exim4 configuration in Debian, need some help...

298 · 05-13-2008, 01:45 PM

I'm trying to set up exim4 in Debian 4.0 for a simple task: forward my emails to the ISP. Thunderbird can do it, msmtp can do it, but I can't get it to work with exim4...

My current configuration of update-exim4.conf.conf is rather straightforward:

Code:

dc_eximconfig_configtype='smarthost'
dc_other_hostnames=''
dc_local_interfaces='127.0.0.1'
dc_readhost=''
dc_relay_domains=''
dc_minimaldns='false'
dc_relay_nets=''
#--- Provider A ---
#dc_smarthost='smtp.netvigator.com'
#--- Provider B ---
dc_smarthost='smtp.starfieldtech.com::80'
CFILEMODE='644'
dc_use_split_config='false'
dc_hide_mailname='false'
dc_mailname_in_oh='true'
dc_localdelivery='mail_spool'

In addition I have passwd.client configured with the correct machine names (they need to be the reverse DNS lookup result of the SMTP servers mentioned above), and exim4.conf.template contains the line "AUTH_CLIENT_ALLOW_NOTLS_PASSWORDS=1"

When I try to send an email via Provider A, I get the following:

Code:

  SMTP<< 220 imsm058dat.netvigator.com ESMTP
  SMTP>> EHLO mymachine.mydomain.net
  SMTP<< 250-imsm058dat.netvigator.com
         250-HELP
         250-XREMOTEQUEUE
         250-ETRN
         250-AUTH=LOGIN PLAIN
         250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
         250-PIPELINING
         250-DSN
         250-8BITMIME
         250 SIZE 10485760
  SMTP>> MAIL FROM:<me@mydomain.net> SIZE=1402
  SMTP>> RCPT TO:<me2@some.where.else.com>
  SMTP>> DATA
  SMTP<< 553 <me@mydomain.net> is not allowed to use this service
  SMTP<< 503 Bad sequence of commands (specify MAIL first)
  SMTP<< 503 No sender specified
  SMTP>> QUIT

With Provider B, I get something different, but not much better:

Code:

  SMTP<< 220 smtpout10.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net ESMTP
  SMTP>> EHLO mymachine.mydomain.net
  SMTP<< 250-smtpout10-04.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net
         250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
         250-8BITMIME
         250 PIPELINING
  SMTP>> MAIL FROM:<me@mydomain.net>
  SMTP>> RCPT TO:<me2@some.where.else.com>
  SMTP>> DATA
  SMTP<< 250 Sender accepted.
  SMTP<< 553 Sorry, that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts.
  SMTP<< 503 You must send RCPT TO: first
  SMTP>> QUIT

I'm a bit lost here, can anyone explain what these SMTP servers are complaining about and how I can tweak exim to talk to them the way they want to be talked to?

298 · 05-13-2008, 09:54 PM

Problems are solved. It was a bit too late last night...
In both cases, exim did not perform any authentication. There should have been a line beginning with "SMTP>> AUTH PLAIN" in the logs.

The man page for exim4-config_files explained this bit about reverse lookup for the SMTP name before passwd.client is queried. When I sent some mail with "exim4 -d+all me2@somewhere.com" I saw that this is actually not the case. Changing passwd.client then resolved the problem.

shinybeast · 09-24-2008, 07:40 AM

Hi. Not sure if i should start a new thread or append to this one - the title certainly fits!

I am using Debian Lenny, exim4 (heavy daemon). Been using Debian for a couple of years - but new to setting up exim4.

I use icedove for my usual mail, but sometimes i want to leave a process running for hours / days and have it email me / other people on completion. Therefore I am trying to set up exim to send outgoing (non-local) mail via a smarthost - so that i can send mail using commandline tools (e.g. mail or mutt).

I have been reading / trying things for a few days, to no avail - so i am asking for help!

I have used dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config for basic configuration, and added my <smtp-server>:<username>:<password> to /etc/exim4/passwd.client

However, its not working.

Doing " echo Hello World | mail -v -s Test <email-address> " gives the following:

LOG: MAIN
<= alex@ETC_MAILNAME U=alex P=local S=354
delivering 1KiTQP-000105-9L
LOG: MAIN
** <email-address>: Unrouteable address
LOG: MAIN
Error while reading message with no usable sender address (R=1KiTQP-000105-9L): at least one malformed recipient address: alex@ETC_MAILNAME - malformed address: _MAILNAME may not follow alex@ETC
LOG: MAIN
Process failed (1) when writing error message to alex@ETC_MAILNAME (frozen)

So it looks like a) I can't send to the external email address, and b) the sending of the error report to my local account also fails !?!?

Please help!! And please let me know what other info i can provide to help you help me.

shinybeast · 09-27-2008, 05:37 AM

Ok, all sorted now. After feeling i'd got myself in a pickle, i decided to reinstall exim4 so that i could start again.

Then i set up using 'dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config' - this got local mail working again but was getting a "connected closed" error from the smtp server with external delivery.

Finally realised my error. I'd been working from a set of instructions passed to me for setting up a client such as outlook or thunderbird that said.

"[encryption ssl (tls with thunderbird), port 465]"

So i had been trying to connect to smtp server with exim4 (that uses tls) on port 465. But with tls, i needed to use the standard smtp port, 25. As soon as i did that, all works fine.

Maybe this documentation of my schoolboy error will save some time for some else who is new to setting up email systems.