Qmail does not start

[georgejpn]

I'm having problem to start Qmail.

I have installed Plesk8.1 on RHEL4.

Although 'ps' commands shows that qmail programs are running, Plesk Control Panel (Server -> Service Management) says SMTP Server (QMail) is not running.

The followings are what I have checked.

---------------------
[root@sv7 swsoft]# telnet localhost 25
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to sv7.********* (127.0.0.1).
Escape character is '^]'.
Connection closed by foreign host.

[root@sv7 swsoft]# /usr/sbin/lsof -i | grep -i smtp
xinetd 7874 root 8u IPv4 22094 TCP *:smtp (LISTEN)
xinetd 7874 root 9u IPv4 22095 TCP *:smtps (LISTEN)
[root@sv7 swsoft]# cat /etc/xinetd.d/smtp_psa

service smtp
{
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
wait = no
disable = no
user = root
instances = UNLIMITED
server = /var/qmail/bin/tcp-env
server_args = /var/qmail/bin/relaylock /var/qmail/bin/qmail-smtpd /var/qmail/bin/smtp_auth /var/qmail/bin/true /var/qmail/bin/cmd5checkpw /var/qmail/bin/true
}
[root@sv7 swsoft]# cat /etc/xinetd.d/smtps_psa

service smtps
{
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
wait = no
disable = no
user = root
instances = UNLIMITED
server = /var/qmail/bin/tcp-env
server_args = /var/qmail/bin/relaylock /var/qmail/bin/qmail-smtpd /var/qmail/bin/smtp_auth /var/qmail/bin/true /var/qmail/bin/cmd5checkpw /var/qmail/bin/true
}
[root@sv7 swsoft]#

IP address '127.0.0.1/32' is in the White List.

-----------------------

Can anyone help???

 

[shopnet]

Hi All,

After talking with Support guy of SWsoft, the problem was solved.

The cause of the problem was..

If /etc/hosts.deny has "ALL:ALL", then /etc/hosts.allow need to have "tcp-env: ALL". (You can modyfy that rule as you wish to be more restrictive by adding EXCEPT operator.)
Otherwise any connection to "tcp-env" is rejected.

 

[methodus]

well, i have similar problems with smtp and tried your suggestion and wrote these 2 lines into hosts.deny and hosts.allow

afterwards also sshd did not work - ok my fault, because ALL:ALL rejects all incoming connections, so it can't work. but smtp is still not working!

 

[flaccid]

This problem still exists for me, no solution

Hi guys,

I have this problem still, too. I assume its probably something from the last Plesk upgrade.

Would love to hear someone with a solution, as I can't find where the problem is. It seems that Plesk costs me money instead of making it. Please help!

 

[flaccid]

This is getting urgent.
SMTP down for several days now.
Surely someone out there can help.
Perhaps Plesk support could jump on the forums and post instead of providing buggy updates and then making us pay for support...

 

[shopnet]

Hi flaccid,

Here're something to be checked which I asked by SWsoft support guy.
Hope this helps...

1) I would suggest to try to restart xinetd service and check /var/log/messages to find out if any errors will be reported there.

2) Most likely the issue with smtp is caused by firewall.

Though 25 port is open
# netstat -apn | grep :25
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:25 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 16063/xinetd
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:25 127.0.0.1:33151 TIME_WAIT -

smtp status is ruuning:
# /usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/mailmng -s
is running

But if I try to connect to the localhost through 25 port I get the error:

# telnet localhost 25
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to sv7.shopnet.jp (127.0.0.1).
Escape character is '^]'.
Connection closed by foreign host.

Please check iptables rules most likely they prevent from connecting to 25 port
# iptables -L

3) The reason why Plesk could not see smtp service running was in tcp wrappers restrictions. There was record that denies all connections from all addresses in the /etc/hosts.deny file:

[root@sv7 ~]# cat /etc/hosts.deny
#
# hosts.deny This file describes the names of the hosts which are
# *not* allowed to use the local INET services, as decided
# by the '/usr/sbin/tcpd' server.
#
# The portmap line is redundant, but it is left to remind you that
# the new secure portmap uses hosts.deny and hosts.allow. In particular
# you should know that NFS uses portmap!
ALL:ALL

But the smpt service (actually qmail-smtpd inviked by tcp-env) was not allowed in the /etc/hosts.allow, so I have added this line in the hosts.allow file:

tcp-env: ALL

to allow smtp connections from all hosts. You can modyfy that rule as you wish to be more restrictive by adding EXCEPT operator, more info in the man page (man hosts.allow)


In my case, this (3) was the cause of the problem.