Postfix / Dovecot can't connect clients
 

Hi,

I'm a bit of a newbie to Linux and even more so to postfix and dovecot, so any help is appreciated.

I've set up postfix and dovecot on Centos 4. I can telnet into ports 25, 110 and 143 fine, both from localhost and externally (through the firewall). I can send smtp mail from the command line fine. What I can't do is get any pop3/smtp clients (Outlook, Mac Mail) to connect.

I'm wondering if there's something I should look for? I really don't know where to look next.

I set it up using a mix of instuctions, but mainly the ones here
http://www.hughesjr.com/content/view/14/29/

Iain

You need to check files like /var/log/maillog to see what the postfix and dovecot daemons are saying about the connection attempts. do you have any client side errors?

I tried telnetting in to IMAP and using
"LOGIN username password"

but I get the error
"LOGIN BAD Error in IMAP command received by server"

and then I have to disconnect. I checked the logs and they only show that I disconnected, nothing else. I was wondering if I should use the full email address as the username?? And the password I was using has a ) in it, so I put quotes around it, but I don't see why special chars wouldn't be allowed, could that be it?? I won't be impressed if it's not possible! I've tested it with a more simple password and still the same.

I sent an email to myself on the host using the command line, and checked the mailbox and there is an email in there.

On the client I get the error
"There may be a problem with the mail server or network. Check the settings for account "username@example.com" or try again.

The server error encountered was: The connection to the server "mail.example.com" on port 110 timed out."

I'm going to set up some internal DNS and retest it.

Hi,

How do you add your user account in Postfix?

Are you running MySQL at the back that supports your user management?

regards,
GS

I use system accounts, with no mySQL or Postgres or anything like that. Both the root and my user account can both send and receive as long as it's done locally.

Stop the press! As I'm writing this my mail account just downloaded a message from the dovecot that I sent yesterday. I changed the pop account details on the mail client to use the local IP address instead of the FQDN.

That means it's an issue with the firewall I'm using, which is confusing since I've telnetted to all the relevant ports through it from an outside source!

Many thanks for all the help, all the prodding has ended up with a solution of sorts. My firewall has been quite difficult to configure in the past and it obviously hasn't worked this time, so instead of wasting your time I'll try and sort it out first!

Thanks again!