probably simply configured to take
packets destined to its IP's port 53 and forward them to one of the DNS
servers.
Richard B. gilbert
I would be somewhat surprised if ANY router did DNS lookups! All they
are supposed to do is supply the DNS server addresses when requested via
DHCP. When something on your LAN makes a DNS request and the server
address is your ISP's name server, I would expect the router to forward
the request and return the server's reply.
There may be exceptions to this but I have never heard of one. Your
typical < $100 SOHO router simply stuffs outbound traffic into your WAN
whether it's ADSL, Cable, or tin cans and string. It also, of course,
admits inbound traffic from your WAN.
These boxes are called "routers" but I think "gateway" would be better
terminology since the only "route" 99.999% ever use is your ISP's
router. To act as DNS servers, they would have to maintain a DNS
database which is not a trivial thing to do.
Do you actually configure machines on your LAN to use the router's
address as a DNS server? Or do you configure your ISP DNS servers and
the router simply forwards the packets?
Paul Sture
"Richard B. gilbert" <rgilb...@comcast.net> wrote:
> Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply wrote:
> > In article <45CB355D...@comcast.net>, "Richard B. gilbert"
> > <rgilb...@comcast.net> writes:
> >
> >
> >>The typical NAT router configures itself via DHCP and, as part of the
> >>process, is given the addresses of two or three DNS servers. It also
> >>acts as a DHCP server and supplies these addresses to its clients. It
> >>makes no use of the DNS server addresses other than to pass them along
> >>to its clients.
> >
> >
> > I have several NAT routers. All of them are DHCP clients with respect
> > to the WAN, and can be DHCP servers with respect to the LAN (I don't use
> > DHCP on my VMS machines, though). ALL of them pick up DNS servers when
> > they are configured via DHCP. However, only SOME of them will in turn
> > act as a nameserver for machines on the LAN. Thus, the ones that don't
> > must be getting the DNS servers for some other reason.
> >
>
> I would be somewhat surprised if ANY router did DNS lookups! All they
> are supposed to do is supply the DNS server addresses when requested via
> DHCP. When something on your LAN makes a DNS request and the server
> address is your ISP's name server, I would expect the router to forward
> the request and return the server's reply.
>
I believe it depends on the both router and what your ISP offers. With
my first (dialup) router, you could enter the DNS addresses into the
router itself. The ADSL router, which came later acted as a DNS relay,
> There may be exceptions to this but I have never heard of one. Your
> typical < $100 SOHO router simply stuffs outbound traffic into your WAN
> whether it's ADSL, Cable, or tin cans and string. It also, of course,
> admits inbound traffic from your WAN.
Neither of those routers was sub $300. OK, prices have come down a lot
since then, but that's probably the difference.
--
Paul Sture
mcbi...@yahoo.com
it all works great now. While it was a good re-learning experience,
most of it was unnecessary. It turned out that just shutting down and
restarting the entire TCP stack fixed the problems. And, it looks like
I had it configured and then reconfigured (for dynaccess.com)
correctly but that I had the wrong tariff selected for dynaccess.com.
Until JF pointed it out, I didn't realize that the "Heartbeat-A"
tariff is the minimum in order to be able to send SMTP.
All the "domain mismatch" problems went away when I restarted TCPIP.
I'm still not sure I completely understand where the different names
are used throughout HP TCPIP. I do know that I had to use a few
aliases in the host file in order to be able to receive SMTP mail.
When you start from scratch and configure an adapter, the TCPIP
$CONFIGURE.COM procedure adds an entry to the host file that is the
host name only. Without adding an alias that is the fully qualified
"outside" domain name, incoming email gets rejected as SPAM. And
without specifying the "outside" domain name as the substitute domain
for the SMTP config, outgoing mail gets returned with a "command error
553".
Anyway,
thank you all for the help. I really appreciate it.
Bill
Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply
<jfmezei...@vaxination.ca> writes:
> Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply wrote:
> > I have several NAT routers. All of them are DHCP clients with respect
> > to the WAN, and can be DHCP servers with respect to the LAN (I don't use
> > DHCP on my VMS machines, though). ALL of them pick up DNS servers when
> > they are configured via DHCP. However, only SOME of them will in turn
> > act as a nameserver for machines on the LAN. Thus, the ones that don't
> > must be getting the DNS servers for some other reason.
>
> The DNS server(s) are supplied as part of pretty default DHCP and PPP/PPPoE
> dialogues.
>
> A router can accept the DHCP/PPPoE information and do nothing with it. Or
> it could use this as part of its own DHCP server , providing those DNS
> settings to lan side clients.
Right. As I said, I don't have DHCP on my VMS machines (although I
could). The nameservers in the router are for that case.
> If a router acts as a DNS server, it is probably simply configured to take
> packets destined to its IP's port 53 and forward them to one of the DNS
> servers.
Right. However, not all of them do this, even if they do have a DNS
server configured for passing on to their DHCP clients.
Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply
<rgilb...@comcast.net> writes:
> Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply wrote:
> > In article <45CB355D...@comcast.net>, "Richard B. gilbert"
> > <rgilb...@comcast.net> writes:
> >
> >>The typical NAT router configures itself via DHCP and, as part of the
> >>process, is given the addresses of two or three DNS servers. It also
> >>acts as a DHCP server and supplies these addresses to its clients. It
> >>makes no use of the DNS server addresses other than to pass them along
> >>to its clients.
> >
> >
> > I have several NAT routers. All of them are DHCP clients with respect
> > to the WAN, and can be DHCP servers with respect to the LAN (I don't use
> > DHCP on my VMS machines, though). ALL of them pick up DNS servers when
> > they are configured via DHCP. However, only SOME of them will in turn
> > act as a nameserver for machines on the LAN. Thus, the ones that don't
> > must be getting the DNS servers for some other reason.
>
> I would be somewhat surprised if ANY router did DNS lookups! All they
> are supposed to do is supply the DNS server addresses when requested via
> DHCP. When something on your LAN makes a DNS request and the server
> address is your ISP's name server, I would expect the router to forward
> the request and return the server's reply.
Yes, it forwards it. However, not all such routers do this. Some
routers (such as Zyxel) I can configure as a nameserver under VMS. This
is convenient since I can configure this once and leave it. Other
routers have name servers ONLY for DHCP clients. I can't use them as a
nameserver under VMS (i.e. they don't forward requests, just pass the
name servers on to DHCP clients). In these cases, I usually see which
nameservers the router has and configure these in VMS, but I have to
update the VMS configuration if the nameservers stop working.
> There may be exceptions to this but I have never heard of one. Your
> typical < $100 SOHO router simply stuffs outbound traffic into your WAN
> whether it's ADSL, Cable, or tin cans and string. It also, of course,
> admits inbound traffic from your WAN.
>
> These boxes are called "routers" but I think "gateway" would be better
> terminology since the only "route" 99.999% ever use is your ISP's
> router. To act as DNS servers, they would have to maintain a DNS
> database which is not a trivial thing to do.
They just forward requests. However, some do and some don't.
> Do you actually configure machines on your LAN to use the router's
> address as a DNS server? Or do you configure your ISP DNS servers and
> the router simply forwards the packets?
Now, the latter, since I prefer the router I am using now (LINKSYS)
since I can query its WAN address via LYNX. However, a rebadged ZYXEL I
have WILL act as a nameserver for VMS. (Of course, it just forwards
requests to the nameservers it got via DHCP, but that is transparent.)
I quite like the router otherwise as well (it even has an undocumented
ASCII menu mode if one telnets into it, and from there one can even get
to a prompt), but via HTTP it needs Javascript. Since my home-grown
dynamic-DNS client uses LYNX in a batch job, I use the LINKSYS router.
(I can also query it with LYNX to get the nameserver addresses.)
Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply
mcbi...@yahoo.com writes:
> Well,
> it all works great now. While it was a good re-learning experience,
> most of it was unnecessary. It turned out that just shutting down and
> restarting the entire TCP stack fixed the problems. And, it looks like
> I had it configured and then reconfigured (for dynaccess.com)
> correctly but that I had the wrong tariff selected for dynaccess.com.
> Until JF pointed it out, I didn't realize that the "Heartbeat-A"
> tariff is the minimum in order to be able to send SMTP.
I think that was I, but who's counting? :-)
> All the "domain mismatch" problems went away when I restarted TCPIP.
> I'm still not sure I completely understand where the different names
> are used throughout HP TCPIP. I do know that I had to use a few
> aliases in the host file in order to be able to receive SMTP mail.
> When you start from scratch and configure an adapter, the TCPIP
> $CONFIGURE.COM procedure adds an entry to the host file that is the
> host name only. Without adding an alias that is the fully qualified
> "outside" domain name, incoming email gets rejected as SPAM. And
> without specifying the "outside" domain name as the substitute domain
> for the SMTP config, outgoing mail gets returned with a "command error
> 553".
Check out TCPIP$SMTP_COMMON:TCPIP$SMTP_LOCAL_ALIASES.TXT. You can put a
list of domains in there for which you can receive email.
You can also redefine TCPIP$SMTP_COMMON:
"TCPIP$SMTP_COMMON" = "SYS$SPECIFIC:[TCPIP$SMTP]" (LNM$SYSTEM_TABLE)
= "CLUSTER_TCPIP_SMTP"
1 "CLUSTER_TCPIP_SMTP" = "CLUSTER_DISK:[SYSTEM.TCPIP_SMTP]" (LNM$SYSTEM_TABLE)
Thus, one can have one TCPIP$SMTP_LOCAL_ALIASES.TXT, STMP.CONFIG etc for
all nodes in the cluster (overriding them with machine-specific ones in
SYS$SPECIFIC:[TCPIP$SMTP] (the default translation of
"TCPIP$SMTP_COMMON) if necessary).
Richard B. gilbert
Ok, I have never encountered a ZYXEL router (or a ZYXEL anything).
Occasionally I learn something new around here!!
Paul Sture
"Richard B. gilbert" <rgilb...@comcast.net> wrote:
> Ok, I have never encountered a ZYXEL router (or a ZYXEL anything).
> Occasionally I learn something new around here!!
Coincidentally, both routers I mentioned were ZYXEL.
--
Paul Sture