Topic: Maildrop: Remote SME Server gets maildrop from Local SME

[zzrpat]

Hi!

I have two SME Server machines, one in our office here, and one in our other office 1500km away. We have a single domain (which i'll call example.com) for both offices. At present, mail for our domain is sent into our web host's mail servers, sorted into two mailboxes there, and our two servers each use maildrop to download mail from their respective mailboxes.

We want to ditch our web host and do all our hosting internally. I have tried to get the remote SME box to maildrop from an account on our local box, but I've had problems because both machines are in the same domain.

If the local machine doesn't have example.com listed as a virtual domain, it won't accept mail addressed to users@example.com - it will either be bounced or forwarded to admin, depending on the settings

If the remote machine doesn't have example.com listed as a virtual domain, it won't accept mail addressed to users@example.com - it will either be bounced or forwarded to admin, depending on the settings. The local server will accept mail but the remote one won't

If both machines have example.com listed as a virtual domain, the remote server will receive the mail, then decide that it has already processed mail for example.com and that the mail is looping, so it will be bounced

Here's the mail headers for that last case:

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at glynntucker.local.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

<recipient@example.com>:
This message is looping: it already has my Delivered-To line. (#5.4.6)

How can I resolve this? I need some way to process the mail and send it to the remote server based on recipient.

Cheers!

Darren

[gordonr]

How can I resolve this? I need some way to process the mail and send it to the remote server based on recipient.

It is possible, but it requires user mapping tables at both ends. I've done it, but it's not trivial to configure or maintain, especially if people move between the sites.

The simplest solution is likely to be two domains, with all mail routing through your real domain. Set up each of the second office users with mail forwarded to user@remote.dom.ain and set up an SMTP route to the other box.

The downside of this is that "local" mail for the second site takes a trip through the main site. Depending on your connection, that may be an issue.

Another alternative would be to have a single mail server and use POPS/IMAPS to retrieve from the "main" site.

[zzrpat]

Hi Gordon

Thanks for your reply. For those following this thread:

We decided not to host our own SMTP server. Instead, we will purchase a mail forwarding service (DynDns MailHop Forward) for a small fee each year and have email delivered to our ISP-provided email address. The service we are looking at provides unlimited email aliases, so all our users at the local office will have their mail forwarded to user@localisp.com. The users at the remote office will have their mail forwarded to user@remoteisp.com. From there, our SME boxes will use Maildrop to pick up the mail and distribute it to users at each office.

Cheers!

Darren

[zzrpat]

Hi all,

Another follow-up:
We implemented the system described, it works like a charm. Now we don't need to pay for an offsite email hosting service.

Cheers!

Darren

[LeoM]

Hello,

Your talking about mailproblems with a remote server.
I whish I am that far already....
Can someone tell me how to couple two servers (and two local networks in two offices) to act as one system?

I have two ADSL lines with different IP's at home to test it.

Could someone give me a hint where to start looking for an answer?

Thanks in advance,

Leo