sendmail problem

[tench]

hi guys.
i have used the instructions from o'reilly mac dev center to activate sendmail -- i am really only using it as a server for my outgoing mail. but i am encountering the following problem. my mail will not be delivered to anybody with a hotmail account! i will get the message -- permanent fatal error -- even though the address i am sending to is definitely ok.

i guess, hotmail thinks my mail is spam since it's coming from a localhost. now i don't know ANYTHING about sendmail, but i assume there's a way to fix it -- i.e. to make sure that the server on the receiving end gets it that i am actually ok...

could anybody help me out? i'd be most grateful.

tench

p.s. this is what i get when the hotmail gets returned to me. i changed the real email addresses here.


----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<somebody@hotmail.com>
(reason: 554 Transaction failed)

----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to mx1.hotmail.com.:
MAIL From:<myaddress@myusualaddress.edu> SIZE=1232
<<< 554 Transaction failed
554 5.0.0 Service unavailable
Reporting-MTA: dns; localhost
Received-From-MTA: DNS; localhost
Arrival-Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 17:19:52 +0200 (CEST)

Final-Recipient: RFC822; somebody@hotmail.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.0.0
Diagnostic-Code: SMTP; 554 Transaction failed
Last-Attempt-Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 17:19:54 +0200 (CEST)

 

[rhg]

In fact, M$ Hotmail checks if mail is coming from a legitime mail hub, as will many mail services. You should have got the address of an appropriate SMTP server of your provider, so you should configure this as "smarthost" in sendmail (i.e. you should pass all outgoing mail to this SMTP server).

 

[tench]

my provider does not allow smtp relay (actually, they do, but they charge you extra for it...) i've tried the smarthost now, but i don't think it's doing anything.
messages sent to hotmail accounts and a couple of other domains still don't get delivered.

does this mean i should actually forget about sendmail and cough up some money for smtp relay with my provider?

it's just bugging me that my mail CAN be delivered to some domains, and not to others...

tench