by jesse

what is the diference betwwen an alias file, and a virtusertable file in sendmail?

they have many things in common, they are both used in address translation, and they are both made into a db that sendmail reloads without the need for a reset. The differnce is what kind of address translation they are used for.

with an alias file you cannot specify the domain name an alias applies for, it applies for any domain name that sendmail is server mail for, so an alias file is used for aliases that are common accross all domains, or if sendmail is only accpeting mail for one domain name.

a virtusertable is really only usefull if you are accepting more than one domain name, with a virtusertable you can have alias be specific to a signle domain name, so webmaster@foo can be forwarded to something different than webmaster@bar is forwarded to.

there is also a small semantic differnce between the two files, the aliais file has a : between the the original addr, and the forwarding add, a virtusertable file has whitespace between the two addresses.

for more information on virtusertable check out http://patriot.net/~scoile/isp-redhat/sendmail/virtusertable.

 


 
Read more of   The Yak's Frequently Questioned Answers   (mod.2010-02-10)

425.   How do I make a FireFox search plugin?   [gregr/2005-05-17]
422.   What is a tofinfant?   [jake/2005-02-18]
409.   What is a nice tip for automating updates on debian systems?   [jake/2004-03-30]
400.   How can I change which port sshd listens on in Mac OS X 10.3 Panther? (hint: not in sshd_config)   [leif/2004-01-24]
346.   How do I use IDEA with gpg? (thanks freiheit)   [jake/2003-02-12]
292.   what do you do when your favorite web site becomes no more?   [kurt/2001-11-29]
259.   What is #temp   [ross/2001-08-10]
256.   How does the new Windows Product Activation (WPA) scheme work?   [rupe/2001-07-10]
244.   Does Jeffrey read too many web comics each day?   [strick/2001-06-06]
213.   When and where is the next space launch?   [rupe/2001-04-17]
170.   Where can I find the Linux Kernel Wishlist?   [rupe/2001-01-31]
137.   where can i find docs for radioshack scanners?   [jesse/2000-10-20]
126.   How can I distribute the DeCSS algorithm via DNS?   [rupe/2000-09-28]
120.   What is the Hacker's Manifesto?   [rupe/2001-08-14]
101.   Where can I find tech support anecdotes?   [rupe/2000-06-12]
56.   Hows do i make bogus IDENTD   [ross/2000-02-11] ( jesse/2000-11-15 strick/2000-10-30 )
40.   What's the funniest comic on the net?   [strick/2000-02-02] ( strick/2001-06-11 robey/2001-06-08 strick/2000-10-30 )
39.   Can we get a peek at CRPL?   [strick/2000-02-01]
32.   What are the 'mailer' flags (on the M lines) inside sendmail.cf ?   [strick/2000-01-25]
18.   Where have all the flowers gone?   [datavortex/2000-01-18]
9.   Where is matt.html's home page?   [strick/2000-01-18]