Troubleshooting
Problem
While using AIX, a user may receive the following message when attempting to send a mail message:
# mail -vvv user@domain.com
Subject: Test
Cc: user1@domain.com
Null message body; hope that's ok
Domain.com: Name server timeout
user@domain.com... Transient parse error -- message queued for future delivery
user@domain.com... Queued
Environment
All versions of AIX.
Resolving The Problem
Note:- Before making any changes it is recommended to take a backup of /etc/mail/sendmail.cf and /etc/mail/submit.cf and then proceed with the corrections.
- If the relay server is being used to send mails then the first step is to check for the “DS” entries in both sendmail.cf and submit.cf.
- The entries must be similar to the below:
DSyour_relay_server
- If the entries are not present , adding the relay host in the above mentioned format is recommended.
- If the entries are present or if the relay server is not being used to send mail ignore the above step.
2. Second step is to check if the sendmail.cf and submit.cf contain the following lines :
# pass to name server to make hostname canonical.
R$* $| $* < @ $* > $* $: $2 < @ $[ $3 $] > $4
If the entry is enabled (not commented out), insert a '#' at the start of the line to disable (comment out) the entry.
When this line is not commented out (enabled), hostname lookups for mail messages are resolved using the /etc/resolve.conf (DNS lookup).
When this line is commented out (disabled), hostname lookups for mail messages are resolved using the /etc/hosts file (skipping DNS lookups).
- After making changes in both sendmail.cf and submit.cf, the line should look similar to:
# pass to name server to make hostname canonical
# R$* $| $* < @ $* > $* $: $2 < @ $[ $3 $] > $4
# R$* $| $* < @ $* > $* $: $2 < @ $[ $3 $] > $4
- After making the changes , restart the sendmail daemon to pickup the changes:
Below are the steps to restart the sendmail daemon:
# stopsrc -s sendmail
# startsrc -s sendmail -a "-bd -q30m"
Document Location
Worldwide
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Document Information
Modified date:
27 March 2024
UID
ibm17145220