Help understanding how mail server should be setup

Hi all!

I spent couple of hours reading thru whole forum trying to figure out what are steps to get it running, but no joy,
I have VPS (virtual private server) with Fedora 4 installed on it, I installed webmin, apache2, mysql, php and they're working fine,
now Dovecot IMAP/POP3 Server is giving me headache,
can someone give me a list of required modules to get mail working.

Thanks!

 

Have a look at this tutorial: http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_setup_fedora_core_4

In the tutorial I install the package imap; leave it out as you have installed Dovecot. You should then add these steps after the Postfix configuration because Dovecot uses Maildir:

Code:

postconf -e 'home_mailbox = Maildir/'
postconf -e 'mailbox_command ='
/etc/init.d/postfix restart

If you want to install ISPConfig afterwards, you can create your mailboxes with the ISPConfig web interface; if you want to create your mailboxes manually, have a look here: http://www.howtoforge.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2

 

Thanks for the reply falko!

so in putty I should run this code bellow ?

Code:

postconf -e 'home_mailbox = Maildir/'
postconf -e 'mailbox_command ='
/etc/init.d/postfix restart

and since my VPS has only 128MB of ram I think I shouldn't install ISPConfig,
or I can install it but not run on a boot ?

 

Yes.

It depends on how much RAM is eaten up by your other applications.
You can install it and then remove the system startup links so that it doesn't get started at boot time.

 

I run the code and everrything went ok, with no errors,

but when I send test email from yahoo.com to my VPS it newer gets there,
outlook shows this error screenshot when I try to send email from outlook
www.dnsstuff.com gives this error link
also www.dnsreport.com at the buttom gives gives error for MX record link

I have 3 virtual domains, maybe that's causing problems?

 

Is 207.210.228.31 your server's IP address, or does it belong to another server?
Is your server connected directly to the internet, or is it behind a router?

 

That ip is my VPS (virtual private server) ip, which is located somewhere in the US, and from what I've read looks like the problem is with Reverse DNS not set up for that ip.

 

That is likely. You can ask your ISP/hoster to set up a reverse record for that IP address.

 

Ok, I asked my provider and they set reverse dns, but still can't get it to work,
this is error log from Webmin: System > System Logs > /var/log/maillog > View Logfile

Code:

Jan 29 10:11:13 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: daemon MTA: problem creating SMTP socket
Jan 29 10:11:18 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(root): opendaemonsocket: daemon MTA: cannot bind: Address already in use
Jan 29 10:11:18 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: daemon MTA: problem creating SMTP socket
Jan 29 10:11:23 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(root): opendaemonsocket: daemon MTA: cannot bind: Address already in use
Jan 29 10:11:23 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: daemon MTA: problem creating SMTP socket
Jan 29 10:11:28 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(root): opendaemonsocket: daemon MTA: cannot bind: Address already in use
Jan 29 10:11:28 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: daemon MTA: problem creating SMTP socket
Jan 29 10:11:33 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(root): opendaemonsocket: daemon MTA: cannot bind: Address already in use
Jan 29 10:11:33 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: daemon MTA: problem creating SMTP socket
Jan 29 10:11:38 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(root): opendaemonsocket: daemon MTA: cannot bind: Address already in use
Jan 29 10:11:38 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: daemon MTA: problem creating SMTP socket
Jan 29 10:11:43 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(root): opendaemonsocket: daemon MTA: cannot bind: Address already in use
Jan 29 10:11:43 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: daemon MTA: problem creating SMTP socket
Jan 29 10:11:48 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(root): opendaemonsocket: daemon MTA: cannot bind: Address already in use
Jan 29 10:11:48 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: daemon MTA: problem creating SMTP socket
Jan 29 10:11:53 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(root): opendaemonsocket: daemon MTA: cannot bind: Address already in use
Jan 29 10:11:53 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: daemon MTA: problem creating SMTP socket
Jan 29 10:11:53 m5-fedora4-04 sendmail[1652]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR(root): opendaemonsocket: daemon MTA: server SMTP socket wedged: exiting

and www.dnsreport.com
still says Mail Fail ERROR: I could not complete a connection to any of your mailservers!

 

It might take up to 72 hours until the changes propagate.

You seem to have Sendmail installed. The things I posted above are for Postfix... Now which Mail server is really installed on your system?

Also, please post the output of

Code:

netstat -tap

 

Looks like I had sendmail and postfix both running at boot,
so I stopped sendmail and now I get those errors

Code:

Jan 29 12:20:40 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/qmgr: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 29 12:20:54 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/smtpd[1885]: fatal: match_list_parse: open file /etc/postfix/local-host-names: No such file or directory
Jan 29 12:20:55 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd pid 1885 exit status 1
Jan 29 12:20:55 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 29 12:21:40 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/pickup[1886]: fatal: match_list_parse: open file /etc/postfix/local-host-names: No such file or directory
Jan 29 12:21:40 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/qmgr[1887]: fatal: match_list_parse: open file /etc/postfix/local-host-names: No such file or directory
Jan 29 12:21:41 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/pickup pid 1886 exit status 1
Jan 29 12:21:41 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/pickup: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 29 12:21:41 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/qmgr pid 1887 exit status 1
Jan 29 12:21:41 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/qmgr: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 29 12:21:55 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/smtpd[1888]: fatal: match_list_parse: open file /etc/postfix/local-host-names: No such file or directory
Jan 29 12:21:56 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd pid 1888 exit status 1
Jan 29 12:21:56 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 29 12:22:41 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/pickup[1892]: fatal: match_list_parse: open file /etc/postfix/local-host-names: No such file or directory
Jan 29 12:22:41 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/qmgr[1893]: fatal: match_list_parse: open file /etc/postfix/local-host-names: No such file or directory
Jan 29 12:22:42 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/pickup pid 1892 exit status 1
Jan 29 12:22:42 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/pickup: bad comm

 

Sorry about that you were faster now I have only postfix, sendmail is not running anymore,

here's the netstat -tap screenshot

 

First create /etc/postfix/local-host-names:

Code:

touch /etc/postfix/local-host-names

Then post /etc/postfix/main.cf here.

 

Ok, local-host-names is created

here's the attached main.cf

 

Here's my error log again if it can help solve my problem,

Code:

Jan 29 13:01:41 m5-fedora4-04 pop3-login: Login: user1 [67.171.7.xxx]
Jan 29 13:02:35 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/smtpd[2198]: fatal: open database /etc/postfix/virtusertable.db: No such file or directory
Jan 29 13:02:36 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd pid 2198 exit status 1
Jan 29 13:02:36 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 29 13:03:36 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/smtpd[2214]: fatal: open database /etc/postfix/virtusertable.db: No such file or directory
Jan 29 13:03:37 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd pid 2214 exit status 1
Jan 29 13:03:37 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 29 13:04:37 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/smtpd[2239]: fatal: open database /etc/postfix/virtusertable.db: No such file or directory
Jan 29 13:04:38 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd pid 2239 exit status 1
Jan 29 13:04:38 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 29 13:05:38 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/smtpd[2240]: fatal: open database /etc/postfix/virtusertable.db: No such file or directory
Jan 29 13:05:39 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd pid 2240 exit 

 

Does /etc/postfix/virtusertable exist? If so, run

Code:

postmap /etc/postfix/virtusertable

and restart Postfix.

Can you post your main.cf directly to this forum instead of as an attachment? This makes it easier for everyone to read it.

 

I tried that first time but then it gave error that it is too long

No, it doesn't exist, this is what's in postfix folder screenshot

but then like 10 minutes ago I rebooted VPS, and those errors are gone,

Code:

Jan 29 13:04:38 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd pid 2239 exit status 1
Jan 29 13:04:38 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 29 13:05:38 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/smtpd[2240]: fatal: open database /etc/postfix/virtusertable.db: No such file or directory
Jan 29 13:05:39 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd pid 2240 exit status 1
Jan 29 13:05:39 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 29 13:06:39 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/smtpd[2249]: fatal: open database /etc/postfix/virtusertable.db: No such file or directory
Jan 29 13:06:40 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd pid 2249 exit status 1
Jan 29 13:06:40 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 29 13:07:40 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/smtpd[2250]: fatal: open database /etc/postfix/virtusertable.db: No such file or directory
Jan 29 13:07:41 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd pid 2250 exit status 1
Jan 29 13:07:41 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 29 13:08:30 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/postfix-script: stopping the Postfix mail system
Jan 29 13:08:30 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: terminating on signal 15
Jan 29 13:08:31 m5-fedora4-04 dovecot: Killed with signal 15
Jan 29 13:14:27 m5-fedora4-04 dovecot: Dovecot starting up
Jan 29 13:14:29 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/postfix-script: starting the Postfix mail system
Jan 29 13:14:29 m5-fedora4-04 postfix/master[1625]: daemon started -- version 2.2.2, configuration /etc/postfix
Jan 29 13:23:58 m5-fedora4-04 pop3-login: Login: user1 [67.171.7.xxx]
Jan 29 13:24:48 m5-fedora4-04 pop3-login: Login: user1 [67.171.7.xxx]
Jan 29 13:26:00 m5-fedora4-04 last message repeated 2 times

btw, falko I really appreciate your help!

 

Some additonal info,

I followed instruction Testing Postfix
here
when I try to telnet from windows command prompt to my vps ip

Code:

telnet 207.210.228.XX 25

I get no responde, but when I SSH to my vps using putty and use

Code:

telnet localhost 25

I get welcome message

Code:

220 m5-fedora4-04.myxen.com ESMTP Postfix

and I was able to send test email to yahoo account as instructed in above link

 

Leave out all the comments in the file, then it should fit without problems.

In the netstat output I saw that Postfix is listening only on localhost, so I guess you haven't set inet_interfaces to all in /etc/postfix/main.cf (that's why I asked for it). Please set

Code:

inet_interfaces = all

in /etc/postfix/main.cf and restart Postfix.


BTW, when I ask you for some output of some command, please post it as plain text here, not as screenshot. This makes it easier for us to see what is wrong.