Very slow to connect POP3

[ramlist]

Hi,

My problem, for which I am looking for tips, is a Postfix pop3 server.
If I connect to that with telnet SERVER 110, then I have to wait 20-25 secs till I get the "+OK POP3 server" message. At the same time the SMTP waits less than 1 sec before the first +OK message. The same happens if I would like to download my mails. If the first 20 secs are over then everithing is normal.
The server has <20 users.

Thanks for any suggestions in advance.
RaM

 

[bluegroper]

Here's some of my old notes. HTH.

To keep the authentication thing happening almost instantly, there's a few issues to be aware of.

BTW, this applies to most authentication processes, not just checking emails from another computer. Eg, using ssh for remote shell session, launching Webmin, etc. Gets these steps right and your server will sing. Same issues for IMAP and POP3.

1. Check your /etc/hosts file.
See

http://www.faqs.org/docs/linux_scratch/chapter07/hosts.html

Make sure that you use a fully-qualified-domain-name in /etc/hosts
This is most important. Check it again.

2. Check your /etc/hosts file again.
Consider populating it manually with the 192.168.x.x addresses of computers on your LAN.

3. Make sure /etc/xinetd.d/ipop3 does NOT contain userid entries. (They try to do lookups on port 113 and eventually time out due to firewall block.) See

http://www.washington.edu/imap/IMAP-FAQs/index.html#7.24

4. Make sure your /etc/resolv.conf entries are correct. I changed mine to point directly to my isp's dns servers, rather than my local firewall/gateway (IpCop) running dnsmasq. Seemed to help speed things up by cutting an unnecessary link in the dns lookup chain.

5. Also check /var/spool/postfix/etc/resolv.conf for same issues. Its the postfix chrooted copy of /etc/resolv.conf

Hope this helps somebuddies. Maybe worth a *star* ?

- ßG

 

[ericbrunson]

But, to eliminate some confusion... Postfix does not provide POP services.