Postmaster 'best practices' query

Mon Oct 22 17:02:09 UTC 2001

> IOW: Which of the following are required vice recommended vice
> best practives, etc.
> 
> a)	postmaster at example.com
> b)	postmaster at mail.example.com
> c)	postmaster at wizzbang.example.com
> d)	postmaster at pop.example.com
> e)	postmaster at cisco.example.com
> 
> and most important to me: where to I go to justify the
> decisions on same?

2821 (section 4.5.1) says that "postmaster" (with no domain" must be
accepted as:
 (a) a local name (with no domain specified, as in: RCPT TO:<Postmaster>"
 (b) A mailbox at every domain for which the mail server accepts mail.

That means that the answer to your five questions are are:
 a) postmaster at example.com is required if any mail addressed to
@example.com is accepted.
 b) postmaster at mail.exam is required if any mail addressed to
@mail.example.com is accepted.
 c), d), e) follow the example above.

Had you also included: 
  f)   postmaster

The answer would be "yes, that is required".

RFC2821 would be a good place to go to justify decisions on same. 
(Well, to justify a decision to implement
postmaster at any.domain.for.which.mail.is.accepted, and to implement
"postmaster".    It wouldn't really help you justify a decision to not
implement that.  OTOH, if someone is arguing that the the mere
existance of xyz.com implies that postmaster at xyz.com must exist, then I
would note that neither RFC2821 nor any other RFC of which I am aware
imposes such a requirement.  As long as @xyz.com isn't being used for
any mail, there is no requirement for postmaster at xyz.com to exist.)

     -- Brett