How to Check Mail Aliases

The following example shows you how to verify an alias.

% mconnect
connecting to host localhost (127.0.0.1), port 25
connection open
220 your.domain.com ESMTP Sendmail 8.13.6+Sun/8.13.6; Tue, 12 Sep 2004 13:34:13 -0800 (PST)
expn sandy
250 2.1.5 <sandy@phoenix.example.com>
quit
221 2.0.0 your.domain.com closing connection
% 

In this example, the mconnect program opened a connection to a mail server on a local host and enabled you to test that connection. The program runs interactively, so you can issue various diagnostic commands. For a complete description, see the mconnect(1) man page. The entry, expn sandy, provided the expanded address, sandy@phoenix.example.com. Thus, you have verified that mail can be delivered when using the alias sandy.

Remember to avoid loops and inconsistent databases when both local and domain-wide aliases are used. Be especially careful to avoid the creation of alias loops when you move a user from one system to another system.