RE: Ubuntu 18-NGINX-ISPCONFIG 3 Install

Hi there,

We recently (last week) purchased your billing module so that we could setup ISPCONFIG (which we got around to doing today) however, during the install following your tutorial we noticed that Amavisd is refusing to install properly and start (see below) we have ISPconfig installed on the server and we are able to login but the failure of Amavisd is this going to pose a problem? I have not got round to reading the ISPConfig admin manual which we also purchased a week or so earlier but I considered it more expedient to put this on the forum incase you have an immediate answer.

Secondly, could i actually ask a rather probably basic question but nevertheless clarity is needed. During your installation process you used as example the convention server1 example.com as the structure of naming. But if we want emails to be in the form of fuquanidris at example.com how do we actually do this if we already have another web-server with that dns name (example.com etc.) up and running? Thus, what is the best way to ensure we can setup the install so that it reflects our existing domain name in the email addresses we later configure in ISPConfig? I am trying to wrap my head around the how to of this so hopefully you can help me on this.

Thanks
Fuquan
P/S I could not save due to restrictions on links so I had to re-structure the example links in the email with space instead of a period and the word at instead of the usual character

=================================
● amavis.service - LSB: Starts amavisd-new mailfilter
Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/amavis; generated)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2018-12-17 19:11:04 UTC; 5ms ago
Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
Process: 15661 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/amavis start (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Dec 17 19:11:04 nlrtdispubusvr1 systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Starts amavisd-new mailfilter...
Dec 17 19:11:04 nlrtdispubusvr1 amavis[15661]: Starting amavisd: The value of variable $myhostname is "nlrtdispubusvr1", but should have been
Dec 17 19:11:04 nlrtdispubusvr1 amavis[15661]: a fully qualified domain name; perhaps uname(3) did not provide such.
Dec 17 19:11:04 nlrtdispubusvr1 amavis[15661]: You must explicitly assign a FQDN of this host to variable $myhostname
Dec 17 19:11:04 nlrtdispubusvr1 amavis[15661]: in /etc/amavis/conf.d/05-node_id, or fix what uname(3) provides as a host's
Dec 17 19:11:04 nlrtdispubusvr1 amavis[15661]: network name!
Dec 17 19:11:04 nlrtdispubusvr1 amavis[15661]: (failed).
Dec 17 19:11:04 nlrtdispubusvr1 systemd[1]: amavis.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=1
Dec 17 19:11:04 nlrtdispubusvr1 systemd[1]: amavis.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Dec 17 19:11:04 nlrtdispubusvr1 systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: Starts amavisd-new mailfilter.
dpkg: error processing package amavisd-new (--configure):

 

Installing ISPConfig: do follow the Guide. Do not set hostname to example.com, it must be something.example.com.
Amavis error looks like it is due to some mess with hostname.
E-mail addresses: set your MX record to your mail servers FQDN, then it works.

 

Hi Taleman,

Thanks for the prompt feedback. I will follow your guidelines tomorrow as unfortunately just seeing this reply now.

Thanks and have a nice night!
Fuquan

 

Hi All,

I have wiped off the first install and started afresh. But Once again I get the same below Amavis related error (it is the only place where things seem to go wrong on this tutorial) though ISPConfig may still install like the first time I would feel more at ease if this error had a solution.

I have gone into the /etc/amavis/conf.d/05-node_id file and changed the naming there as described uncommenting the # symbol using the format it shows $myhostname = "mail.example.com"; and replaced the myhostname with the server machine/host name as configured in the host file then to the second part I replaced the 'example.com' part with my domain name leaving the "mail." in front. (I am not sure if this is correct but for now that is how I did it as I am not sure why amavis is asking for "Mail" to be prepended when the servername is also there)

Yet this has not worked and amavis does not start. Till I get a solution I will leave the installation at this point then get back to it when, hopefully, someone has a working solution for this issue so that it does not come back later to bite me in the foot.

If anyone has a working solution to this it would be much appreciated as this is the only point in the tutorial that things stall.

Secondly, at the QUOTA setup part: ( /etc/fstab) the server has all SSD drives and I do not see what is listed in the installation guide so how would I go about this section properly as the last time what I did was simply append (,usrjquota=quota.user,grpjquota=quota.group,jqfmt=vfsv0) this to the end of the one line info on the SSD drive. It seems to work as no errors appeared after but it is best I cross check so that I know it is the right thing being done.

Pending any feedback thanks in advance
Fuquan

 

THE ERROR ONCE AGAIN:
===================
invoke-rc.d: initscript amavis, action "start" failed.
? amavis.service - LSB: Starts amavisd-new mailfilter
Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/amavis; generated)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2018-12-17 18:18:35 UTC; 5ms ago
Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
Process: 6769 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/amavis start (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Dec 17 18:18:34 nlrtdispubusvr1 systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Starts amavisd-new mailfilter...
Dec 17 18:18:35 nlrtdispubusvr1 amavis[6769]: Starting amavisd: The value of variable $myhostname is "nlrtdispubusvr1", but should have been
Dec 17 18:18:35 nlrtdispubusvr1 amavis[6769]: a fully qualified domain name; perhaps uname(3) did not provide such.
Dec 17 18:18:35 nlrtdispubusvr1 amavis[6769]: You must explicitly assign a FQDN of this host to variable $myhostname
Dec 17 18:18:35 nlrtdispubusvr1 amavis[6769]: in /etc/amavis/conf.d/05-node_id, or fix what uname(3) provides as a host's
Dec 17 18:18:35 nlrtdispubusvr1 amavis[6769]: network name!
Dec 17 18:18:35 nlrtdispubusvr1 amavis[6769]: (failed).
Dec 17 18:18:35 nlrtdispubusvr1 systemd[1]: amavis.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=1
Dec 17 18:18:35 nlrtdispubusvr1 systemd[1]: amavis.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Dec 17 18:18:35 nlrtdispubusvr1 systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: Starts amavisd-new mailfilter.

 

Hi All

The first part (getting amavis to start)of the above problem can be ignored as it has now started the problem was that the very part you see "mail" unless your server is named "Mail" then change it to the servername in the file specified.

Hopefully someone will help explain the SSD issue mentioned earlier

Thanks

 

Hi Till,

Thanks for the pointer but I actually took a decision to try ISPConfig with Apache2 instead of Nginx (due to not wanting to fiddle with nginx to get webmin working on it in anyway for backend management) and using the guide you provided it worked flawlessly. The hostname (before wiping the disk clean to put apache) was actually in the format of servername,domainname so I am not sure what actually went wrong there.

Anyway, I do have a setup issue that I am trying to understand. In my case I already have a server online with its own registered domain name (call it dontois.com) with its own public facing IP address allocated by the service provider. Now I am installing ISPConfig on another server and assigning it one of the IP addresses from the range given to me. Although the ISPConfig server will be used for webhosting once it is properly configured but I would also like it to provide MAIL for dontois.com users. My initial setup questions are:

1) The server that I am putting ISPConfig on what "hostname" is applicable here can I use something unrelated to our public domain (dontois.com) such as mail-5.com and assign one of the IP addresses from the pool given to me by the service provider?

2) If I use the example name mail-5.com would I then need to register that name publicly or it does not matter what you call the ISPConfig server?
3) Our dns is being resolved by a company called Ziggo if I use mail-5.com as an unregistered domain name on my my LAN will the mailing functionality still work? Or would I also need to setup my own dns servers (which if needed I can do) and first register the ISPconfig server domain name?
4) In an earlier post Taleman kindly explained to me that I should setup the MX records accordingly to enable assigning mailboxes to dontois.com users does that still apply in this particular case now that I have explained our environment?
5) Also, when test running and setting up a site in ISPConfig and then trying to get access to that site by the name I configured in "Websites" menu for example walbey.com. In the file structure of the server I see the folder created for this site in "www" directory but when I try to URL the site I get "Account Suspended". Would this mean that "walbey.com" needs to be a public registered site name? Or have I configured something wrong?
6) Out of curiosity does ISPConfig come with any paid or unpaid add-on module that does things like domain registration?
7) Finally, one cannot in anyway complain about ISPConfig as it seems a very robust application with a fair bit of user assistance. That said, given the clarity of your tutorials may I ask do you have one on DNS on Ubuntu in relation to ISPConfig?

Thanks and enjoy the New Year festivities

Bamidele

 

Have you familiarised yourself with DNS and how it works?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System

If you plan to offer e-mail services, the e-mail server must be accessible from the public Internet and have a FQDN that resolves from the Internet name servers. That means among other things the domain name must be a registered domain name with working name servers. mail-5.com is a registered domain. Is it yours? If you can make it resolve to your IP-address then you can use it.
But the e-mail server still must have a hostname + domain name, you can not use mail-5.com as mail server FQDN. At least as far as I know.
You seem to be reluctant to assign a hostname to your server, but just bite the bullet and name it plugh.mail-5.com if no better name pops up.
There is also tutorial on running your own name servers with ISPConfig, https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/setting-up-your-own-name-service-with-ispconfig/ . This may not be applicaple here as I understand you have name servers for your domains already, but may be useful background reading.
I think 2) and 3) got answers in that also.

You need MX records so sending mail server knows where to send mail going to @dontois.com or @mail5-com addresses. I don't know how it would work without MX records. But you can use the same mail server for all your domains. So set MX records to plugh.mail-5.com and make sure the reverse name services resolves to that same FQDN.

5) To test websites on name based virtual web hosting, use this: https://www.faqforge.com/linux/cont...ess-a-namebased-website-without-a-dns-record/
That was long. Hope that at least answered our questions.

 

Dear Taleman,

Well! well!! well!! I must say thank you very much for the detailed answers as they are very helpful. When it comes to Forums this one certainly shines in quality.

I shall spend time following the suggestions and reading the related material provided as it certainly will help the ISPConfig application familiarisation process.

Before ending let me point out that mail-5.com was actually just used as an example as right now I am just trying to feel out ISPConfig and once familiar I will go about properly structuring the naming.

Also, for the hostname I am not really reluctant on putting one as each server has a name created at installation time that has its own naming convention so I just often prepend that to the GoDaddy purchased domain name. It looks sort of ugly that way as something like mail.domain name would be better. I have only habituated it that way because it never really dawned on me that the hostname part can actually be different from the name given to the server on Operating System installation time.

Finally, now I am sure (as I suspected) that even to test we will need a public route-able registered name so I will see what we can pickup from GoDaddy that is close in naming structure for it.

Thanks and enjoy the festive period!
Fuquan B