Exim - Do I really need it?

[verdon]

This may be the stupidest question ever, but at risk of expsoing my general ignorance, I'm going to ask it

Non of my clients use us for SMTP, just POP. The only mail my box sends is either from php or perl scripts, or server notifications, etc. Is Exim needed for these, or is sendmail being used?

TIA,

 

[icanectc]

From a script standpoint it should be using sendmail and not exim.. I believe exim is only invoked when using ports 25 or 26 respectively and/or the webmail ports- as it filters through exim. If all of your clients are using perl and/or PHP services. But I think you have it backwards they do use you for SMTP and NOT POP since POP is controlled by EXIM. If you only use perl and/or PHP scripts then you should be able to safely disable exim if this is your main goal.

 

[SarcNBit]

You need Exim.

Exim is the MTA on your server.

The sendmail structure is setup for continuity, but the actual data gets routed to Exim.

 

[icanectc]

SarCNBit I see where you are coming from. But can't you use sendmail without exim but would you need to install a fresh copy of SendMail that would not require the use of Exim? Couldn't SendMail become the MTA? o

 

[verdon]

Originally posted by icanectc
...SMTP and NOT POP since POP is controlled by EXIM...

Hmm, WHM reports in Service manager

cppop
Pop3 Server

exim
SMTP Server

and I am sure that our clients are not pointing to us for SMTP in thier local email clients. I hadn't thought of webmail though. It is possible that some users are using Horde and not a local email client app.

Reading SarcNBit's comments though make me shy off the idea All I am really wanting to do is look for services I can shut off to optimize my server as much as possible. That said, I don't want to stray too far from WHM/CPanel standards and introduce upgrade grief.

I will follow this thread with interest.

Regards,

 

[SarcNBit]

Originally posted by verdon
I don't want to stray too far from WHM/CPanel standards and introduce upgrade grief.

IMO that is a wise move. A little tweaking is fine, but why reinvent the wheel. If you wanted to do everything manually, why bother with WHM in the first place. Replacing the MTA on a cPanel server does not fall into the category of tweaking.

verdon I am assuming that your users get mail from the outside world (not just locally generated mail). You need a way for the mail to get routed to the mailboxes. That is where Exim comes into play even if you do not want any outbound mail originating from the server.

 

[verdon]

Originally posted by SarcNBit
You need a way for the mail to get routed to the mailboxes. That is where Exim comes into play even if you do not want any outbound mail originating from the server.

Thank you for that information

 

[Joshfrom]

It is highly unadvisable to remove exim. sendmail is actually just a symlink to exim.