ListManager Does Not Respond to Email I Send to It

If, when you send mail to ListManager, you never receive a response, it is likely that ListManager is not receiving your message. In such a case, it is most likely that your Domain Name Service information is set up incorrectly and that your mail program is actually sending your mail elsewhere.

Very often, the DNS for your organization has been set up so that email sent to a specific machine is routed to a mail server rather than to that specific machine. For instance, the "mail preference" setting for a machine named "alpha.yourcompany.com" could be set up so that mail to "lyris@alpha.yourcompany.com" is instead sent to "lyris@mailserver.yourcompany.com". In such a case, the mail never gets to alpha.yourcompany.com (the machine running ListManager). That, of course, causes problems.

If you are sure that your DNS is set up correctly, here is how you peek into ListManager to see what it happening to incoming mail.

If you have a the programs and the knowledge to access your SQL Server directly you can look in your database at the table called inmail_, and all messages that ListManager has received will be there, along with their processing "status".

Another way is to run ListManager with "debug" on the command line ("lm debug"). You will then be displayed information as events occur. Start the ListManager Server, and wait for the startup events to end. Then, mail your message. If the message gets to ListManager, you will see a bunch of activity for a few seconds as the message comes in and is processed.

Here is a sample, correctly set up DNS entry. Notice how "mail exchanger" with the lowest preference (preference = 5) is the machine itself. This DNS is set up so that any mail to jingram.clark.net is sent directly to jingram.clark.net. The preference=10 line indicates that if for some reason the preference=5 host is not available (perhaps it is turned off) then mail will be accepted by clarknet.clark.net, who will most likely hold the mail and deliver it to jingram.clark.net once that host is once again reachable.

> jingram.clark.net
Server: clark.net
Address: 168.143.0.7
jingram.clark.net Internet address = 168.143.7.97
jingram.clark.net preference = 5, mail exchanger = jingram.clark.net
jingram.clark.net preference = 10, mail exchanger = clarknet.clark.net
clark.net nameserver = sun1.clark.net
clark.net nameserver = icm1.icp.net
jingram.clark.net Internet address = 168.143.7.97
clarknet.clark.net Internet address = 168.143.0.2
sun1.clark.net Internet address = 198.17.243.2
icm1.icp.net Internet address = 192.94.207.66