Books

A few books are out on the topic of sendmail, and several others have significant material.

The O'Reilly Books

The sendmail book is considered by most to be the definitive book on sendmail. It is often called the ``bat book'' because of the flying fox (a species of fruit bat) depicted on the cover, as pictured above. The first edition was authored by Bryan Costales with Eric Allman and Neil Rickert and covered sendmail through version 8.6. The second edition was authored by Bryan Costales with Eric Allman and covered sendmail versions 8.7 and 8.8. A list of errata for the second edition is available from http://www.sendmail.org/books/book2_errata.html. The third edition, out in December 2002, was authored by Bryan Costales with Eric Allman and covers version 8.12. A list of errata for the third edition is available from http://www.sendmail.org/books/book3_errata.html.

The sendmail Desktop Reference is a slim companion to the second edition for the sendmail book. It was authored by Bryan Costales and Eric Allman. A list of errata for the Desktop Reference is available from http://www.sendmail.org/books/desktop_errata.html.

Sendmail: Theory and Practice

Authored by Frederick M. Avolio and Paul A. Vixie, this book emphasizes how sendmail fits into the mail system in general more than the deep details.

sendmail Performance Tuning

Authored by Nick Christenson

As email traffic continues to increase, system administrators must be able to guarantee that their email servers can deliver reliable performance today and bear larger loads tomorrow. sendmail Performance Tuning is a practical guide to building, tuning, and testing email servers based on sendmail to function more efficiently, handle more messages, and resist both accidental and malicious load-related incidents.

Featuring sendmail 8.12 (and earlier versions), the book begins with an introduction to sendmail and performance tuning. Author Nick Christenson then describes best practices for building, installing, and maintaining a system and details proven techniques for tuning email relaying, reception, and sending. This strategic guide to configuration and security is followed by precise directions for managing bottlenecks and load testing. By the book's end, readers should know exactly how to optimize system performance.

Key topic coverage includes:

A detailed description of the step-by-step operations that occur during email transmission and reception
How to send and store email most efficiently
What the performance characteristics of POP and IMAP are
How to determine which sendmail configuration parameters might improve performance
How to locate and eliminate bottlenecks
Methods and pitfalls in testing email servers before they are installed in a production environment

Whether you are looking to solve an immediate problem or gain a deeper understanding of email servers, sendmail Performance Tuning provides clear guidance and valuable insight.

sendmail Milters: A Guide for Fighting Spam

By Bryan Costales and Marcia Flynt

Spam is a formidable, costly, and pervasive problem. And now that it is being used to commit fraud and identity theft, every mail administrator needs to understand how to successfully monitor and fight spam.

Although they are some of the most powerful anti-spamming tools available, open-source sendmail Milters have lacked clear documentation...until now. sendmail Milters: A Guide for Fighting Spam is the first in-depth guide to writing powerful Milters to block even the cleverest spammers.

Inside this definitive new reference, readers will find:

An exhaustive description of the Milter interface
Gruesome details on what spam is, its harmful effects, and the diverse techniques used by spammers
A step-by-step guide to luring spammers using a honeypot network
Ways to decode the common encoding methods used in spam email
A reference on the Milter libray and how to use it
Techniques for expanding software to deal with future spamming methods

This website offers downloadable code that can be used as is or modified.

Unix System Administration Handbook

This book contains a good presentation of sendmail, albeit not in anywhere near the detail of the other two books.

Email: Mail and Sendmail

Edited by Rich Morin, this DOSSIER collection contains a selection of reference materials on Unix mail, with emphasis on Sendmail.

Linux Sendmail Administration

Authored by Craig Hunt, this book describes sendmail configuration under Linux but most of the material applies to non-Linux systems. A user friendly comprehensive book about sendmail for people who find the sendmail book (bat book) to daunting. Covers sendmail 8.11 including SMTP authentication and STARTTLS.

Sendmail (Installer, administrer et optimiser un serveur de messagerie)

Écrit par Thibaud Maquet, ce livre s'adresse aussi bien à l'administrateur système d'une PME souhaitant mettre en place un serveur de mails et l'administrer au quotidien, qu'au responsable technique du système de messagerie d'une grande entreprise ou d'un opérateur Internet amené à gérer plusieurs milliers de comptes. Il met l'accent sur les subtilités de la configuration de Sendmail, ainsi que sur la gestion de la sécurité et les techniques d'optimisation des performances.

(Yes, Anglophiles, it's in French.)