Starting the sendmail daemon in AIX

Technote (FAQ)

Question

Why will sendmail not stay active.

Answer

There are only a couple of reasons why the sendmail daemon will not stay active.

1. Not using the correct command to start the daemon.

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The correct command to start sendmail is as follows:

#startsrc -s sendmail -a "-bd -q30m"

To check if daemon is active.

#lssrc -s sendmail

If the -bd flag is not specified, then sendmail will start up and die right away.

2. If you have verified that the correct start up command is being used, then it could be corruption, or 

incorrect entry in the configuration file.

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If sendmail.cf corruption is suspected bring a new configuration, from the following directory. But first back up your original.

cp /etc/mail/sendmail.cf /etc/mail/sendmail.cf.og

cp /usr/lpp/bos.net/inst_root/etc/mail/sendmail.cf /etc/mail/sendmail.cf

Now try to start sendmail again.

#startsrc -s sendmail -a "-bd -q30m"

3. Another program running on port 25.

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To check if there is another program taking up sendmail's port, run the following.

#netstat -an |grep *.25

If you get a line that reads as follows:

tcp4 0 0 *.25 *.* LISTEN

Then there is another program taking up port 25 and not allowing sendmail to start. If this is the

case then kill the program and start the default AIX sendmail.