multiple virtual domains?

[unclecameron]

I have a zimbra mail.example.com box I'm testing to see if I like it. 2 questions:

1. On a traditional postfix box I can map user@domain1.com and someotheruser@domain2.com, is it possible to map multiple virtual domains/users on the same zimbra box?
2. On a default install, it seems zimbra wants to take the mail form user@mail.example.com, really what I want is just the user@domain.com. I have a valid mx record for example.com, can I just change /etc/hostname to example.com instead of mail.example.com, or am I oversimplifying, what else do I need to do?

[uxbod]

Go into the admin GUI https://yourserver:7071 and add example.com as a virtual domain. You can then create your users underneath that. The number of domains you can add is limited by your system resources.

[mmenaz]

On default install, it complains that can't find MX for mail.example.com, and gives you the option to manually enter the domain. At this point I enter "example.com" and continue installation. I'm really puzzled about why it thinks that mail.example.com is the right default choice, so I join your dubts and ask:
a) the installer is foulty and shold be fixed?
b) I'm missing something, and there is a solid reason why I should have MX record for mail.example.com and example.com, and have these 2 domains (sure I have to create example.com in zimbra then) in a clean install?

[veronica]

The installer looks for the hostname of the machine and sets that to the domain it needs to create by default

[phoenix]

In addition, during the initial install, the user is presented with the FQDN of the host and asked if they wish to change the domain name - that would be the time to enter the required domain name.

So, the answer to the questions are: a) no, the installer isn't broken and b) you need valid local DNS A & MX records for the primary domain name that the server hosts.

These questions and answers have been covered many times in the forums.

[mmenaz]

to Phoenix: so installer is broken Why on earth should use as default the FQDN and not simply the host's domain name? If there is no reason to use the FQDN as domain name, why present it as default? If these questions and answers have been covered many times in the forum, it means that default behaviour of installer have to be changed in the right one.

[phoenix]

The installer is not broken, it gives the user a default and also provides the option to set the domain that they want as the default domain in Zimbra. If you choose not to set the domain during the install it will default to using the FQDN - I assume that everyone sees that option during the install, how much more simple can it be.

[uxbod]

plus the primary domain matches the MX record. Once installed there is no reason why you cannot add in the domain name and create the users under that.

[jdp459]

Originally Posted by mmenaz

On default install, it complains that can't find MX for mail.example.com, and gives you the option to manually enter the domain. At this point I enter "example.com" and continue installation. I'm really puzzled about why it thinks that mail.example.com is the right default choice, so I join your dubts and ask:
a) the installer is foulty and shold be fixed?
b) I'm missing something, and there is a solid reason why I should have MX record for mail.example.com and example.com, and have these 2 domains (sure I have to create example.com in zimbra then) in a clean install?

I'm sorry that you think this is an issue with the installer. I believe the installer is behaving properly, in this respect.

Your MX record shows "mail.jsr-domain.nl" as the proper server name. There's no need for a second MX record if your mail server and MX record are correctly matched for the domain. That is what your hostname should be and Zimbra expects that for name resolution too. To me, it appears that you shouldn't change the hostname during install.

DNS domains, MX, hostnames, mail domains and mail addresses are all related, but not the same thing. To someone new, it is easy to get confused, I guess.

www.domain.tld www = hostname
domain.tld = DNS domainname

mail.domain.tld mail = hostname
domain.tld = DNS domainname
domain.tld = mail domain

user@mail.domain.tld can be configured to resolve to user@domain.tld in any email system that I've seen, but you can easily set an email domain alias in Zimbra to do this. How email routing works http://www.faqs.org/docs/linux_netwo...l.routing.html may be helpful.

If you ever wondered why almost all web servers seem to be "www.domain.com"? "www" is just the hostname for the server. By convention, most companies use that, but they could just as easily named their web server (or server farm) "web", "peter", "jenny" or any other name that doesn't conflict with DNS name standards. The same usually applies to email servers. "mail.domain.com" just means that "mail" is the hostname for the server, by convention. ftp.domain.com, gopher.domain.com, ldap.domain.com, web.domain.com are further examples of mixing hostnames and DNS domainnames to get an external FQDN for a server.

I hope this helps and doesn't confuse anyone.

[Mistoffeles]

Done that way, email leaving the server is sent "from" user@mail.domain.com, rather than user@domain.com. I don't know anyone who _wants_ their email to be sent from user@mail.domain.com, even if the name of the server actually is mail.domain.com, or just mail.

Personally, my mail servers use names like Garfield and Odie, although even if I used stale names like mail and mail2 I would not want my outgoing mail to be addressed from anything but user@domain.com, unless there were multiple subdomains like sales.company.com, engineering.company.com, et. al., and even then the email addresses should be user@sales.company.com and user@engineering.company.com if anything other than user@company.com.