I'm trying to install on our mailserver in SMTP mode
using NAT rather than bridging for the network
connection:
The number one thing is, that if you can avoid doing this, I would. That is not always possible, however. I have to use NAT myself, as VMWare Server has never like to run bridged on my mail server, though VirtualPC could do so without issue.
Your first step will be to configure the forwarding of SMTP from the host. For VMWare Server on Windows, that can be done under Host -> Virtual Network Settings -> NAT -> Edit -> Port Forwarding. The simple case would be to add an entry for port 25 on the host to 25 on the guest. See below for some notes on picking the guest's IP address.
What then would be / how do I go about finding:
-the fully qualified hostname (of what ??)
The virtual machine. You are telling it what its hostname should be.
the IP address (is it the IP of the Virtual Machine
on the Virtual Network ??),
The virtual machine. Pick a free IP from your NAT subnet (eg, 192.168.221.0). IIRC, VMWare starts DHCP ranges at 128+, so: A. pick something below 128; B. Back on the NAT tab is gateway IP address. Don't pick that. If you pick something like '.10' you should be fine.
- the default gateway (??),
Of the NAT network. Continuing with the above net as an example, probable 192.168.221.2.
- DNS servers (should I just say yes to DHCP??),
Your DNS server. This doesn't have to be on the same network, so you can use your organization's DNS or your ISP's DNS, whichever is appropriate.
- the internal mail domain (what's the difference
between this and the next one ??),
This is something like mycompany.local. Sometimes the internal (eg, mycompany.local) and external (eg, mycompany.com) domains do not match, while other times they do. This is mainly a question of what your real mailserver expects to see as the domain name for its users.
- the name or address of the (real) mailserver ...
This is the existing mail server where the mail should really go. SV is just a proxy; it takes the mail, filters it, and then moves it along. This sets the destination for the "along." If you use a name, your DNS server needs to resolve it, or an entry needs in /etc/hosts. Else, you can use an IP address.
Again thanks if you can help me out ... I didn't find
the SV or Postfix documentation that explicit for
what I'm trying to do or my level of experience ...
Np, questions are good. One last thing is that you need to make sure your firewall, if you have one, on the host does not block the traffic. Odds are it will be fine but if you want to be able to SSH to your SV appliance from other boxes, your host will need to have routing enabled and not block that traffic, in addition to allowing the SV appliance to talk out, to the Internet.
