Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!reid
From: reid@decwrl.dec.com (Brian Reid)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Routing mail through Digital's sites (was Re: Cut off AT&T?)
Message-ID: <606@bacchus.DEC.COM>
Date: 16 Jul 88 00:21:12 GMT
References: <651@scovert.sco.COM> <30.UUL1.3#935@aocgl.UUCP> <2761@ttrdc.UUCP> <271@mjbtn.UUCP> <84@holin.ATT.COM> <119@carpet.WLK.COM> <599@bacchus.DEC.COM> <121@carpet.WLK.COM>
Reply-To: reid@decwrl.UUCP (Brian Reid)
Distribution: na
Organization: DEC Western Research
Lines: 43

In article <121@carpet.WLK.COM> bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy) writes:
>Then I ask, humbly, why I can not get mail through decwrl to the Colorado
>Springs Digital office, further, why I can not reach a non-Digital site that
>is listed in decwrl's map?  Please try, from decwrl, pete@tsc.DEC.COM, I am
>quite sure that it's among the 32,000 nodes on the Digital network.  If it
>works, please explain how to address from outside the Digital network and I'll
>shut up.  I'm not trying to be a nuisance, but I am trying to get clear
>on this.  If it's "mailer bugs", so be it.

decwrl is at the confluence of a large number of mail networks.
As a participant in the uucp network, it passes all relay uucp mail.
For example, if somebody at pyramid sends to decwrl!hplabs!person, we
will relay the message to hplabs. You all know this. This is what uucp 
means.

As a participant in the Internet, decwrl will pass internet mail that is sent
to it, so that if somebody sends mail to decwrl!sri-nic.arpa!feinler, we
will relay the mail to feinler@sri-nic.arpa via the Internet.

As a participant in CSnet, decwrl will pass CSnet mail, as above.

As a participant in Digital's own internal network, decwrl will relay mail
addressed to a computer inside digital, e.g. tsc.dec.com.  If we receive a
message addressed to decwrl!tsc.dec.com!pete, we will relay it to TSC::PETE,
which is the internal address for that person on that machine.

However, if you send mail to "pete@tsc.dec.com", it is up to your mailer to
obey the internet protocols correctly and determine that decwrl is the relay.
The name servers for .dec.com tell you to send all .dec.com mail to us; we
will in turn send it to its correct destination. If your mailer has access to
Internet name servers, then all this will work automatically. If your mailer
uses host tables, you will find that tsc.dec.com is not in the host tables,
and you cannot use the form "pete@tsc.dec.com". You must instead use the form
"pete%tsc.enet@decwrl.dec.com". If your mailer is not an Internet mailer, but
uses uucp or smail or something like that, then the name .dec.com will be
resolved by pathalias in ways that we cannot control. I absolutely guarantee
you that if you can cause your mailer to get a piece of mail shipped to
decwrl, with an address of person@node.dec.com, person@node.dec, or
person@node.enet, that we will relay it to that destination for you.

Since I know nothing about your mailer, I recommend that you use the
maximally conservative address decwrl!tsc.dec.com!pete

Brian