I have a domain name with an MX record, Static IP and trying to setup a IMAP/SMTP server (Preferable using secure login) in RedHat 9. I am a newbie and don't have a clue where to start. Do I need to setup a DNS server?
What applications do I need configure and running to make this work?

Thank you in advance....

if u installed sendmail or postfix when u installed RH9, then you have an email server installed already (imap may also have been installed but u'd have to check)

if your domain name already points to your box, and there is an MX record for it also, then you dont need to setup a DNS server....sounds like DNS is taken care of.

do this:

#updatedb
#slocate sendmail.cf if that gives u a path to a sendmail.cf file, then you have sendmail installed


#slocate main.cf if that gives you a path to a main.cf, then you have postfix installed

you'll have to edit sendmail.mc if you have sendmail or main.cf if you have postfix.

try to find out which one of those (if any) you have and we'll go from there.

** sorry for posting my message in this thread, the system didn't let me start a new thread.

Hi,

I have got a problem with my sendmail daemon on a cobalt 5.0 system.

Sendmail version is: sendmail-8.9.3-C7

The daemon has stopped accepting incoming email from other mx hosts. netstat shows a lot of connections (ESTABLISHED & CLOSE_WAIT) from other hosts, but the daemon does not exchange any data with the hosts. When I telnet to port 25, the TCP connection is opened, but there is no welcome message from the server and it does not respond to the HELO command.

I believe having that much connections in CLOSE_WAIT status means that the daemon is not talking to the hosts at all, and the hosts remain in this status after they try to close the connection.

maillog shows entries like this:
Sep 25 00:22:06 www sendmail[26121]: NOQUEUE: SYSERR: putoutmsg (mta4.realage.com): error on output channel sending "220 www.MYHOST.net ESMTP Sendmail 8.9.3/8.9.3; Thu, 25 Sep 2003 00:22:06 +0330": Broken pipe
Sep 25 00:22:06 www sendmail[26121]: NOQUEUE: Null connection from mta4.realage.com [209.75.40.47]

Please advice me. I'm stuck. The owner of the server says that this problem has happened suddenly.

Robert0380

Thanx for replying....
I have sendmail installed

a GOTCH-CHA with sendmail....
it comes to you, NOT ALLOWING mail, from the
outside world....
Look for this comment line (redhat 8.0)

dnl # The following causes sendmail to only listen on the IPv4 loopback address
dnl # 127.0.0.1 and not on any other network devices. Remove the loopback
dnl # address restriction to accept email from the internet or intranet.
dnl #
and make sure, the next line looks like this
DAEMON_OPTIONS(`Port=smtp, Name=MTA')dnl
i think (thats think), this does it)

Hi Guys, i have seen you have same thread in every forum, even in others thread you will cut in the middle and then start your own problem, please select the best forum and post it there.

If the system won't let you start new thread, just mail to the moderator and ask them why ? They must have the solutions for you.

Do some modification in your sendmail.cf and bring up your sendmail daemon and you will be able to start your mail server.

I have done some of the modification in the sendmail.mc file and then used the m4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc > /etc/mail/sendmail.cf

I am able to start evolution on the server and send to the outside (internet) but people cannot reply to me... I also have a windows xp laptop on the same network and not able to send email via by specifying the local ip address for the linux box, however I am able to log into the imap server that is running on the linux box and create folders...

I am not able to access the mail servers at all from the internet, if I use a dial connection and try send or recieving email using webmail.mydomain.com

Please help....
Thank you,
xaxol

1) are you sure you already have an mx records point to your server?
2) Have you bring your IMAP daemon up?

Try to check your /etc/hosts and take a look whether you have block something. or maybe you are behind firewall, try to disable the firewall first and try again.

1) Yes, I verified that the MX record is pointing to the server
2) I am able to telnet to it from another machine on the same network... I am able to create new folders from another machine on the same network using Outlook XP

/etc/hosts has the following:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.0.4 mydomain.com

I checked to ensure there was no firewall running...

Still unable to connect to the server from the outside and not able to send email to username@mydomain.com

Went to http://www.xav.com/mx_lookup.pl and verified that mydomain.com has a MX record....

Thanx in advance,
xaxol

A nice way to configure servers such as sendmail is by using Webmin. This gives you a web interface for their configuration and groups the options of the particular server up into categories so you can find what you are looking for. It makes life a lot easier for those who are just beginning.

As to your problem, are you getting a rejection message? If so what do they say? And it is possible that your sendmail server is not configured to receive mail for your domain. Certainly in Postfix, you have to set the domains for which the server receives mail for. This stops relaying etc.

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at smtp2.surewest.net.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses. This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

<username@domain.com>:
Sorry, I couldn't find a mail exchanger or IP address. (#5.4.4)

--- Below this line is a copy of the message.

Return-Path: <username@surewest.net>
Received: (qmail 9142 invoked from network); 27 Sep 2003 05:50:19 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO surewest.net) (66.60.128.32)
by smtp2.surewest.net with SMTP; 27 Sep 2003 05:50:19 -0000
Received: from (my ip address)
(SquirrelMail authenticated user username@surewest.net)
by 208.45.228.46 with HTTP;
Fri, 26 Sep 2003 22:46:24 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <50246.(my ip address).1064641584.squirrel@208.45.228.46>
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 22:46:24 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: test
From: "Name" <username@surewest.net>
To: <username@domain.com>
X-Priority: 3
Importance: Normal
X-Mailer: SquirrelMail (version 1.2.8)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
X-TST: smtp2 SNWK2

This indicates that either a) you DNS server isnt configure properly and doesnt have you MX record or b) you have a DNS setup configured but it isnt being pointed to as the nameserver for that domain.

Can you give any more information on the DNS setup?

post your sendmail.mc file

Quit all this pseudo security crap and LIST YOUR DOMAIN NAME. You cannot expect people to troubleshoot your DNS misconfiguration for you unless you reveal your domain name so people can find the problems.

DNS is the number one cause of e-mail problems because so few e-mail admins understand how DNS relates to mail.