mailx service not running

[hemant dubey_1]

mails are not comming to HP-UX server so mailx service is not running . below is the error reported....



hash map "generics": unsafe map file /etc/mail/genericstable.db: World writable directory
hash map "mailertable": unsafe map file /etc/mail/mailertable.db: World writable directory
hash map "Alias0": unsafe map file /etc/mail/aliases.db: World writable directory
dbm map "Alias0": unsafe map file /etc/mail/aliases: No such file or directory

[gstonian]

Simple search on google provided the following

Sendmail often gets blamed for many problems that are actually the
result of other problems, such as overly permissive modes on
directories.
For this reason, sendmail checks the modes on system directories and
files to determine if they can be trusted. For sendmail to run without
complaining, you MUST execute the following command:

chmod go-w / /etc /etc/mail /usr /var /var/spool /var/spool/
mqueue
chown root / /etc /etc/mail /usr /var /var/spool /var/spool/
mqueue

[whiteknight]

You need to change the permission of those db files.

The reason for this is that if a directory is world writable then any user has
the capability of changing the permissions or directories and files below this
directory. They could create or edit an existing security file anywhere below
this world writable directory and redirect a user's mail.

You can modify these safety checks by editing sendmail.cf file.

In sendmail 8.8.6 and below:
---------------------------
O UnsafeGroupWrites=false

The HPUX 8.8.6 release notes in ITRC document RN110007A, and the O'Reilly book,
sendmail, describe the UnsafeGroupWrites option in more detail.


In sendmail 8.9.3 and above:
---------------------------
O DontBlameSendmail=ForwardFileInGroupWritableDirPath

After fixing the above file system permissions, please stop/restart sendmail

#killsm
#/sbin/init.d/sendmail start

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

mailx is not a service.

It is a binary that uses the sendmail service.

The problem is with sendmail.

Permissions on the /etc/mail directory files is to open. Only root should have write access or a spammer could re-direct your server into a spam relay.

SEP

[Srinivas Thokala_1]

Verify the entries and domain name in file /etc/mail/aliases and after making changes run # /usr/sbin/newaliases to refresh the daemon. Verify the permissions on /etc/mail directory too.

-Srini

[hemant dubey_1]

Hi thanks all for help

i have changed the directry permission for /etc
and /etc/mail now its not giving any further error but still mail are not going.
which is the configuration file for sendmail and how to check which smtpserver it is using

[Keith Johnson]

> which is the configuration file for sendmail and how to check which smtpserver it is using?

/etc/mail/sendmail.cf is the Sendmail configuration file. Within that file, look for the DS directive which specifies the SMTP server you would like it to use.

Also, check the /var/adm/syslog/mail.log file for errors.

[Anshumali]

Mailx is a wrapper for sendmail. Try yourself sendng a mail with the debug option in sendmail:

sendmail -v -d7.99 -d38.99 yourmail@yourdomain.com < /dev/null

It should give you what you are lacking and a simple understanding should solve it.

Also,
do a ps -ef|grep mail and look for something like
sendmail: accepting connections on port 25

if you want to restart sendmail at any point of time:

/sbin/init.d/sendmail stop
/sbin/init.d/sendmail start