Do I need to completely disable sendmail?

[Pete Slagle]

Rob Gabaree wrote:

> I have a remote server that I don't plan on using for email as I have  
> another server to handle that.  My question is.. is it a bad idea to  
> _completely_ disable sendmail on that machine? 

Yes.

You probably want to allow the server to send you administrative mail
that it generates itself, but not let it receive any from outside.

To do that:

(1) Use the default settings for sendmail by not specifying any . Delete
all lines containing "sendmail" from /etc/rc.conf. This will allow
outgoing mail only.

(2) Put a line in /etc/aliases that defines who receives root's e-mail
for the server. Point it to your actual e-mail address. For example,

  root: my_addy at example.com

(3) Reboot.

That's it. Now the box can send you it's status information, but it
won't listen for any incoming mail.