OK, Raj got me pointed in the right direction but there is more to it. Here it is, the dirty on zimbra and domain alias'.
If you have set up your domains and virtual domains DNS as (examples):
mail.domainname.com
mail.virtualname1.com
mail.virtualname2.com ... etc. etc
but you want your users to be able to give out email addresses
like
user1@virtualname1.com ... and
not like
user1@mail.virtualname1.com
This is what you need to do.
1. Do not use the administrator web interface to create a domain alias.
2. Use the terminal command prompt interface and su zimbra.
3. Create domain alias', with out the quotes, for each domain, using this command.
"createAliasDomain domainname.com mail.domainname.com"
"createAliasDomain virtualname1.com mail.virtualname1.com"
"createAliasDomain virtualname2.com mail.virtualname2.com" ... etc. etc. for all your virtual domains.
Each time you enter the createAliasDomain command you will get back a hex string. I do not know what this is for.
4. You are not done yet. I did not have to restart my zimbra (zmcontrol stop | start) but you may want to do this right now.
5. Now log into the Administrator web console, go to Manage Accounts, click Accounts for a list of your fully qualified account names.
6. For each fully qualified account name that you want to send and receive email as the "alias" (i.e. without the dot mail in their fully qualified account name) you need to do this:
a) Click once on the account name for which you want to edit; fully qualified account name then becomes highlighted
b) Click the edit icon (or right mouse click fully qualified account name for drop down menu and click edit)
c) Working within the "General Information" tab go to the Canonical Address field and enter the alias address. i.e
user1@virtualname1.com
d) Go to the "Aliases" tab and click it.
e) Working within the "Aliases" tab:
- Click the "Add" button. A pop up will appear titled "Add Alias"
- In the first field (left) enter the users name, i.e. user1 (or bob.jones?)
- In the second field (right, after the "@") type in the alias domain name. i.e. virtualname1.com
*note that as you type in the second field zimbra is going to suggest fully qualified domain names. Force your alias domain name; without the dot mail! Be patient with the zimbra ajax interface. - When finished click the "OK" button then
- Click the "Save" button
This worked for me. External email communication is now conducted completely without the hideous dot mail in front of the domain/virtual name.com. Good luck, a little more administration than meets the eye!