Conference gyro::internet_toolss

You need to check the MX records in nslookup.

nslookup
set q=MX
aol.com

Should return something.

Stu

There is no trick to sending to AOL users.  I do it all the time.  
But you have to make sure you have the correct "handle" for the AOL 
user.  If you're sending to Joe Blow, "[email protected]" won't work.  
You have to know that Joe Blow's AOL "handle" is "Supernerd97" and 
send to him at "[email protected]".

When you say the mail bounces, what error is being reported back to 
you by the mailers?

--PSW

    
    	He said he's sending or replying, so I'd figure he's using the
    	correct address.
    

RE: .3

Most (if not all) PC mail clients require the user to enter the From: address
information by hand.  Thus, if the guy's clueless as to his correct address, 
it'll be wrong in the message you receive and replies to the address will 
bounce.  Check the address in the Return-Path: header.  If it doesn't match 
what's in the From: address, try using what's in Return-Path:.

--PSW

    
    	I don't know much about PC mail clients, but I'd figure that most
    	support cut/paste via the edit command.  And Exchange provides a
    	"reply to sender" selection.
    
    	Of course you're right in that an address could be typed in in-
    	correctly.  But with all these high-tech point/click gadgets that
    	we have these days, who wants to type anything?  8^)

I think the point is that you do have to tell some mailers 
(Netscape, e.g.) what your mail address is.  Whatever you 
tell it is what becomes your From (or Sender) address.  So the 
theory is that the AOL guy did not put the right from address 
in his mail agent and that's why the original poster can not
reply.

In Exchange, the administrator defines the return address (with
the help of an admin tool, I think), so we don't have to
configure our own.

    AOL has an integrated mail client -- you don't use a generic one
    like Eudora. I don't think you've got the option of filling in the
    "from" field -- AOL does that part.

    
    	Oh, the "From" field.  Yes, that would explain quite a bit.
    

    I'm using Digital UNIX v4.0b to read and respond to Mail.  The mail
    utility is mailx (a character cell, command line based, _NO_ gui, _NO_
    wysiwyg interface, but I am using DECterm so I can select and paste
    strings onto the command line to save typing mistakes :-)
    
    The funny thing is that sometimes it appears to work (I've used this
    mail address before successfully).  So I don't think the sender has
    made any mistakes about their return address.  I also confirmed the
    address over the phone just to be sure (but I trust phoned in
    information less then computer generated, and I don't trust computers,
    because they let people like me program them :-)
    
    Like I said, sometimes the address has worked.  For example, when I
    started this note my mail requests were getting bounced right away. 
    After getting the request to post an example of a bounced message, I
    tried to send to the [email protected] address again, and so far it
    has not bounced (of course the mail spooler will try for several days
    so I don't know if the "Check is in the Mail" or if it has successfully
    made it to its destination :-)  Of course this is standard procedure. 
    If someone offers to help, the problem won't occur again until no one
    is watching.  So everyone stop watching for awhile, and I'll get an
    example to post :-)
    
    Maybe I have a domain name server problem?  I'm using the zk3.dec.com
    domain name servers.  My primary is domain name server is
    wasted.zk3.dec.com and minsrv.zk3.dec.com is my backup name server. 
    But when I tried to use nslookup to verify the name aol.com I also
    tried a few other servers such as guru.zk3.dec.com and
    yeild.zk3.dec.com.  But that is a limited subset and all 4 of these
    servers are managed by the same admin group in ZK3.
    
    If I get any more bounces I'll post an example.
    
    But it is nice to know that I'm only "Crazy" on Tuesday and Wednesday
    but OK the rest of the week :-)
    
    Thanks for the feedback.
    
    					Bob Harris

	Send mail to [email protected] and ask if there's a problem with that
  mail account.  Send them a copy of the bounced mail so that they can look at
  the generated message.

		Danny

    Example of a rejected mail message to AOL user from Juggl7.zk3.dec.com
    (16.140.32.31) which is my Digital UNIX v4.0b workstation.  Juggl7's
    domain name servers are:
    
    	wasted.zk3.dec.com 	16.140.32.3
    	minsrv.zk3.dec.com	16.140.32.4
    
    					Bob Harris
    
From [email protected] Sat Mar 29 13:30:27 1997
Received: from juggl7.zk3.dec.com by mailhub2.zk3.dec.com; (5.65v3.2/1.1.8.2/18Sep95-0525AM)
	id AA06580; Sat, 29 Mar 1997 13:30:26 -0500
Received: by juggl7.zk3.dec.com; id AA04112; Sat, 29 Mar 1997 13:21:34 -0500
Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 13:21:34 -0500
From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <[email protected]>
Subject: Returned mail: Cannot send message for 3 days
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Status: RO

   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
421 aol.com (smtp)... Deferred: Host is unreachable

   ----- Unsent message follows -----
Received: by juggl7.zk3.dec.com; id AA16732; Wed, 26 Mar 1997 13:19:57 -0500
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 13:19:57 -0500
From: Bob Harris (USEG) <harris>
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: this is a test


    

>   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
> 421 aol.com (smtp)... Deferred: Host is unreachable
> 

	That means that it can't deliver the message to the host which receives
  the mail.  It has nothing to do with the user's name at AOL.  It looks like
  you didn't configure juggl7 properly to send mail via Digital's external
  mail systems.  You cannot access directly any external SMTP servers from
  inside the firewall with the exception of the digital ones in the digital
  domain.  You need to set up your system to relay the message via those systems.
  How this is done depends on the SMTP server running on juggl7.

		Danny

    
    	Are you sending this from Netscape or similar browser?
    
    	If so, check that you have named an outgoing server in the options
    	category ... for example, which ever USxRMC server you normally
    	use.
    

The mail relay server is named relay.dec.com, no matter where you are inside
Digital's network.

				Steve

    
    	I'm using
    
    	us6rmc.mro.dec.com
    

RE: .16

You need to get in touch with the maintainers of us6rmc.mro.dec.com and have 
them check that they have their mail relay configured properly.

--PSW

    
    	I'M not having the problem, though.
    

    Thanks.
    
    Juggl7 is my workstation, so I can mung it up to my hearts content. 
    The fact that it is not configured properly for sending mail outside of
    the firewall, helps a lot.  Now I know what I need to go chase down.
    
    I'll pursue this for awhile.  If I hit a blank wall, I'll get back to
    this note.
    
    If I figure out what additional configuration work needs to be done to
    my workstation, I'll try to remember to post a solution update to this
    note.
    
    Thanks again.
    
    					Bob Harris

FYI and for others, the best thing to do is just run mailsetup.

One of the questions defines the scope of mail you can send
directly (which would be dec.com) and where to send mail outside
that scope (relay.dec.com).

    Thanks to all who replied.
    
    I have run mailsetup on my Digital UNIX workstation and I gave it a
    mail relay.  It actually looked out on the net to get suitable
    canidates for this stuff, so all I really had to do was to tell it
    sure, I want one of those.
    
    I've since send mail to the AOL account and receive a reply, so I know
    it works.
    
    Thanks again.
    
    					Bob Harris

The concept of sending directly to a user at a specific address is too simple
and would reduce the requirement for system and network managers.

The Internet Protocols, and SMTP/POP/IMAP/et al, expose the internals of the
system to the end user ensuring that at a minimum the system managers are able
to transition to help desks to guide users thru the setup process and for the
more proficient give them the opportunity to direct operators on roller skates
who go from PC to PC to setup the various network options.  Why, even simply
upgrading the LAN so that there is more bandwidth to support web browsing
can require reconfiguring hundreds of PCs because everyone knows that routing
is the only way to scale networks.

And IPv6 will make PhaseV seem like a walk in the park.

IP means Income Protection for network managers.

		;-)