Email with Postfix, Dovecot and MySQL on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

Try ticking "use secure authentication" in outlook.

@ninemedia:

The server responded: -ERR Plaintext authentication disallowed on non-secure (SSL/TLS) connections.'

You need to enable TLS or SSL in outlook - it's been years since I've used outlook so I can't really help you with exactly where to find that setting.

EDIT: Grrr one minute too slow ;)

With secure checked / required im still not able to send.

Task 'support@ninemedia.ca - Receiving' reported error (0x80042108) : 'Outlook cannot connect to your incoming (POP3) e-mail server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).'

I changed in dovecot the setting to no for require_auth (excuse the actual command i had to copy it from somewhere) and i can now send from the account but still no luck actually getting anything.

Sorry…

Sending says Completed but the Outbox still has the message im trying to send so still no in or out from the account

Do you have the ssl firewall ports open? (If you're not sure run iptables -L)

iptables return:

Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)

target prot opt source destination

Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT)

target prot opt source destination

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)

target prot opt source destination

Iptables is fine. Not sure why then, I see you can telnet to port 25, can you telnet to port 110?

Yep.

Tried both 25 and 110 using the domain and the ip address and both return + Dovecot Ready.

I just tried connecting with mac mail and it threw an invalid certificate warning, I'd have a nasty suspicion that this may be the problem, download mozilla thunderbird and see if it works in that.

New to all this so thinking about the bad certificate, when going thru the cert setup it asks for City: and the city I entered "St. John's" has me wondering if the period space apostrophe in the name would screw something up in the certificate? Should I have entered StJohns? Just curious.

Thanks for your help so far.

Dave

I am able to get mail now but still no sending.

I got the invalid certificate like you did.

Sending' reported error (0x80042109) : 'Outlook cannot connect to your outgoing (SMTP) e-mail server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).'

Yet i can connect to incoming but "Use same as my incoming" for outgoing selected cant?

The certificate is "bad" because it is set to the domain "*.hostmonster.com" which mismatches ninemedia.ca

As for the error I've no idea what it means ms products are so vague about what the problem really is. Check your postfix logs and see if there's anything in there.

No i typed the ninemedia part in. I only subbed that because i hate typing in the real email / domain since these posts get picked up by engines so i dont want someone looking for site.com to see help questions related to the name thats all. real domain is

j o b i e d . c o m

So i did more testing telnet local / jbd.com 25 and 110 with no problems

did the whole # telnet localhost pop3

user dave@jbd.com

pass password

list

got checked mail i sent to the address so everything appears to working fine server wise.

Grabbed thunderbird (love the autoconfig setup) but it only finds

Incoming IMAP 143

Outgoing never finds anything

So thats where i stand.

Looking over everthing in setup docs what should FQDN be?

hostname.domain.extension?

mail.domain.extension?

Tried both same results but curious.

Thanks again.

Dave

Well that would explain a lot, using the real domain I did a nmap scan and it brings up this

PORT STATE SERVICE

21/tcp closed ftp

22/tcp open ssh

25/tcp open smtp

43/tcp closed whois

53/tcp closed domain

80/tcp open http

443/tcp closed https

465/tcp closed smtps

587/tcp closed submission

993/tcp closed imaps

Your pop and imap ports are closed.

Im just going reboot the whole thing and start over. Thanks nmap is nice little tool just grabbed it.

Back in a bit after fresh install and after scan.

On my end I see: (NOW)

Not shown: 993 closed ports

PORT STATE SERVICE

22/tcp open ssh

25/tcp open smtp

110/tcp open pop3

143/tcp open imap

993/tcp open imaps

995/tcp open pop3s

3306/tcp open mysql

Device type: general purpose

Running: Linux 2.6.X

OS details: Linux 2.6.19 - 2.6.26

Network Distance: 0 hops

Are the imap services only bound to localhost ?

As root,

netstat -anp | grep LISTEN

the command returns:

tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:993 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 9988/dovecot

tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:995 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 9988/dovecot

tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:3306 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 9702/mysqld

tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:110 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 9988/dovecot

tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:143 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 9988/dovecot

tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:22 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 6071/sshd

tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:25 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 10086/master

tcp6 0 0 :::22 :::* LISTEN 6071/sshd

OK, I can telnet to the pop3 (11) and imap (143) ports OK.

I can use "openssl sclient -connect yourdomain_name:pop3s" (995) and …:imaps (993) properly. Both the SSL versions report a self-signed certificate.

I can see an SMTP server on port 25.

So all the services are listening and responding.

Yeah its just the self signed postfix cert. Im the only one who will have access to the email so not a big deal right now. But i still get the same s#!t with outlook and thunderbird. Am i a complete idiot? LOL ok you dont have to answer that question :)

Task 'dave@jobied.com - Receiving' reported error (0x800CCC92) : 'Your e-mail server rejected your login. Verify your user name and password in your account properties. Under Tools, click E-mail accounts. The server responded: -ERR Plaintext authentication disallowed on non-secure (SSL/TLS) connections.'

If i use SSL -> Cert Pop Up ->Yes check the mail logs and get

….

Jan 5 00:01:04 li224-54 dovecot: imap-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=24.222.152.22, lip=173.255.214.54, TLS: Disconnected

Jan 5 00:01:04 li224-54 dovecot: imap-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts): rip=24.222.152.22, lip=173.255.214.54

Jan 5 00:01:30 li224-54 dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected (tried to use disabled plaintext auth): rip=24.222.152.22, lip=173.255.214.54

….

tried to use disabled plaintext auth <– that one means you need to enable secure authentication.

/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf

…

disableplaintextauth = no

…

AS of now sending from the email account in outlook sends to any address so thats good. Sill no recieving in outlook.

Thru the shell sending to another one of my emails (different domain) does not come thru but it can recieve. Each is acting the opposite of the other……..1 can send but not recieve the other can recieve but not send.

Just about to give up and use the US Postal System good ol fashion stamps.

This may seem like a silly question..have you looked at google apps? http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

Ok good news is using IMAP i can send and receive perfectly with ports 143 / 587.

So for now thats good enough for me. Not sure (…well thats obvious) why IMAP connects fine pop says not a chance loser get out of here! So as long as i can send and receive is the important thing for now.

Thanks for all your input. New to Linode and this was my first question so I appreciate your time and support.

Dave

To the amazement of all it works! Dont know how, why and for how long bit pop / smtp like me now.

Thanks again guys!

Dave

Awesome. Let's hope it stays working.