Perfect Setup - Ubuntu 6.06, mail not getting through

Hi, I hope someone can help me with a "Perfect Setup - Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Server"!

I have successfully completed the how to and have the system running and I have logged into ISPConfig. I also installed WebMin, all seems fine there.

But no matter how many times I read the manual and set up accounts I cannot get the mail to work!
I setup the details for a site and one mail account ([email protected]) for the domain I have the server setup for via ISPC then my mail client Thunderbird. I send an e-mail from my web based Yahoo account to the new account on my server all goes well, no returned mail and I can connect with Thunderbird, but it says there are no new messages.
Each time I send a test message, the servers H.D.D. light flashes (just like the windows mail server I have had running for a couple of years now, XP with MailEnable), but no mail!
I know the D.N.S. records are ok as my current mail server works, I use ZoneEdit and I change the port-forward on my router to the new servers I.P. when testing.
I have re-installed everything many times with slight variations to try and figure it out and I have trawled the web and these forums , but so far nothing I have found has worked for me.

I'm on a static I.P. behind a NAT firewall that I am comfortable configuring, I have the domain pointing at ZoneEdit and then to my static I.P.
The server is an old Dell Optiplex GX1, CPU 450mhz,R.A.M. 128mb, H.D.D. 14gb, ISPConfig v2.2.21, WebMin v1.400.
The site works, I can view it using http://freeproxyserver.net and I can WebFTP and FTP using a client.

Someone commented (http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_setup_ubuntu_6.06_p4#comment-3068) that the hostname should be set to 'server1.example.com' as opposed to just 'server1'. I have tried both ways with no success, which way should it be?

I also wondered;

1) Should all the I.P's in the local system be local I.P's. Should there ever be the external I.P. entered anywhere?

2 Do I need to check the D.N.S. box's, particularly the DNS-MX one when creating a mail account?
I haven't.

3 Does this setup need it's own D.N.S. server at all?

Any ideas/help would be very much appreciated!

Sorry if this is supposed to be in the ISPConfig forum, I wasn't sure.

 

Please make sure you enabled Maildir (Manamgement > Server > Settings > Email).

For the web sites, you must use an IP address that you see in the output of

Code:

ifconfig

- so if you're in a LAN, this is a lical IP address.

Not if someone else hosts your DNS records (e.g. your domain registrar).

BIND must be installed (otherwise ISPConfig refuses to install), but you don't need to run it.

 

Thanks for your rapid reply!

Yes, I have 'maildir' selected, that has always been selected as you say in the 'how to 'you made to select it if ISPC is used.

Thanks for confirming I do not need to use the DNS server, I thought that would be the case.

I still have no mail getting through

Is there a folder on the server I can look in where the mail resides to see if it is actually in there?

Thanks, Peter

Update: I have added Webmail (Uebimiau) and find the same... no mail either in or out i.e. I cannot successfully send mail from webmail, although I get no errors.

 

Hi, thanks.
I could only copy the part of the log in the terminal that I could see and rather than 'cp' the file and post all of it I thought the last section would surfice, I hope I am right!

I see in there a reference to 'example.com' and wonder if I missed changing this somewhere in the setup and if so whether this is the problem. I can't find any config files to check as I am not familiar enough with the Linux file system yet.
There's no mention of 'example.com' in the hostnames file.

By the way, I am now using Squirrel Mail, as I didn't like Uebimiau. I didn't uninstall Uebimiau I used an image file of the server install created with partimage, so the system is as clean as I can make it, then installed S.M.

Feb 26 13:00:50 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 26 13:00:50 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0
Feb 26 13:00:57 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:00:57 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 26 13:00:57 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0
Feb 26 13:01:24 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:01:24 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 26 13:01:24 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0
Feb 26 13:05:18 server1 postfix/master[4258]: terminating on signal 15
Feb 26 13:05:20 server1 postfix/master[6528]: daemon started -- version 2.2.10, configuration /etc/postfix
Feb 26 13:05:21 server1 postfix/qmgr[6532]: C950524418: from=<[email protected]>, size=759, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Feb 26 13:05:41 server1 postfix/trivial-rewrite[6539]: table hash:/etc/postfix/virtusertable(0,100) has changed -- restarting
Feb 26 13:05:51 server1 postfix/smtpd[6679]: connect from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:05:51 server1 postfix/smtpd[6679]: 41E8B2415A: client=localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:05:51 server1 postfix/cleanup[6682]: 41E8B2415A: message-id=<[email protected]>
Feb 26 13:05:51 server1 postfix/smtpd[6679]: disconnect from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:05:51 server1 postfix/qmgr[6532]: 41E8B2415A: from=<[email protected]>, size=758, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Feb 26 13:05:51 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:05:51 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 26 13:05:51 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0
Feb 26 13:05:52 server1 postfix/smtp[6541]: connect to mail.swerfordheath.com[88.212.190.205]: Connection timed out (port 25)
Feb 26 13:05:52 server1 postfix/smtp[6541]: C950524418: to=<[email protected]>, orig_to=<[email protected]>, relay=none, delay=48287, status=deferred (connect to mail.swerfordheath.com[88.212.190.205]: Connection timed out)
Feb 26 13:05:52 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:05:52 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 26 13:05:52 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0
Feb 26 13:05:59 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:05:59 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:06:14 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:06:14 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_peter, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 26 13:06:14 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_peter, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0
Feb 26 13:06:16 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:06:16 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_peter, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 26 13:06:16 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_peter, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0
Feb 26 13:06:17 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:06:17 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_peter, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 26 13:06:17 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_peter, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0
Feb 26 13:06:21 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:06:21 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_peter, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 26 13:06:21 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_peter, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0
Feb 26 13:06:21 server1 postfix/smtp[6684]: connect to mail.swerfordheath.com[88.212.190.205]: Connection timed out (port 25)
Feb 26 13:06:21 server1 postfix/smtp[6684]: 41E8B2415A: to=<[email protected]>, orig_to=<[email protected]>, relay=none, delay=30, status=deferred (connect to mail.swerfordheath.com[88.212.190.205]: Connection timed out)
Feb 26 13:06:25 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:06:25 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_peter, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 26 13:06:25 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_peter, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0
Feb 26 13:06:57 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 26 13:06:57 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_peter, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 26 13:06:57 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_peter, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0

 

IS 88.212.190.205 your ISPConfig server, or is it a different system?

Please make sure that your server isn't blacklisted: http://www.mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx

 

That I.P. is my (only) external I.P. and thus the one the server I am trying to set up is on.
As I said earlier, I make sure the port forwarding is correct when I test, then change back (having given some time for messages to arrive) to another machine that has been up and running for a couple of years.

Peter

 

You could then try to add mail.swerfordheath.com to /etc/hosts together with the server's local IP address.

 

No go
I added the third line, the rest is as it was, I tried removing line two as well, did I do it right?

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.0.6 server1.swerfordheath.com server1
192.168.0.6 mail.swerfordheath.com mail

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

 

Update!!!

I took heed of this post as it seemed to make sense, does it?
Anyway, I am starting to get a feel for the way Linux works and where things are so I decided to poke around and to cut to the chase I changed '/etc/postfix/local-host-names' it now looks like this...
###################################
#
# ISPConfig local-host-names Configuration File
# Version 1.0
#
###################################
localhost
server1.swerfordheath.com
localhost.server1.swerfordheath.com
localhost.swerfordheath.com
localhost.localdomain
www.swerfordheath.com
swerfordheath.com
#### MAKE MANUAL ENTRIES BELOW THIS LINE! ####
mail.swerfordheath.com

Notice the mail.swerfordheath.com at the end, that's all I added and it now works!
Well the receiving part does, and I realize that you would use your I.S.P.'s S.M.T.P. server for out going with a client but the web mail won't send
Any ideas there please?

 

What's in the mail log when you try to send an email with webmail?

 

Hi thanks for your patience!

First I tried an internal message using webmail and it got through but was marked spam!

Login into the webmail (Squirrel Mail) the first attempt usually fails with the error 'Unknown user or password incorrect.' Which can't be right as the information is saved in the browsers memory and is exactly the same the second time which works!

The error log seems to be saying that port 25 is blocked. I have checked this and it is definitely set to forward to the right I.P. (TCP).

Feb 28 19:35:06 server1 postfix/smtp[27330]: connect to yahoo.co.uk[217.146.186.221]: Connection timed out (port 25)
Feb 28 19:35:06 server1 postfix/smtp[27330]: 183A424426: to=<[email protected]>, relay=none, delay=69253, status=deferred (connect to yahoo.co.uk[217.146.186.221]: Connection timed out)
Feb 28 19:35:10 server1 postfix/smtp[27347]: connect to yahoo.co.uk[217.12.6.29]: Connection timed out (port 25)


Then to an outside address...


Feb 28 19:42:25 server1 postfix/anvil[27446]: statistics: max connection count 1 for (smtp:89.155.198.80) at Feb 28 19:39:04
Feb 28 19:42:25 server1 postfix/anvil[27446]: statistics: max cache size 1 at Feb 28 19:39:04
Feb 28 19:45:55 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 28 19:45:55 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 28 19:45:55 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0
Feb 28 19:46:18 server1 postfix/smtpd[27653]: connect from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Feb 28 19:46:18 server1 postfix/smtpd[27653]: 69C3F24418: client=localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Feb 28 19:46:18 server1 postfix/cleanup[27656]: 69C3F24418: message-id=<[email protected]>
Feb 28 19:46:18 server1 postfix/smtpd[27653]: disconnect from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Feb 28 19:46:18 server1 postfix/qmgr[7974]: 69C3F24418: from=<[email protected]>, size=763, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Feb 28 19:46:18 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 28 19:46:18 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 28 19:46:18 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0
Feb 28 19:46:19 server1 imaplogin: Connection, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1]
Feb 28 19:46:19 server1 imaplogin: LOGIN, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], protocol=IMAP
Feb 28 19:46:19 server1 imaplogin: LOGOUT, user=web1_admin, ip=[::ffff:127.0.0.1], headers=0, body=0, time=0

I still see 'example.com' in there which worries me, should it be there?
Thanks, Peter

 

Please check if your server is blacklisted: http://www.mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx

You must set the correct sender address in your email client (e.g. your webmail application).

 

Thank you Falko, but I had already set the 'sender address' and just re-checked it as well.

The mail log still says;

Feb 28 23:59:11 server1 postfix/qmgr[743]: 6670D24135: from=<[email protected]>, size=1222, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Feb 28 23:59:42 server1 postfix/smtp[755]: connect to yahoo.co.uk[217.146.186.221]: Connection timed out (port 25)
Feb 28 23:59:42 server1 postfix/smtp[754]: connect to yahoo.co.uk[217.12.6.29]: Connection timed out (port 25)
Feb 28 23:59:42 server1 postfix/smtp[745]: connect to yahoo.co.uk[217.146.186.221]: Connection timed out (port 25)
Feb 29 00:00:12 server1 postfix/smtp[755]: connect to yahoo.co.uk[217.12.6.29]: Connection timed out (port 25)
Feb 29 00:00:12 server1 postfix/smtp[755]: 6670D24135: to=<[email protected]>, relay=none, delay=91618, status=deferred (connect to yahoo.co.uk[217.12.6.29]: Connection timed out)
Feb 29 00:00:12 server1 postfix/smtp[754]: connect to yahoo.co.uk[217.146.186.221]: Connection timed out (port 25)


As for being black listed the link you gave me gives 90% ok and a couple of timeouts, which I assume is their server not responding rather than there being a problem with blacklisting.

My NAT firewall is ok, I even deleted the rule and reinstated it and I have not turned on the firewall in ISPC but is there still a chance there is something stopping access to port 25 in my server?

Thanks, Peter

 

Please make sure that your ISP doesn't block port 25.

 

I assume my I.S.P. doesn't block port 25 as I have had SMTP running with windows.
Also I just used Post Cast Server to send a message from my local machine (on the same connection as the server) and it went through immediately. I hadn't even set the NAT firewall to the IP I was sending from. Post Cast was set to port 25.
Any ideas?

 

Did you also send to Yahoo?

 

Yes, to the same address as before.

 

It's gone very quiet on this thread! Can no one help me please?

 

I'd love to, but I have no idea...