Configuring FreeBSD 6.2 to use sendmail for sending only

[Derek Ragona]

At 08:14 PM 8/30/2007, L Goodwin wrote:

>--- Derek Ragona <derek at computinginnovations.com>
>wrote:
>
> > At 07:01 PM 8/30/2007, L Goodwin wrote:
> > >Chuck, I'd prefer to have the script handle the
> > >mailing  so I can test the script (with email send)
> > >manually, independent of cron.
> > >
> > >Still looking for specifics on setting this up and
> > a
> > >bourne shell script example that sends an email.
> > >Thanks!
> > >
> > >--- Chuck Swiger <cswiger at mac.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Aug 30, 2007, at 3:12 PM, L Goodwin wrote:
> > > > > I wrote a shell script that backs up the file
> > > > server.
> > > > > I would like to modify this script to email a
> > > > > notification message to a public email
> > address.
> > > >
> > > > Use cron, which will automatically email out the
> > > > results of your
> > > > script to any email address you like.
> > > >
> > > > > Seems like sendmail should do the job nicely,
> > but
> > > > I've never set it
> > > > > up before.
> > > > >
> > > > > What specific steps (including
> > network-specific)
> > > > need
> > > > > to be performed to get sendmail working for
> > > > outgoing
> > > > > mail only in a secure manner?
> > > >
> > > > Please see the fine Handbook:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> >
> >http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mail.html
> > > >
> > > > Although, it is entirely reasonable to consider
> > > > using Postfix instead.
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > -Chuck
> > > >
> > > >
> >
> > Here is a sample script that you can use as a
> > template:
>=======================================================
> > #!/bin/sh
> >
> > #define any commands you will use
> > MAILFILE=mymailfile
> > MAILFILE2=mymailfile2
> > SENDTO=derek at computinginnovations.com
> > CCTO=derek at computinginnovations.com
> > MAIL=/usr/bin/mail
> > AWK=/usr/bin/awk
> > CAT=/bin/cat
> > TR=/usr/bin/tr
> > TEMPDIR=/tmp
> >
> > #make sure we have paths
> > export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin
> >
> > cd $TEMPDIR
> > $CAT /etc/passwd | $AWK -F : '{ print $5 }' >
> > $MAILFILE
> > $TR -cd "\012-\172" < $MAILFILE > $MAILFILE2
> > $MAIL -s "My list of real user names subject"
> > $SENDTO -c $CCTO < $MAILFILE2
>=======================================================
>
>Derek, your example brings up another question.
>
>Should I be calling "mail" or "sendmail", and which
>mail or sendmail should I invoke if there is more than
>one of either? Chuck's example calls sendmail in a
>path that does not exist on my system (my sendmail is
>in /usr/sbin/). I usually invoke whichever one is
>first in my path.

Mail is the local MTA to send via sendmail.  All my servers run sendmail.


>One more question. Is it ok to run the script (and
>send the email) as user root, or should I create a
>user account with more limited permissions -- if so,
>what limits should I set?

Some scripts may need to run as root.  I have cron jobs I run as root, as 
root permissions are required.  Other jobs I run as non-root 
users.  Typically to run non-root jobs, create a new user group or use one 
that is existing and make a new user that is a member of that 
group.  Typically a non-root task is analysis of webserver logs, since the 
webserver should run with non-root privileges.

You can also use complex scripts where you combine root and non-root tasks 
using sudo for the root tasks.

Like most tasks in a UNIX environment, there are many ways to do them.

         -Derek

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