28.8. Using Mail with a Dialup Connection
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## 28.8. Using Mail with a Dialup Connection

When using a static IP address, one should not need to adjust the default configuration. Set the hostname to the assigned Internet name and Sendmail will do the rest.

When using a dynamically assigned IP address and a dialup PPP connection to the Internet, one usually has a mailbox on the ISP's mail server. In this example, the ISP's domain is `example.net`, the user name is `user`, the hostname is `bsd.home`, and the ISP has allowed `relay.example.net` as a mail relay.

In order to retrieve mail from the ISP's mailbox, install a retrieval agent from the Ports Collection. `mail/fetchmail` is a good choice as it supports many different protocols. Usually, the ISP will provide POP. When using user PPP, email can be automatically fetched when an Internet connection is established with the following entry in `/etc/ppp/ppp.linkup`:

MYADDR: !bg su user -c fetchmail

When using Sendmail to deliver mail to non-local accounts, configure Sendmail to process the mail queue as soon as the Internet connection is established. To do this, add this line after the above `fetchmail` entry in `/etc/ppp/ppp.linkup`:

!bg su user -c "sendmail -q"

In this example, there is an account for `user` on `bsd.home`. In the home directory of `user` on `bsd.home`, create a `.fetchmailrc` which contains this line:

poll example.net protocol pop3 fetchall pass MySecret

This file should not be readable by anyone except `user` as it contains the password `MySecret`.

In order to send mail with the correct `from:` header, configure Sendmail to use `<user@example.net>` rather than `<user@bsd.home>` and to send all mail via `relay.example.net`, allowing quicker mail transmission.

The following `.mc` file should suffice:

VERSIONID(`bsd.home.mc version 1.0') OSTYPE(bsd4.4)dnl FEATURE(nouucp)dnl MAILER(local)dnl MAILER(smtp)dnl Cwlocalhost Cwbsd.home MASQUERADE_AS(`example.net')dnl FEATURE(allmasquerade)dnl FEATURE(masquerade_envelope)dnl FEATURE(nocanonify)dnl FEATURE(nodns)dnl define(`SMART_HOST', `relay.example.net') Dmbsd.home define(`confDOMAIN_NAME',`bsd.home')dnl define(`confDELIVERY_MODE',`deferred')dnl

Refer to the previous section for details of how to convert this file into the `sendmail.cf` format. Do not forget to restart Sendmail after updating `sendmail.cf`.

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