Cannot connect to qmail mail server after 'successful' install

[wildnight]

Hi,

I've followed the qmailrocks guide on my Fedora3 server, and was able to complete the entire thing (caveat: didn't install Squirrelmail). All tests from the guide ran ok. Both web admin interfaces work (QmailAdmin and VqAdmin). The automatic qmail nightly status reports are showing up as email in my user email folder (home/vpopmail...).

*However*, I cannot login to the mail server using any mail client, even on the box itself. So then I found instructions for trying to log onto IMAP on port 143 using telnet. Even in this way, IMAP reports login failed.

In /var/log/maillog, I see stuff like this:

vhkpw-pop3: vpopmail user not found jchilders@:192.168.1.200
localhost imapd: LOGIN FAILED, user=jchilders, ip=[::ffff:192.168.1.218]
localhost sendmail[4369]: j6882B01004369: to=username@recipientdomain.com, ctladdr=apache from=root, mailer=relay, stat=Deferred: Connection refused by [127.0.0.1]

Other info:
* This new mail server is setup internally on 192.168.1.200. This is the IP I'm entering in network mail clients as the servername while testing, and is not working. All attempts to connect from mail clients say "connection refused" or a variation thereof.

* I downloaded and installed a "inst_check" script from lifewithqmail.org. Once I modified a couple directory names in the script, it runs fine and reports "Congratulations, your LWQ installation looks good."

Can anyone point me toward a solution? I've googled till I was blue in the face to no avail...

THANKS.

Jeff

 

[thedaver]

sorry, I didn't read the post closely enough to tease out that this was a vpopmail install as well. No, if you've done "vadduser" then the maildir exists.

/home/vpopmail/domains/mydomain/jchilders/Maildir/new would be the appropriate location. You have a misconfiguration elsewhere.

D.E.R. Management - IT Project Management Consulting

http://www.dermanagement.com/

 

[wildnight]

Progress...

Based on a suggestion in the qmailrocks.org forum (regarding a vpopmail bug), I deleted my original email account (the jchilders) and added back a new one that doesn't match a linux username. I created j.childers and repeated the SMTP test.

This time mail files were delivered to /home/vpopmail/domains/mydomain/j.childers/new !!!!

I thought I was home free till I checked using my email client. Nothing shows up in the mail folders using either IMAP or POP. So now I guess I move on to figuring out why POP/IMAP access is challenged...

Wow, this qmail is a lot of work. I decided to use it because I heard it was easier to install and maintain than sendmail. Maybe I shouldn't have used the qmailrocks.org installation guide which includes all these patches and add-ons, I don't know. But this seems really, well, *hard*. I could have had a working sendmail server by now. I'm just not sure if I should cut my losses at this point and revert to sendmail after all, or push ahead...

 

[slylos]

qmail definately is very easy to use, however, everyone neglects to mention that the *first time* you go about, it can be extremely tough. On another note, you should've used the lifewithqmail.org tutorial. I did my second go, and it was gravy. Definately don't give up!!! Once you get it working, it just stays working! Plus, we're here to help! We've all gone through what you are going through right now with qmail, and we all made it through.

About your POP/IMAP problem, are you conneting successfully, but not receiving any messages?

 

[wildnight]

Thanks for the encouragement. I've done this kind of thing enough to know it's sometimes darkest before the dawn...


>> About your POP/IMAP problem, are you connecting successfully, but not receiving any messages?

Yes, I seem to be connecting just fine. I think the maillog also shows the connection. But nothing shows up in the inbox.

 

[slylos]

what are you starting for pop, what are you using for imap? courier-imap?

 

[wildnight]

I'm using courier-imap for imap. Pop is ... qmail-pop?

 

[slylos]

Run this script against your qmail installation:

http://lifewithqmail.org/inst_check

You might also want to check your install against this tutorial:

http://www.lifewithqmail.org/lwq.html

check everything else against this tutorial:

http://www.pipeline.com.au/staff/mbowe/isp/webmail-server.htm

 

[slylos]

any success with this issue wildnight?

 

[wildnight]

Sad to say, no. I read the good sources you provided and have failed to identify anything helpful. The inst_check script runs quite happily and tells me everythings ok. I had a bunch of deadlines today and couldn't work on it this morning.

I'm thinking about maybe re-installing. Only thing is I don't know if I can reinstall over this one or if I have to remove everything first (a daunting proposition)...

 

[slylos]

Try deleting all of your mail accounts and even the domain (./vdeluser and ./vdeldomain I believe, or use vqadmin), and try re-adding both the domain then users. What are you using for your PAM on your pop3 binary? vchkpw? You should NOT be using checkpassword (if you are). can you post your pop3 start-up script here?

 

[thedaver]

Man, just delete the /var/qmail directory and follow the instructions on

http://www.pipeline.com.au/staff/mbowe/isp/webmail-server.htm

You're wasting time at this point with any more effort to repair, IMHO.

D.E.R. Management - IT Project Management Consulting

http://www.dermanagement.com/