i'm having trouble getting pop3 server to work in redhat 7.2
i install imap-2000c-15.i386.rpm, then edited
/etc/xinetd.conf
/etc/xinetd.d/ipop3
/etc/xinetd.d/imap
and set diable = no then restarted xinetd
port 110 is open and if i do # echo "abc" | mail user@localhost, i can retrieve that email with outlook on another machine, but if i try to send a mail to user@my.subdomain.name i never get it.
any help would be appreciated, thanks

You should get a bounce shortly that will help you debug, but are you certain your DNS record has your mailserver's FQDN correct?

Also, try either getting the full mail header from outlook or check the mail directly on the mail server using something more barebones like mutt or pine. You should be able to do a lot of debugging from the header alone. Also, how is mail going out? Does it loop in queue? If it makes it to its destination, what's return address list as?

Luck,

Finegan

ok, the email i got from hotmail said:

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

Delivery to the following recipients failed.

aleph@dox.ath.cx

and the header on the mail is:

Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC;
Sat, 23 Mar 2002 08:36:10 -0800
X-Originating-IP: [65.188.171.25]
From: "0 0 0 0" <sarkazzem@hotmail.com>
To: "aleph" <aleph@dox.ath.cx>
Subject: test
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 11:39:45 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0010_01C1D25F.6E6E6820"
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4807.1700
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4910.0300
Message-ID: <OE52TFur2iz2Mb1s7nl0001dd19@hotmail.com>
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 23 Mar 2002 16:36:10.0080 (UTC) FILETIME=[D698AE00:01C1D288]

dox.ath.cx resolves to my ip....would i be able to send the email to aleph@myip ? or do i have to use a dns name?

I was aiming more for the header and the content of the bounce. Sendmail as an MTA, doesn't do IP addresses for mail addresses, hence here's what I ended up with from trying it by IP:

Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 04:49:29 -0500
From: Mail Delivery System <Mailer-Daemon@angband.org>
To: finn@angband.org
Subject: Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software (Exim).

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

fin@216.27.160.12
unrouteable mail domain "216.27.160.12"

------ This is a copy of the message, including all the headers. ------

Return-path: <finn@angband.org>
Received: from finn (helo=localhost)
by angband.org with local-esmtp (Exim 3.34 #1 (Debian))
id 16p4cz-0005di-00
for <fin@216.27.160.12>; Sun, 24 Mar 2002 04:49:29 -0500
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 04:49:29 -0500 (EST)
From: Finegan <finn@angband.org>
To: fin@216.27.160.12
Subject: test?
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0203240448490.21681-100000@angband.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

bounce?

The most productive bounce mails to use to debug your problem would be if you have anothe unix account that you can mail out of and send to aleph@dox.ath.cx

Also, since you're using dyndns.net as your nameservice, are you sure the record you built with them has mail going to the right place? I checked as much of your mx record with "dig" as I could and everything looks fine.

Luck,

Finegan

ok well i've tried every single pop3 server i can find and i get teh same problem....at www.dyndns.org i set mx as dox.ath.cx but i read on the site as long as the mail server is at dox.ath.cx i don't need a mx record....i don't know. I'm going to rest and try again later. thanks for your help anyway

ok a friend of mine helped me set up exchange server on another computer i have, and he's done it many times before so he knows what he was doing...well i have the same problem, so i think that it may be a problem with my dns. does pop3 only use tcp port 110? does it use udp at all? i don't think the linux firewall is the problem, i'm forwarding port 110 to the exchange computer and i get teh same thing.... so i think the dns is the problem, how should i configure the dns, or should i use a different service than dyndns.org. also could i be able to send mail to aleph@dsl-hostname.myisp.com, the hostname my isp gives me when i connect to the internet?

I don't know dink about dynamic DNS services, I insist, beg, borrow and steal for statics. If you get to tweak every aspect of your DNS record you should be able to set it up.

Probably not, even if your ISP hostname reverse look-ups correctly, they almost definately haven't built as part of your DNS record a mail-relay.

Honestly, if you can get mail out and in through SMTP, then its just a pop server problem or something firewally-wonky. Debugging the pop server is nothing I could help with because the three I've set up just go. If you blow the firewall wide open and mail still doesn't relay right, then its not the firewall.

Cheers,

Finegan

i took down my firewall completely except for masquerading so i woudl be able to send the mails to test... i sent through yahoo and i get a email from the mail daemon:

<aleph@dox.ath.cx>:
65.188.171.25 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 554 <aleph@dox.ath.cx>: Recipient address rejected: Relay access denied
Giving up on 65.188.171.25.

so i'm thinking it's a problem with the dns...but i don't know. thanks for your time and any help you can give me on this matter is greatly appreciated

i got everything working, thanks for your help

What did you do? I was also thinking it might be a DNS problem somewhere.

-BigMouse