Sendmail (Paperback)

by Bryan Costales (Author), Eric Allman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This second edition of sendmail covers sendmail Version 8.8 from Berkeley and the standard versions available on most systems. It is far and away the most comprehensive book ever written on sendmail, the program that acts like a traffic cop in routing and delivering mail on Unix-based networks. Although sendmail is used on almost every Unix system, it's one of the last great uncharted territories--and most difficult utilities to learn--in Unix system administration. This book provides a complete sendmail tutorial, plus extensive reference material on every aspect of the program. Part One is a tutorial on understanding sendmail; Part Two covers the building, installation, and m4 configuration of sendmail; Part Three covers practical issues in sendmail administration; Part Four is a comprehensive reference section; and Part Five consists of appendixes and a bibliography. In this second edition an expanded tutorial demonstrates hub's cf file and nullclient.mc. Other topics include the #error delivery agent, sendmail's exit values, MIME headers, and how to set up and use the user database, mailertable, and smrsh. Solution-oriented examples throughout the book help you solve your own sendmail problems. Plus, this edition is cross-referenced with section numbers.

From the Publisher
This new edition of sendmail covers sendmail Version 8.8 from Berkeley and the standard versions available on most systems. It is far and away the most comprehensive book ever written on sendmail, the program that acts like a traffic cop in routing and delivering mail on UNIX-based networks. Although sendmail is used on almost every UNIX system, it's one of the last great uncharted territories -- and most difficult utilities to learn -- in UNIX system administration. This book provides a complete sendmail tutorial, plus extensive reference material on every aspect of the program. What's more, it's authoritative, having been co-authored by Eric Allman, the developer of sendmail. In addition to Version 8.8, it covers earlier versions available on many systems, such as those found on Sun workstations. Part One is a tutorial on understanding sendmail; Part Two covers the building, installation, and m4 configuration of sendmail; Part Three covers practical issues in sendmail administration; Part Four is a comprehensive reference section; and Part Five consists of appendices and a bibliography. In this second edition an expanded tutorial demonstrates hub's cf file and nullclient.mc. Other new topics include the #error delivery agent, sendmail's exit values, MIME headers, and how to set up and use the user database, mailertable, and smrsh. Solution-oriented examples throughout the book help you solve your own sendmail problems. This new edition is cross-referenced with section numbers.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1044 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly; 2 edition (January 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565922220
• ISBN-13: 978-1565922228
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.9 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,138,699 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The "Bat Book" belongs at your desk., March 4, 1999

By A Customer

I knew nothing of sendmail (or Unix!) when I was asked to implement a new mailhub, mail-gateway, and mail-relay. While I was learning ls, cp, and vi, I was also learning how to compile, install, and configure sendmail! -Thanks to this book.

If you're going to be involved with sendmail, you've heard of the sendmail.cf file. Don't be scared, just jump in and learn it once and for all. With this book, you'll quickly master the .cf file and amaze your friends by configuring SMTP mail servers in no time. More than the complete sendmail reference, this book gives many real-world examples you can adapt to your environment.

The only drawback concerns the release of sendmail 8.9. With the significant changes between 8.8 and 8.9, O'Reilly would do us all a great favor by releasing a 3rd edition covering what's new in 8.9. Regardless, the "Bat Book" will maintain its position within arms reach of my keyboard.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Batbook is necessary if you admin a Sendmail server, November 26, 2000

By	avlight "avlight" (NC) - See all my reviews

I too, am awaiting a third edition to address the major changes in versions 8.10 (which I use) and now the latest 8.11.1. Many of the reviewers are correct where they recommend that you need to have some admin, UNIX/LINUX, and some C++ language experience to fully understand the book. I had to delve into the sendmail.cf file myself and then correlate the applicable section of the sendmail.cf file to it's applicable section in the batbook and learn to understand the book and the inner workings of Sendmail. Once I made the connections and correlations between this book and sendmail.cf, this book became invaluable. In fact, it is the only legitimate complete resource on this software. In one sense, I wish it was a little more tutorial based in nature when I first started learning how to configure sendmail pressured and on the fly when our e-mail server went down and I had to become the "official expert" replacing my ex-boss the former "official expert", who left for "greener pastures". It's easy to read the book now since I know more about sendmail. I'm glad the book is here, Surfing through the sendmail.org page to find info is a nightmare. Surfing many personal webpages concerning sendmail, Many have incomplete answers to your questions and these people always tell you that if the answers to your questions are not present, "BUY THE BATBOOK"

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I want the 3rd edition!, June 24, 1999

By A Customer

A great book, but (as was said before) sendmail 8.9.3 is released with some security fixes. Many things are the same in v8.8 and v8.9.3 but there are some major differences as well. If you need to learn sendmail now, buy this book, it's the best. If you can wait, buy the next edition!