SUSE 9.1 postfix won't talk to my ISP
All, Apparently my ISP is running an old SMTP server. Evolution can talk to it and send e-mail, but if I try to deliver e-mail to postfix, postfix fails when it tries to forward it to my ISP. i.e. "mail user@abc.com" from the command line fails to deliver the mail. I assume it is because postfix is using too new of a smtp format/protocol. I have used ethereal to verify Evolution sends "MAIL FROM:" and "RCPT TO:" in separate packets. Postfix is trying to send them in a single common packet. Is there a way to get postfix to be more compatible? FYI: My main need is for "mail" to work from the command line. Thanks Greg -- Greg Freemyer
Quoting Greg Freemyer
All,
Apparently my ISP is running an old SMTP server.
Evolution can talk to it and send e-mail, but if I try to deliver e-mail to postfix, postfix fails when it tries to forward it to my ISP.
i.e. "mail user@abc.com" from the command line fails to deliver the mail.
I assume it is because postfix is using too new of a smtp format/protocol.
I have used ethereal to verify Evolution sends "MAIL FROM:" and "RCPT TO:" in separate packets. Postfix is trying to send them in a single common packet.
Is there a way to get postfix to be more compatible?
FYI: My main need is for "mail" to work from the command line.
Thanks Greg
The only thing I can think of is the SMTP server advertises that it can handle pipelining, but can't. At least not as Postfix understands it. To test: telnet <smtp-server> 25 ehlo my.host.name If the reply includes "250-PIPELINING", the SMTP server claims it can handle pipelining. Try adding smtp_never_send_ehlo = yes to /etc/postfix/main.cf and run "postfix reload". HTH, Jeffrey
Wed, 02 Jun 2004, by Greg.Freemyer@NorcrossGroup.com:
All,
Apparently my ISP is running an old SMTP server.
Evolution can talk to it and send e-mail, but if I try to deliver e-mail to postfix, postfix fails when it tries to forward it to my ISP.
i.e. "mail user@abc.com" from the command line fails to deliver the mail.
I assume it is because postfix is using too new of a smtp format/protocol.
"Assumption is the mother of all fuckups".. Part of the SMTP "language" is the HELO or EHLO command. When a client uses EHLO (Extended HELO) it means that it supports newer ESMTP commands. So any SMTP client can talk to any SMTP server, as long as it doesn't lye about its capabilities. Instead of assuming, you should have a look in your mail log, to see how Postfix tries to deliver the mail, and what went wrong.
I have used ethereal to verify Evolution sends "MAIL FROM:" and "RCPT TO:" in separate packets. Postfix is trying to send them in a single common packet.
Postfix or Evo have absolutely no controle over the TCP/IP stack, or how the packets are formed.
Is there a way to get postfix to be more compatible?
Postfix is the most RFC compliant MTA outthere. If there's a problem with the communication I can guarantee that it's the server's problem, not Postfix.
FYI: My main need is for "mail" to work from the command line.
Which should not be a problem when you have configured Postfix correctly. Theo -- Theo v. Werkhoven Registered Linux user# 99872 http://counter.li.org ICBM 52 13 27N , 4 29 45E. + ICQ: 277217131 SUSE 9.1 + Jabber: gurp@nedlinux.nl Kernel k_athlon-2.6.4 + MSN: twe-msn@ferrets4me.xs4all.nl See headers for PGP/GPG info. +
Quoting Theo v. Werkhoven
Wed, 02 Jun 2004, by Greg.Freemyer@NorcrossGroup.com: [snip]
I have used ethereal to verify Evolution sends "MAIL FROM:" and "RCPT TO:" in separate packets. Postfix is trying to send them in a single common packet.
Postfix or Evo have absolutely no controle over the TCP/IP stack, or how the packets are formed.
Humm, without pipelining the SMTP client should not send the "RCPT TO:" until after the "MAIL FROM:" command has been replied to. So without pipelining, how does the TCP/IP stack combine the two commands into one packet? Jeffrey
Thu, 03 Jun 2004, by suse@austinblues.dyndns.org:
Quoting Theo v. Werkhoven
: Wed, 02 Jun 2004, by Greg.Freemyer@NorcrossGroup.com: [snip]
I have used ethereal to verify Evolution sends "MAIL FROM:" and "RCPT TO:" in separate packets. Postfix is trying to send them in a single common packet.
Postfix or Evo have absolutely no controle over the TCP/IP stack, or how the packets are formed.
Humm, without pipelining the SMTP client should not send the "RCPT TO:" until after the "MAIL FROM:" command has been replied to. So without pipelining, how does the TCP/IP stack combine the two commands into one packet?
No idea, but I haven't seen any logs that would prove this to be a/the problem in the first place. Theo -- Theo v. Werkhoven Registered Linux user# 99872 http://counter.li.org ICBM 52 13 27N , 4 29 45E. + ICQ: 277217131 SUSE 9.1 + Jabber: gurp@nedlinux.nl Kernel k_athlon-2.6.4 + MSN: twe-msn@ferrets4me.xs4all.nl See headers for PGP/GPG info. +
Still broken: (Anybody have postfix sending via Bellsouth? I think I will also post on my local linux list.) Changing postfix's config to use HELO instead of EHLO did eliminate the PIPELINING. Now the "MAIL FROM:" and "RCPT TO:" are being sent in separate packets from postfix. Using ethereal, I don't see anything significantly different between postfix and evolution sending out e-mail to my ISPs mail server. My error message has changed with the new postfix method. Now I'm getting: 550 .net 022: Your current IP address is not allowed to relay to norcrossgroup.com Solution: Connect using BellSouth Internet Service. (in reply to RCPT TO command) I am connected using Bellsouth (via a NAT gateway), so I'm not sure what the problem is. As I said, sending via evolution works fine. I'm not sure I have ever succesfully sent with postfix/bellsouth before. I'm still guessing their is some kind of incompatibility. Thanks Greg -- Greg Freemyer
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Thu, 03 Jun 2004, by suse@austinblues.dyndns.org:
Quoting Theo v. Werkhoven
: Wed, 02 Jun 2004, by Greg.Freemyer@NorcrossGroup.com: [snip]
I have used ethereal to verify Evolution sends "MAIL FROM:" and "RCPT TO:" in separate packets. Postfix is trying to send them in a single common packet.
Postfix or Evo have absolutely no controle over the TCP/IP stack, or how the packets are formed.
Humm, without pipelining the SMTP client should not send the "RCPT TO:" until after the "MAIL FROM:" command has been replied to. So without pipelining, how does the TCP/IP stack combine the two commands into one packet?
No idea, but I haven't seen any logs that would prove this to be a/the problem in the first place. Theo -- Theo v. Werkhoven Registered Linux user# 99872 http://counter.li.org ICBM 52 13 27N , 4 29 45E. + ICQ: 277217131 SUSE 9.1 + Jabber: gurp@nedlinux.nl Kernel k_athlon-2.6.4 + MSN: twe-msn@ferrets4me.xs4all.nl See headers for PGP/GPG info. + --y0ulUmNC+osPPQO6 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFAwNxuc4IkHA+oC7ERAgdNAJ42r2c7VohxsixXQ24gakHd1lzaEgCdEH2e VVOXA8iQqtjvYOxBAgIWkVs= =j9s9 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --y0ulUmNC+osPPQO6-- <
Fri, 04 Jun 2004, by Greg.Freemyer@NorcrossGroup.com:
Still broken:
(Anybody have postfix sending via Bellsouth? I think I will also post on my local linux list.)
Changing postfix's config to use HELO instead of EHLO did eliminate the PIPELINING.
But you still don't know if that was (part of) the problem. $ telnet mail.bellsouth.com 25 Trying 139.76.165.130... Connected to mail.bellsouth.com. Escape character is '^]'. 220 aismtp3g.bellsouth.com (IntraStore TurboSendmail) ESMTP Service ready Looks like a commercial Sendmail derivative. Don't know it, but I would be very surprised if it lied about its capabilities.
Now the "MAIL FROM:" and "RCPT TO:" are being sent in separate packets from postfix.
Using ethereal, I don't see anything significantly different between postfix and evolution sending out e-mail to my ISPs mail server.
My error message has changed with the new postfix method.
Now I'm getting: 550 .net 022: Your current IP address is not allowed to relay to norcrossgroup.com Solution: Connect using BellSouth Internet Service. (in reply to RCPT TO command)
I am connected using Bellsouth (via a NAT gateway), so I'm not sure what the problem is.
Have you configured bellsouth as the mail-relay? relayhost = [mail.bellsouth.com]
As I said, sending via evolution works fine. I'm not sure I have ever succesfully sent with postfix/bellsouth before. I'm still guessing their is some kind of incompatibility.
Then check the config in Evo. The outgoing mailserver you have there should be the same as in $relayhost Theo -- Theo v. Werkhoven Registered Linux user# 99872 http://counter.li.org ICBM 52 13 27N , 4 29 45E. + ICQ: 277217131 SUSE 9.1 + Jabber: gurp@nedlinux.nl Kernel k_athlon-2.6.4 + MSN: twe-msn@ferrets4me.xs4all.nl See headers for PGP/GPG info. +
All, I have found with my ISP that I have to have the postfix relay host set to [mail.atl.bellsouth.net] Using mail.atl.bellsouth.net results in rejected e-mail. I have no idea why this is true. The fix was provided on my local LUG list. Maybe this will help out someone else. PS: if this is a generic issue, maybe yast2 could be modified to add the [] chars automatically. Or maybe it does and I tried to set things manually. I've forgotten. Greg -- Greg Freemyer
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Fri, 04 Jun 2004, by Greg.Freemyer@NorcrossGroup.com:
Still broken:
(Anybody have postfix sending via Bellsouth? I think I will also post on my local linux list.)
Changing postfix's config to use HELO instead of EHLO did eliminate the PIPELINING.
But you still don't know if that was (part of) the problem. $ telnet mail.bellsouth.com 25 Trying 139.76.165.130... Connected to mail.bellsouth.com. Escape character is '^]'. 220 aismtp3g.bellsouth.com (IntraStore TurboSendmail) ESMTP Service ready Looks like a commercial Sendmail derivative. Don't know it, but I would be very surprised if it lied about its capabilities.
Quoting Greg Freemyer
All,
I have found with my ISP that I have to have the postfix relay host set to
[mail.atl.bellsouth.net]
Using
mail.atl.bellsouth.net
results in rejected e-mail.
I have no idea why this is true. The fix was provided on my local LUG list.
Maybe this will help out someone else.
PS: if this is a generic issue, maybe yast2 could be modified to add the [] chars automatically. Or maybe it does and I tried to set things manually. I've forgotten.
Greg
RTFM, especially for something as complex as an MTA. [mail.atl.bellsouth.net] says to use this address as is, without doing a lookup for the MX (Mail eXchanger) record. This is usually what you want for an outgoing smart relay host. But not always. mail.atl.bellsouth.net without the brackets indicates lookup the MX for this address and use it instead. This is usually what you want for sending or relaying mail to somewhere. Either RTFM or set your e-mail client to go directly to your ISP's SMTP and POP/IMAP servers, bypassing Postfix. O'Reilly has an excellent book out entitled "Postfix". SAMS also has one out, not as good. IIRC, No Starch Press has one now out or out shortly. The Postfix docs alone are not really adequate. Jeffrey
måndag 07 juni 2004 19:34 skrev Jeffrey L. Taylor:
Either RTFM or set your e-mail client to go directly to your ISP's SMTP and POP/IMAP servers, bypassing Postfix. O'Reilly has an excellent book out entitled "Postfix". SAMS also has one out, not as good. IIRC, No Starch Press has one now out or out shortly.
The Postfix docs alone are not really adequate.
hmmm ... Years past, in the days of IBM mainframes ... there were loads of manuals. There were even manuals, to explain how to read the manuals. I mean, there were so many manuals, it filled a whole library. IBM Called it "well documented". Then, Macintosh came along ... and a college of mine (a computer scientist) and I, were installing a network. It didn't go quite as fast as we thought it would, so I say "let's look in the manual" and my college says, without a hick, "No, any computer program that requires a manual to setup, is poorly designed". Of course, it took a few minutes more to do ... but we managed without ever reading any manuals. There's a lesson in there somewhere ...
Jeffrey
All,
I have found with my ISP that I have to have the postfix relay host set to
[mail.atl.bellsouth.net]
Using
mail.atl.bellsouth.net
results in rejected e-mail.
I have no idea why this is true. The fix was provided on my local LUG
Quoting Greg Freemyer
: list. Maybe this will help out someone else.
PS: if this is a generic issue, maybe yast2 could be modified to add the
[] chars automatically. Or maybe it does and I tried to set things manually. I've forgotten.
Greg
RTFM, especially for something as complex as an MTA.
[mail.atl.bellsouth.net] says to use this address as is, without doing a lookup for the MX (Mail eXchanger) record. This is usually what you want for an outgoing smart relay host. But not always.
mail.atl.bellsouth.net without the brackets indicates lookup the MX for this address and use it instead. This is usually what you want for sending or relaying mail to somewhere.
Either RTFM or set your e-mail client to go directly to your ISP's SMTP and POP/IMAP servers, bypassing Postfix. O'Reilly has an excellent book out entitled "Postfix". SAMS also has one out, not as good. IIRC, No Starch Press has one now out or out shortly.
The Postfix docs alone are not really adequate.
Jeffrey
Based on the above, I think it is the Yast2 project that needs to improve itself, not my RTFM skills. I'm using this as a simple desktop machine behind a NAT firewall. As part of my config, I ran the yast2 MTA setup which asked me what outgoing mail server to use. I put in the name of my ISPs smtp server. Why should I even think about buying a book on postfix to figure out how to answer such a common question. FYI: yes, I am going to provide this as feedback to suse. (assuming they still have a feedback web-page.) Greg
participants (4)
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Greg Freemyer
-
Jeffrey L. Taylor
-
Theo v. Werkhoven
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Örn Hansen