sendmail, 4th Edition

RFC2142 Common Mailbox Names

The name postmaster is required by RFC2822 and all sites must accept mail to that address. Another RFC, RFC2142, takes the concept of having a generalized postmaster address one step further by recognizing other roles, such as abuse, info, and marketing. For example, most web sites that sell products also accept email to the address sales, which is now a frequently used, generalized email address.

Table 12-1 shows all the newly required addresses defined by RFC2142. Of these, only postmaster is treated in a case-insensitive manner by sendmail.^[205] That is, mail to postmaster, Postmaster, POSTMASTER, and PoStMaStEr will all be delivered to the same person.

Table 12-1. RFC2142-defined email addresses and aliases

Address	RFCs	Description
abuse	RFC2142	Accepts reports of unacceptable behavior
ftp	RFC959	Accepts mail reporting FTP needs or problems
hostmaster	RFC1033 through RFC1035	Accepts mail reporting needs or problems with DNS
info	RFC2142	Replies to requests for information about the business, its products, and its services
marketing	RFC2142	Handles marketing communications
news	RFC977	A synonym for Usenet
noc	RFC2142	Accepts mail for the network operations center, which deals with network infrastructure problems and requests
postmaster	RFC2821 and RFC2822	Accepts mail describing email problems
sales	RFC2142	Replies with product or service information
security	RFC2142	Sends or receives security notices, answers security ...