dovecot/postfix/squirrelmail

[cdhgold]

I'm trying to configure my first linux mail server. This will be running as a POP3 server with web access to mail as well. I have installed dovecot, postfix and squirrel mail but am unsure how to go about configure them. I want to be able to send an email to username@FQDN. such as user@server.domain.com. I can't configure it yet to be user@domain.com because the current mail server is still running. I have tried sending an email to user@server.domain.com and get the following error bounced back.

The message could not be delivered because the recipient's destination email system is unknown or invalid. Please check the address and try again, or contact your system administrator to verify connectivity to the email system of the recipient.

I also get same thing trying to send to user@ip address.

ANy suggestions?
Chris

[Void Main]

The first thing you have to do is have an MX record in your DNS configuration for your domain that points to the IP address of your mail server. I'm not personally familiar with Postfix but you'll need to have the service running and listening on port 25 on your mail server. You'll need to make sure you don't have port 25 blocked with iptables, and make sure your provider doesn't block port 25 to your server. If you have access to another computer out on the net somewhere outside of your provider's network then you should be able to telnet to port 25 from that computer to your server and get an SMTP banner. If Postfix is anything like Sendmail then you'll need to do a little basic configuring and then check it's logs for entries when you telnet to port 25 and when you attempt to send email to it. Looks like there is a lot of documentation on the postfix web site for configuring it:

http://www.postfix.org/

That would be the first thing you need to get right. The rest of it should be cake. I also use squirrelmail but limit access to it from specific netblocks for security reasons. There really was no configuration necessary if I recall. I should just work with the basic setup. pop/imap should be just as easy. Just make sure the ports are being handled (service is started or is managed by xinetd). Like I said, first thing is to get your MX record and Postfix working properly, the rest is cake.

[cdhgold]

i'm not set on using postfix .. you mentioned you use sendmail .. why one over the other? pros/cons?

Chris

[Void Main]

I don't have anything against Postfix, I just have never used it. I have used Sendmail for the last 15 years and haven't really had a reason to switch to anything else. You'll probably hear a lot of things from people who use Postfix about it maybe being easier to set up and more secure but it usually doesn't take me more than a few seconds to configure Sendmail the way I need it and it hasn't had any major security issues for years. So, I am not recommending one over another, just that my personal experience is only with Sendmail.