Re: Gnus with Exim

[David Abrahams <dave@boost-consulting.com>]

"Steven E. Harris" <seh@panix.com> writes:

> David Abrahams <dave@boost-consulting.com> writes:
>
>> Okay, I'm going to ask you "what should I do next to configure Exim
>> so that I can send mail from anywhere?"
>
> After thinking it over for a few days, I think I'd take advantage of
> some of exim's new configuration file "preprocessor-like" features and
> use a swappable smart host setup, skipping the dnslookup stuff.

I'm just putting smart_route first at the moment.  I figure dnslookup
might work somewhere that my regular servers are unreachable.

> You could define a router like the "smart_route" one defined in the
> first exim.conf I shared, but rather than specifying smtp.rcn.com
> directly, use file inclusion to pull in a one- or two-line snippet
> from a separate file that defines your current SMTP server. It's only
> a slightly less ugly version of the multiple exim.conf file scheme I
> mentioned a few days ago, but I think it best captures your
> requirements.
>
> Rather than using this directly,
>
> ,----
> | smart_route:
> |   driver = manualroute
> |   domains = ! +local_domains
> |   transport = remote_smtp
> |   route_list = * smtp.rcn.com
> `----
>
> you could use this¹:
>
> ,----
> | smart_route:
> |   driver = manualroute
> |   domains = ! +local_domains
> |   transport = remote_smtp
> |   .include /etc/exim_smarthost_route_list
> `----
>
> The file /etc/exim_smarthost_route_list could be a symlink that
> pointed to one of two files:
>
> ,----[ /etc/exim_rcn_route_list ]
> | route_list = * smtp.rcn.com
> `----
>
> ,----[ /etc/exim_bc_route_list ]
> | route_list = * smtp.boost-consulting.com
> `----
>
> You'd have to flip that symlink each time you changed your computer's
> physical location.

Cool, I was thinking something like that might be possible

> Alternately, why not try this first and see if it suits your
> needs. Specify multiple servers in your smart host route list, and let
> them be tried in order:
>
> ,----
> | smart_route:
> |   driver = manualroute
> |   domains = ! +local_domains
> |   transport = remote_smtp
> |   route_list = * smtp.rcn.com:smtp.boost-consulting.com
> `----

Actually that's what I have running right now.  I was having bad smtp
response this morning so I decided to bite the bullet and set
everything up as best I could before hearing from you.

[BTW, how do you make those nice callouts?]

I was thinking that the ideal would be 

,----
| smart_route:
|   driver = manualroute
|   domains = ! +local_domains
|   transport = remote_smtp
|   .include /etc/exim_smarthost_route_list
`----

with

,----[ /etc/exim_smarthost_route_list ]
| route_list = * smtp.rcn.com:smtp.boost-consulting.com
`----

or

,----[ /etc/exim_smarthost_route_list ]
| route_list = * smtp.boost-consulting.com:smtp.rcn.com
`----

depending on which server had succeeded the last time.  But I don't
know how to do that.  Parsing the log file?  That's a frightening
thought.

> The only trouble there arises if one of those servers operates on a
> non-standard port, or rather if they operate on different ports. The
> SMTP port is specified as part of the remote_smtp transport.² 

Fortunately I don't have that problem.

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com