New Install..More of the Same... MX-DNS-HOSTS oh my!

[TechManagement]

WAN IP is 66.219.184.145
Direct connection no NAT
Lots of issues with the MX now resolved and waiting for full propagation.

here are the prerequisites as I've seen in the posts I've read.

[root@mail zcs]# host `hostname`
mail.altervia-energy.com has address 66.219.184.145


[root@mail zcs]# more /etc/hosts
# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
66.219.184.145 mail.altervia-energy.com mail


[root@mail zcs]# more /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 66.219.156.2
nameserver 209.143.0.10


[root@mail zcs]# dig altervia-energy.com mx

; <<>> DiG 9.3.3rc2 <<>> altervia-energy.com mx
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 41857
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 5, ADDITIONAL: 6

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;altervia-energy.com. IN MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
altervia-energy.com. 1800 IN MX 10 mail.altervia-energy.com.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
altervia-energy.com. 3600 IN NS dns4.name-services.com.
altervia-energy.com. 3600 IN NS dns3.name-services.com.
altervia-energy.com. 3600 IN NS dns2.name-services.com.
altervia-energy.com. 3600 IN NS dns5.name-services.com.
altervia-energy.com. 3600 IN NS dns1.name-services.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
mail.altervia-energy.com. 1800 IN A 66.219.184.145
dns1.name-services.com. 140836 IN A 69.25.142.42
dns2.name-services.com. 140836 IN A 216.52.184.248
dns3.name-services.com. 140836 IN A 63.251.92.200
dns4.name-services.com. 140836 IN A 64.74.96.225
dns5.name-services.com. 140836 IN A 70.42.37.7

;; Query time: 114 msec
;; SERVER: 209.143.0.10#53(209.143.0.10)
;; WHEN: Mon Oct 1 20:59:50 2007
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 263


[root@mail zcs]# dig altervia-energy.com any

; <<>> DiG 9.3.3rc2 <<>> altervia-energy.com any
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 25889
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;altervia-energy.com. IN ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
altervia-energy.com. 10521 IN MX 0 remote.altervia-energy.com.
altervia-energy.com. 82521 IN NS ns1.handsonwebhosting.com.
altervia-energy.com. 82521 IN NS ns2.handsonwebhosting.com.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
altervia-energy.com. 82521 IN NS ns1.handsonwebhosting.com.
altervia-energy.com. 82521 IN NS ns2.handsonwebhosting.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
remote.altervia-energy.com. 10521 IN A 66.219.184.145

;; Query time: 13 msec
;; SERVER: 66.219.156.2#53(66.219.156.2)
;; WHEN: Mon Oct 1 21:03:36 2007
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 158

[root@mail zcs]#

***note*** we've only removed all extra crap from MX today so some will get blown out and the base is MX points and A record for mail. points both to 66.219.184.145


When I set it up no matter what I've done with MX records I always get the bit where it tells my my mx wont resolve properly and I continue anyways.
After getting some proper MX in I can send mail and get the postfix loopback error. I fear I may have the host set somehow incorrectly...

In all the linux servers I've ran the hosts file was always as it is above, cname (never really did mail on linux only exchange and lotus) standard
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
123.123.123.123 bleh.yourdomain.com blech

Are my above settings incorrect?

I only have this server on that IP and so far only the first of several domains.

I notice in the Admin GUI it shows server name (mail.altervia-energy.com) and then you've got domain names (which are showing up as yourname@mail.altervia-energy.com INSTEAD of yourname@altervia-energy.com) and I admit to haveing installed this about ten times now (running the ./install -u after I realize it didnt work again)


I feel like I'm overthinking it and am starting to get frustrated.

OS is Red Hat Enterprise 5

look forward to proof I havent lost the few marbles I've retained and a nudge down the right path.

Michael Albright

[TechManagement]

Added the domain altervia-energy.com with the virtual host of mail.altervia-energy.com.

I then changed all the e-mail accounts created by default to use the altervia-energy.com domain.

Deleted the domain mail.altervia-energy.com.

Afterward mail is sending and receiving just fine.

What did I do the first time that caused my domain to be the same as my host-name?

Since we are VAR I want to have my install be by the 'numbers'

What should have been different as I assume a package this robust was mis-installed and is only quazi corrected

[phoenix]

What did I do the first time that caused my domain to be the same as my host-name?

For a clean install of Zimbra you are asked (near the end) if you want to create a new domain name, if you do not do it there you get the default of the hostname.

[mmorse]

no biggie-the only thing you might do just to be sure you'll get the daily email reports/logwatch/backup reports/etc:
su zimbra
zmprov gacf
search/grep for any remaining instances of admin@mail.altervia-energy.com
(as it's now admin@altervia-energy.com)