(Kind listers/newsreaders:  this is admittedly vendor-specific but I think
 the underlying issues are of general interest, so bear with me)
 
Chris Bartram or associate can probably give you a definitive answer, but
I'll give this a shot...
 
On Thu, 4 Jul 1996 18:44:15 -0700 you said:
>I am attempting to use the freeware version of Netmail/3000, with a view to
>'mail-enabling' some of our 3000-based systems, but I am running into problems
>as described below - help would be much appreciated.
>
>We intend to use a 'trusted gateway', since our organisation already has
>(internet) email up and running.
 
OK, this implies you have DNS and an SMTP agent available.  You do not say
how "internet-aware" your 3000 is, and I think that is the problem.
 
>Netmail is submitting messages OK to our trusted gateway, but they are being
>bounced back with errors such as the following:
>
>   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
>While talking to mailgate1.uea.ac.uk:
>>>> RCPT To:<<@139.222.130.1:[log in to unmask]>><<< 550 Unknown domain
>'139.222.130.1'
>550 <<@139.222.130.1:[log in to unmask]>>... User unknown
 
>As you can see, the address [log in to unmask] has been preceeded by the
>string [log in to unmask]:'  That IP address is that of an smpt server machine
>close to the actual mailgate that we are specifying (The IP address of the
>mail gate is 139.222.230.1).
 
What you have is close to a source-routed mail address which is used commonly
for firewalls and other applications where your target machine cannot be
reached directly from the source, in the absence of any further addressing
information.  Source routing works like:
 
 <@hop1.node.domain,@hop2.node.domain,[log in to unmask]:[log in to unmask]>
 
Mail is delivered to the first "hop" where that information is stripped from
the target (and pre-pended to the origin).  In your case, you have a "dotted
quad octet" or a numeric IP address.  By the RFCs, a numeric address must be
enclosed in square brackets (that's an ancient standard, and also the origin
of square brackets in HPDesk FSC addresses, for the trivia buffs).  So what
the heck is going on here?
 
First, it will help matters somewhat if you have DNS enabled on the 3000; so
insure that (a) you setup RESLVCNF.NET (or is it RSLVCONF? I'm at home) on
the 3000 and setup nameservers and domains correctly, and (b) you have your
3000 defined to your local nameserver(s) with a host name.  Next, be sure you
correctly configured a DNS server in the NetMail database.  Note that NetMail
has it's own DNS client (it is aware of MX, CNAME, and other DNS entry types
while the 3000's is pretty stupid and just finds basic addresses).
 
Sounds like mail is going to the first server (your default gateway?).  Do
you have the "default mail gateway" defined by name, or by number?  You
should define it by name -- the source-route address modification may be
coming from NetMail, though I don't think it generates source routes (but
I've never had this problem, we don't force mail to the default gateway).
 
From the error transcript, if your mail was delivered to your SMTP gateway,
and the bounce originated from your SMTP gateway, you may have a sendmail.cf
problem, and you have my condolences :-)  On the other hand, make sure that
your 3000 is as "DNS-aware" as possible and properly registered in your DNS
servers.  That might avoid the numeric addresses in the first place (they
only show up for DNS-unaware cases).
 
>(The mailgate is a Sun Sparc 1000e running Solaris 2.4, with the mail software
>being pp from Nexor.)
 
OK, I retract my sendmail.cf comment :-)
 
If you haven't heard from Chris and still having problems, let me know and
I'll try to help, but it sounds like you just need to enable all of the
internet-aware components on your 3000 and/or examine your DNS setup.
If you're going to go for an Internet-aware 3000 make sure you setup all of
the pre-requisite services or you won't obtain the expected results.
 
Jeff Kell <[log in to unmask]>