Webmin: Postfix relayhost with ISP RoadRunner

fakeer · 07-21-2011, 05:35 PM

From the posts relevant to postfix I could not find the particular combination of issues I'm facing. Any pointers or references to posts will be greatly helpful.

I have CentOS server running Postfix which was recently moved into my house running over TW cable (Austin RoadRunner).

In Webmin -> Postfix Mail Server -> General Options - Other General Options - 'Send outgoing mail via host' (which is the relayhost) is set to:

Code:

smtp-server.austin.rr.com

I expected the relay to reflect this in the log but it doesn't
When I send an email I see this in /var/log/maillog

Code:

Jul 21 17:10:46 cromagnon sendmail[14853]: p6LMAjlu014853: from=root, size=49, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201107212210.p6LMAjlu014853@cromagnon.com>, relay=root@localhost

And a timeout occurs a little while later

Code:

Jul 21 17:17:04 cromagnon sendmail[14853]: p6LMAjlu014853: to=ravi@pobox.com, ctladdr=root (0/0), delay=00:06:19, xdelay=00:06:18, mailer=relay, pri=30049, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: Connection timed out with [127.0.0.1]

I basically *all* mail from all domains on this server to go through the relayhost. I understand there are a million caveats but I wish someone could help me with the basics.

BTW I've also tried to set the relayhost to

Code:

[smtp-server.austin.rr.com]

however the log still shows . . .relay=root@localhost . .

SciFi-Bob · 07-23-2011, 06:31 PM

Could it be a bug in Webmin, not setting the relayhost correct in main.cf?

Check your main.cf, it should have a line like this:

Code:

relayhost = smtp-server.austin.rr.com

fakeer · 07-23-2011, 11:16 PM

Thanks. The config does have that line so Webmin is working fine. Any idea why it would timeout with localhost - Connection timed out with [127.0.0.1]. What is it that's timing out?

fakeer · 08-03-2011, 01:42 PM

$30 through paypal for whoever fixes this problem for me.

Noway2 · 08-03-2011, 03:01 PM

Lets start with a stupid question: after making changes to Postfix, did you restart Postfix (that is needed for them to take effect)?
Next, the fact that it is trying to send through localhost (127.0.0.1) suggests that it is trying to pass your mail through some form of filter. The delivery methods, including SMTP are all handled through master.cf. A very common one is to use amavisd-new, which can incorporate spam (e.g. spamassassin) and and anti-virus, (e.g. clam-av). With a timeout on localhost, my guess is that one or more of these process is not running. Do you know if any such filters have been configured? If so, look at the output of ps -aux and see if the processes are running. Another avenue that should provide some more information is to look at the output of netstat -pane, to see what applications are listening on what ports. Typically postfix will show up as MASTER.

fakeer · 08-03-2011, 11:48 PM

Thanks noway..

yes i have done postfix start/restart (i'm not that confined to webmin). i can confirm it as i keep tailing /var/log/maillog.

i ran ps and amavis is running:

Code:

[root@supplyscale ~]# ps -aux | grep amav
Warning: bad syntax, perhaps a bogus '-'? See /usr/share/doc/procps-3.2.7/FAQ
clamav    2918  0.0 16.4 175560 80244 ?        Ssl  May12   8:29 clamd
amavis    3273  0.0  0.4  67328  1976 ?        Ss   May12   0:01 amavisd (master)
amavis    3363  0.0  0.2  68064  1140 ?        S    May12   0:00 amavisd (virgin child)
amavis    3364  0.0  0.2  68064  1128 ?        S    May12   0:00 amavisd (virgin child)

then i tried the command

Code:

netstat -pane | grep postfix

but i got no results (netstat -pane by itself shows plenty of processes)

i should also submit that postfix/mail on this CentOS box was working fine before i put the server on at home on roadrunner.

Noway2 · 08-05-2011, 03:39 PM

It looks like you have something wrong where one or more process are not starting properly because you should have received something.

Here is the output of "netstat -pane | grep 25" my (working) Postfix. Grep for postfix showed the Unix sockets as seen in the second stanza.

Code:

tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:10025         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      0          6610        2239/master
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:25              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      0          6469        2239/master
tcp6       0      0 :::25                   :::*                    LISTEN      0          6471        2239/master

output of "netstat -pane | grep postfix"

Code:

unix  2      [ ]         DGRAM                    4255     -                   /var/spool/postfix/dev/log
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     6810     -                   /var/spool/postfix/private/auth

and output of ps aux | grep postfix

Code:

root      2239  0.0  0.0  37208  2268 ?        Ss   Aug03   0:01 /usr/lib/postfix/master
postfix   2247  0.0  0.0  39440  2392 ?        S    Aug03   0:00 qmgr -l -t fifo -u
postfix   2378  0.0  0.1  41792  3156 ?        S    Aug03   0:00 tlsmgr -l -t unix -u -c
postfix  18640  0.0  0.0  39272  2240 ?        S    14:59   0:00 pickup -l -t fifo -u -c

The next thing I would recommend is to restart postfix and then look in syslog as well as mail.info, mail.log, and mail.error for any error messages that provide a clue as to what is wrong.

fakeer · 08-06-2011, 12:00 PM

Strange. So like in my previous post netstat -pane | grep postfix doesn't return anything. I tried the other commands you issued for comparison:

Code:

# ps aux | grep postfix
postfix   4798  0.0  0.4   8628  1964 ?        S    10:58   0:00 pickup -l -t fifo -u
root      5229  0.0  0.1   3920   692 pts/1    S+   11:43   0:00 grep postfix
root     24678  0.0  0.3   8552  1596 ?        Ss   Aug03   0:00 /usr/libexec/postfix/master
postfix  24680  0.0  0.3   8688  1516 ?        S    Aug03   0:00 qmgr -l -t fifo -u

Code:

netstat -pane | grep 25
tcp        0      0 192.168.1.100:53            0.0.0.0:*                   LISTEN      25         6184201    2398/named
tcp        0      0 10.200.6.1:53               0.0.0.0:*                   LISTEN      25         14374      2398/named
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:53                0.0.0.0:*                   LISTEN      25         6368       2398/named
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:25                  0.0.0.0:*                   LISTEN      0          11220989   24678/master
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:953               0.0.0.0:*                   LISTEN      25         6376       2398/named
tcp        0      0 ::1:953                     :::*                        LISTEN      25         6377       2398/named
tcp        0     52 ::ffff:192.168.1.100:22     ::ffff:173.174.62.46:2547   ESTABLISHED 0          11491793   5146/sshd: ravi [pr
udp        0      0 192.168.1.100:53            0.0.0.0:*                               25         6184200    2398/named
udp        0      0 10.200.6.1:53               0.0.0.0:*                               25         14373      2398/named
udp        0      0 127.0.0.1:53                0.0.0.0:*                               25         6366       2398/named

i could find none of the files mail.info mail.log or mail.error. only /var/log/maillog which has the limited information about the restart (as posted earlier).

In your case seem to have two additional processes running /var/spool/postfix/dev/log and /var/spool/postfix/private/auth. No idea what these are for...