i'm looking for a 'for newbies' answer on setting up a mail server

parf · 11-12-2008, 11:16 PM

one more question, please?

my ubuntu-server with ubuntu-desktop setup, running postfix / dovecot / evolution mail works fine when not attached to a network / internet

however, once i connect it to the network, i cannot send (well it appears to be sending, actually) , i cannot receive mail for user01@localhost, coming from user01@localhost
and same if it's coming from user02@localhost

this works fine when it's not attached

billymayday · 11-12-2008, 11:26 PM

Time to look at your maillogs

parf · 11-13-2008, 04:42 AM

it seems to work fine,

in fact if i detach the network again, and reboot,
i can synch mails into evolution again

billymayday · 11-13-2008, 04:45 AM

So I take it you're all sorted?

parf · 11-13-2008, 04:51 AM

sorry, i'm clueless... but when i have the network on, i can't 'synch' / receive mail via evolution
even if i just try to send it to the current account

billymayday · 11-13-2008, 04:55 AM

Is your server picking up its IP by dhcp or something? How do you define the sever in evolution? If you use the server name (eg mail.example.com), can you ping it when it's networked?

Assuming you are using a linux machine with evolution, can you try the command

dig mail.example.com (substitute the correct name of course)

and post the results.

parf · 11-13-2008, 05:15 AM

i hope i have not been misleading, but the mail i'm sending is from local user 'kidoparf@localhost' to 'kidoparf@localhost' via evolution mail
and it works fine when the machine boots and is not hooked to the network,
however if i boot and it is hooked, and try the same thing,
it fails

Quote:

root@the-matrix:/var/mail# dig localhost

; <<>> DiG 9.4.2 <<>> localhost
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 41706
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;localhost. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
localhost. 604800 IN A 127.0.0.1

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
localhost. 604800 IN NS localhost.

;; Query time: 145 msec
;; SERVER: 10.0.2.3#53(10.0.2.3)
;; WHEN: Thu Nov 13 19:10:08 2008
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 57

root@the-matrix:/var/mail# dig the-matrix

; <<>> DiG 9.4.2 <<>> the-matrix
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 55121
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;the-matrix. IN A

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
. 10800 IN SOA A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. NSTLD.VERISIGN-GRS.COM. 2008111300 1800 900 604800 86400

;; Query time: 133 msec
;; SERVER: 10.0.2.3#53(10.0.2.3)
;; WHEN: Thu Nov 13 19:10:17 2008
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 103

billymayday · 11-13-2008, 05:23 AM

Do you notice that you aren't getting and answer section when you dig the-matrix?

I'm unclear what is or isn't happening. You say you can't sync mail, but I take it you are running evolution and the server on the same box.

Is evolution having trouble connecting to the server? What are the account settings (how have you defined the smtp server and imap server). What happens when you try and send that mail to localhost when networked? Where does the-matrix fit in? Note that "the-matrix" isn't a fully qualified domain name.

billymayday · 11-13-2008, 05:25 AM

What's the output of "hostname" when networked and when not?

parf · 11-13-2008, 07:41 AM

not connected : hostname = 'the-matrix'
connected : hostname = 'the-matrix'

evolution mail configuration
pop mail server : localhost
smtp : localhost