Basic Postfix and Dovecot Mail Server for a test environment.

metallica1973 · 01-20-2011, 04:26 PM

I did a a basic install of postfix and dovecot instead of using courier-pop and courier-imap. This is only send and receiving e-mail locally within the test network 10.7.0.X and 10.0.0.X. I used:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community
/PostfixBasicSetupHowto

and

http://https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Dovecot

my postfix.conf is;

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# Debian specific:  Specifying a file name will cause the first
# line of that file to be used as the name.  The Debian default
# is /etc/mailname.
#myorigin = /etc/mailname

smtpd_banner = $myhostname ESMTP $mail_name (Ubuntu)
biff = no

# appending .domain is the MUA's job.
append_dot_mydomain = no

# Uncomment the next line to generate "delayed mail" warnings
#delay_warning_time = 4h

readme_directory = no

# TLS parameters
smtpd_tls_cert_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
smtpd_tls_key_file=/etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key
smtpd_use_tls=yes
smtpd_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${data_directory}/smtpd_scache
smtp_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${data_directory}/smtp_scache

# See /usr/share/doc/postfix/TLS_README.gz in the postfix-doc package for
# information on enabling SSL in the smtp client.

myhostname = testbox
alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases
alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases
myorigin = /etc/mailname
mydestination = testlocal.com, testbox, localhost.localdomain, localhost
relayhost =
mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8, 10.7.0.0/24, 10.0.0.0/24
mailbox_size_limit = 0
recipient_delimiter = +
inet_interfaces = all
default_transport = error
relay_transport = error
~

and my dovecot.conf.

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# specify protocols = imap imaps pop3 pop3s
protocols = pop3 imap
# uncomment this and change to no.
disable_plaintext_auth = no
pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv

This is the error when I send an email from a local machine on the 10.0.0.X network.

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Jan 20 17:05:48 testbox postfix/smtpd[2491]: warning: Illegal address syntax from unknown[10.0.0.111] in MAIL command: <test@10.0.0.112>

zedmelon · 01-21-2011, 02:29 AM

I'm unfamiliar with dovecot.

1) This might not matter, but is the postfix machine in 10.0.0.x or 10.7.0.x?

2) Are you using a MTA to send, or are you doing it from the command line? If so, what command are you entering? At first I took this to be a network address error, but I think it's a mail address error.

3) 127.0.0.0/8 is a very wide range of addresses. From a security standpoint, it's not a huge deal, but after you get everything working, I'd change this to 127.0.0.1/32.

metallica1973 · 01-21-2011, 08:19 AM

1 - This machines is in the 10.0.0.X network so 10.0.0.111 is the client (thunderbird) and 10.0.0.112 (Postfix - MTA)

2 - I am trying to use to to send and recieve. These are the commands that I used to verify that it was working:

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netcat localhost 25
220 testbox ESMTP Postfix (Ubuntu)
mail from: root@localhost
250 2.1.0 Ok
data
554 5.5.1 Error: no valid recipients
rcpt to: test@localhost
250 2.1.5 Ok
data
354 End data with <CR><LF>.<CR><LF>
this is a test
.
250 2.0.0 Ok: queued as 8562741EC3
quit
221 2.0.0 Bye

and

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netcat localhost 110
+OK
user test
+OK
pass test!!
+OK
quit
+OK

but the root fails

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netcat localhost 110
+OK
user root
+OK
pass XXXXXXX
-ERR Authentication failed (bad password?)

3 - good point

on the thunderbird client I have

POP settings as:

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server type: POP
server: 10.0.0.112 (postfix)
username: test

sending:

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server type: SMTP
server: 10.0.0.112
server requires authentication - checked
use secure encrytion - no
authentication - plain
username: test

here is a tail from /var/log/mail.log

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 Jan 21 09:24:59 testbox postfix/smtpd[4061]: warning: Illegal address syntax from unknown[10.0.0.111] in MAIL command: <test@10.0.0.112>
Jan 21 09:24:59 testbox postfix/smtpd[4061]: disconnect from unknown[10.0.0.111]

zedmelon · 01-21-2011, 09:25 AM

I wonder if root login is being disallowed and clouding your troubleshooting efforts. Try something like this as test and then as root:

Code:

 echo "subject: test msg

Test body" | sendmail -v test root

this will send a brief test message to the users root and test, with the output result mailed to whoever sends the message. The original sendmail would dump output to the console, but postfix emails the report to you. there's probably a flag to change this, but I've never checked for it.

(you'll want a blank line after the subject declaration)

metallica1973 · 01-21-2011, 09:47 AM

ok here a news update:

I uninstalled dovecot and installed courier-pop and courier-imap using a MAILDIR format. I followed these instruction specifically down to the T:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Po...asicSetupHowto

I can recieve email from thunderbird via

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server type: pop
server 10.0.0.112
user: test
no secure connection: no encryption
authenication type: password

sending is where the issue is. when trying to send an email to root@10.0.0.112:

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server type: smtp
server: 10.0.0.112
no server authentication
no encryption

and I get the same messages via /var/log/mail.log

I added "debug_peer_list = 10.0.0.111" for debugging

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 Jan 21 10:36:41 testbox postfix/smtpd[6125]: warning: Illegal address syntax from unknown[10.0.0.111] in MAIL command: <test@10.0.0.112>
Jan 21 10:36:41 testbox postfix/smtpd[6125]: disconnect from unknown[10.0.0.111]
extract_addr: in: <saint@10.0.0.112>, result: saint@10.0.0.112
Jan 21 11:54:50 testbox postfix/smtpd[7071]: > unknown[10.0.0.111]: 501 5.1.7 Bad sender address syntax
Jan 21 11:54:50 testbox postfix/smtpd[7071]: watchdog_pat: 0x21092b20
Jan 21 11:54:50 testbox postfix/smtpd[7071]: < unknown[10.0.0.111]: QUIT
Jan 21 11:54:50 testbox postfix/smtpd[7071]: > unknown[10.0.0.111]: 221 2.0.0 Bye
Jan 21 11:54:50 Stestbox postfix/smtpd[7071]: match_hostname: unknown ~? 127.0.0.0/8
Jan 21 11:54:50 testbox postfix/smtpd[7071]: match_hostaddr: 10.0.0.111 ~? 127.0.0.0/8
Jan 21 11:54:50 testbox postfix/smtpd[7071]: match_hostname: unknown ~? 10.7.0.0/24
Jan 21 11:54:50 testbox postfix/smtpd[7071]: match_hostaddr: 10.0.0.111 ~? 10.7.0.0/24
Jan 21 11:54:50 testbox postfix/smtpd[7071]: match_hostname: unknown ~? 10.0.0.0/24
Jan 21 11:54:50 testbox postfix/smtpd[7071]: match_hostaddr: 10.0.0.111 ~? 10.0.0.0/24
Jan 21 11:54:50 testbox postfix/smtpd[7071]: disconnect from unknown[10.0.0.111]

it has to be something in the main.conf of postfix telling it not to receive email from this network. ?

metallica1973 · 01-26-2011, 03:00 PM

After numerous hours of playing with in turned out to be multiple little items that was causing it not to work. This is what I did to create a local email server, that only sends and receives internally for testing purposes. I used CENTOS 5.5 is this example but also used Ubuntu 10.10. Here Go:

I used this how to

http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/postfix

the same would have worked with the above

First things is first. Hostname of the box:

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vi /etc/sysconfig/network
HOSTNAME=TESTmail.local.com

and I edited my /etc/hosts to include the appropriate names

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127.0.0.1 TESTmail.local.com TESTmail localhost.localdomain localhost

I edited /etc/postfix/main.cf to include:

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myhostname = TESTmail.local.com
mydomain = local.com
myorigin = $mydomain
inet_interfaces = all
mydestination = $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, localhost, $mydomain
mynetworks = 10.0.0.0/24, 127.0.0.0/8 10.7.0.0/24
relay_domains =
home_mailbox = Maildir/

I added theses entries to /etc/dovecot.conf

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protocols = imap imaps pop3 pop3s
mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir
pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv
# Required on x86_64 kernels
login_process_size = 64

Super Important -- Permission to the their respective mail directories.

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mkdir /home/john/Maildir
chown john:john /home/john/Maildir
chmod -R 700 /home/john/Maildir

There wasnt a need for aliases but the how-to above puts in into basic english.I then just simply started my
services:

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chkconfig --level 345 dovecot on
/etc/init.d/dovecot start
/etc/init.d/postfix start

At this point I needed to verify that all was working so I ran some basic test:

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test@testbox:~$ telnet 10.0.0.116 25
Trying 10.0.0.116...
Connected to 10.0.0.116.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 TESTMail.local.com ESMTP Postfix
mail
501 5.5.4 Syntax: MAIL FROM:<address>
mail from:tom@TESTMail.local.com
250 2.1.0 Ok
rcpt to:chris@TESTMail.local.com
250 2.1.5 Ok
data
354 End data with <CR><LF>.<CR><LF>
this is another test
.
250 2.0.0 Ok: queued as 4E7C2430036
quit
221 2.0.0 Bye
Connection closed by foreign host.

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telnet 10.0.0.112 110
trying 10.0.0.112 ..
Connected to 10.0.0.112 (10.0.0.112)
Escape character is '^]'.
+OK Dovecot ready.
user test
+OK
quit

This was the critical part. Configuration of the Client: I used Evolution:

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fullname: test
email address: test@TESTmail.local.com

server type: POP 
server <mail.server.ip> 
username: test
security:no encryption
authentication: password

server type: SMTP
server: <mail.server.ip> 
security:no encrytion

I just send an email to test:

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testuser@TESTmail.local.com

and all should go well. Using Ubuntu is slightly different but basically the same.

edit /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf and remove the remark and change it to no or you will receive a error.

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-ERR Plaintext authentication disallowed on non-secure (SSL/TLS) connections.

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disable_plaintext_auth = no