I just installed RedHat7.2. The mail server is running. I startx and use netscape messenger to connect to the mail server, which is running on localhost. I edit the preferences and define my mail server as my <IP>:<port>. When I try to connect to the server, I get a services for port 25 disabled for security reasons error. I have modified my ipchains to allow everything. I still get that error. Even when I change my mailserver connection to localhost, I still can't connect.

Please Help
I'm at the end of my rope.

Hi,

First try running ur sendmail without the firewall ( ipchains ).

Configure ur /etc/sendmail.cf file appropriately. Start sendmail by running the script as follows

/etc/rc.d/init.d sendmail start


if u get a error mesage that means something is wrong ( see log file /var/log/messages ).

start pop3 service from the file /etc/xinetd/pop3 file.


Hope this solves problem.


Regards ,
Xanthium.

Thanks

The mail server is not accepting connections from outside the network. When I do a netstat -an, I see that the server is only listening to 127.0.0.1 for port 25. The firewall is off. Is there something else I'm missing?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

hi,

redhat tightened up sendmai starting from 7.1

there's a line in /etc/mail/sendmail.mc
with address and port specification . it's well commented. just put a dnl at the start of that line
and run
m4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc > /etc/sendmail.cf

then restart sendmail

Hi ,

Yeh something is definately wrong !!! so here is the solution .. u need to edit the file /etc/sendmail.cf .

In this file u will find something like ---- >

# SMTP daemon options

O DaemonPortOptions=Port=smtp,Addr=127.0.0.1, Name=MTA



u need to change it to ---- >


O DaemonPortOptions=Port=smtp,Addr=192.168.100.134, Name=MTA


( *** here iam assuming ur linux box ip is 192.168.100.134,
pls substitute it with ur real ip address *** ).


NOTE : Before making any changes its advisable to make a copy of the original configuration file.


Now restart the sendmail daemon with the script :
/etc/rc.d/init.d/sendmail restart

Now ur mail server will be listning on the requested ip .

Hope this solves the problem.


Regards ,
Xanthium.

Dear Friend,
Relaying is by default denied in sendmail from redhat 6.2 and onword you must create a file named "ip_allow" in /etc/mail dir "/etc/mail/ip_allow" file. and past your network ip address here like

192.168.0.1
192.168.0.2

and so on. Then sendmail accept connections from these ip on port 25 and relay their mails

Thanks and Regards,

John Lee

Hi Johnlee ,

Yes ur absolutely right about relaying but i guess this is not the real culprit. Sendmail in this case is not listning on the external interface ( instead listning on 127.0.0.1 ie; loop back interface ) ..... the file u mentioned will allow the mentioned ip's to use ur mail server as a RELAY server ( ie; relay mails on their behalf to external world !).

I hope my above mentioned post will help solve the above mentioned problem.

Regards,
Xanthium.

afaik the Addr= option in the cf file can simply be removed, which is what sendmail docs recommend. and also /etc/mail/ip_allow is not a standard file i don't think (wrong???) the normal way is to use /etc/mail/access instead.#, using the access-db feature on sendmail

Just look into yout /etc/mail/local-host-table file that you have entries for your .(localhost+For whatever host you like to receive the mails). .And also make sure that you have proper MX entry for the same hosts in your DNS server