POP3 / imap server

[n2ize]

I am trying to set up "dovecot" (POP/IMAP) server on Fedora 19 64 bit. Seems that no matter what I do it won't authenticate any users. I have set this up successfully on numerous earlier versions of Fedora. The daemon seems to run fine, I checked and experimented with the configurations, but I still get bupkis. I tried telneting directly into the server and it acknoledges me, lets me connect, it accepts my username but it won't authenticate my password (or any other users password) for beans. Any ideas or hints to try ? I am wondering if it is some sort of bug because I do get a message stating "internal error" after the failed authentications. If it is a dovecot problem can anyone recommend a lightweight POP3/IMAP daemon that will run smoothly under Unix/Linux (in particular Fedora 19). Any help appreciated.

[NQ6U]

http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz79/gyrogeerloose/how-to.jpg

[NY4Q]

Have you looked into the logs on the server?

[K7SGJ]

11211

[NY4Q]

11211

Yep, if there's a server under those logs, I feel you're in trouble...

[n2ize]

Have you looked into the logs on the server?

Yeah, about a week or two ago when I first started trying to get it to authenticate users. Couldn't find anything particular to indicate why it refuses to authenticate. Checked "pam.d" and related authentication issues but nothing changed its behavior. It simply won't authenticate. Perhaps a SeLINUX issue ? I currently have SeLinux enforcing.I could try throwing selinux into permissive/warn mode and see if I can authenticate and then set an appropriate selinux rule if thats the problem. I have had selinux do some strange things in the past when it's enforcing. In the past I would always disable selinux. These days I like to keep it on. Like to keep it secure.

I am going to dig into the logging and config files again and see if I can get it going. Will post more info as it becomes available.

[NY4Q]

I think Fedora is notorious for breaking stuff.

I go with SUSE or Ubuntu LTS stuff for servers at work. Which flavor of Linux do the dovecot folks recommend?

[n2ize]

I think Fedora is notorious for breaking stuff.

I go with SUSE or Ubuntu LTS stuff for servers at work. Which flavor of Linux do the dovecot folks recommend?

Never had any problem with Fedora. Never has problems with dovecot + Fedora before. It's bundled with the Fedora system.and I am pretty sure fedora is on the list of recommended systems. Besides changing distros is not an option at this point.

[W4GPL]

I think Fedora is notorious for breaking stuff.Defend that or STFU. :P That's an incredibly vague and absolutely untrue thing to say. Fedora is the back bone of all future EL releases. Fedora is notable for driving the enterprise, not breaking it.

[K7SGJ]

Defend that or STFU. :P That's an incredibly vague and absolutely untrue thing to say. Fedora is the back bone of all future EL releases. Fedora is notable for driving the enterprise, not breaking it.

Is Captain Kirk aware of this?

[n2ize]

Defend that or STFU. :P That's an incredibly vague and absolutely untrue thing to say. Fedora is the back bone of all future EL releases. Fedora is notable for driving the enterprise, not breaking it.

Quite true. Fedora is the proving ground for RHEL.

[n2ize]

Fedora has a rapid release cycle... Basically every 6 months. So in not too long a time it will be time for me to upgrade to Fedora 20. Basically as long as you keep the releases current there is seldom a need to re-install. And of course applying the periodic bugfixes and software and kernel updates. fedora is my preferred distro. partly because my first start in Linux came via fedora (back then known as the free version of Redhat). In addition they are the first distro to implement many of the cutting edge stuff. fedora was one of the fist distros I know of that comes with selinux installed and enabled. Also they were one of the fist that I know of to adopt Systemd as a replacement for sysvinit.

[NY4Q]

Defend that or STFU. :P That's an incredibly vague and absolutely untrue thing to say. Fedora is the back bone of all future EL releases. Fedora is notable for driving the enterprise, not breaking it.

Well our local Radio Shack is owned by a ham. This place is also a Pharmacy. Yes, he's also a Pharmacist. He uses Fedora (solomente) to run his Pharmacy software and he also loves to snag the latest updates. I have not paid for medicine in a looooooooooong time. Fedora and their (as frequent as iTunes updates) updates break stuff.

And my SUSE and ScrewBuntu stuff at work - well, I cannot remember the last time the OS (or one of their updates) broke something.

[n2ize]

Well our local Radio Shack is owned by a ham. This place is also a Pharmacy. Yes, he's also a Pharmacist. He uses Fedora (solomente) to run his Pharmacy software and he also loves to snag the latest updates. I have not paid for medicine in a looooooooooong time. Fedora and their (as frequent as iTunes updates) updates break stuff.

And my SUSE and ScrewBuntu stuff at work - well, I cannot remember the last time the OS (or one of their updates) broke something.

I don;t think it is so much a fedora issue as a software issue and the lack of some software developers to keep their software current. fedora is pretty much bleeding edge. For instance they were one of the first distros to include KDE4 with one of their earlier distros and frankly, it was somewhat unstable. But that was rapidly fixed with subsequent bugfixes and updates. Likewise, pulseaudio was somewhat problematic at first but now it works like a champ and as far as managing audio on my system I rank it as one of the most robust implementations I have used under Linux to date. Other thing require some relearning or familiarization. For instance when fedora moved to from the ever popular sysVinit to Systemd there was a bit of a learning curve and it took some time to get used to (although many of the sysvinit commands are compatable with systemd) . But the end result is positive. I prefer systemd. It's faster and more robust. Likewise, for several years now fedora came with selinux enabled and enforcing. This appeared to break some client/server apps early on as many people were unfamiliar with how to set permissions under selinux. But once one gains some familiarity with how it works these problems gradually dissolved. As far as hardware support goes I have found Fedora to be one of the best distros in it's ability to support newer hardware right out of the box.

However, i wouldn't recommend Fedora for everyone. Fedora is bleeding edge therefor you are going to encounter new versions of things ahead of many other distros, most of which will be transparent but some will require a bit of learning.. Likewise you are also going to encounter frequent release cycles. If that is something you don;t want to deal with then i would advise using a different distro. .

[NY4Q]

Well my mantra is if its werkin, then DFWI, but he pays no attention to me. Oh well, it gets me free prescripts.

[n2ize]

Well my mantra is if its werkin, then DFWI, but he pays no attention to me. Oh well, it gets me free prescripts.

What software is he running and, is it a Fedora issue ? It sounds more like an issue with the software he is using. I have been using and managing Fedora for years and have not run into any major probs. If you are getting free scripts that you shouldn't be getting then it sounds like an issue with the particular software he is running and his lack of attention to its configuration and assurance that its working properly. Any business that is depending on software for income has an obligation to assure that his software is properly running If I were running a commerce site it would undergo extrusive testing regardless of the OS that runs the hardware.

[n6hcm]

Defend that or STFU. :P That's an incredibly vague and absolutely untrue thing to say. Fedora is the back bone of all future EL releases. Fedora is notable for driving the enterprise, not breaking it.

uh, nah. the enterprise needs stability--that's why they use EL instead of Fedora. Fedora exists so you can break things on the way to figuring out how to make them stable.

[K7SGJ]

Scotty knows all about Enterprise stability.

[NQ6U]

Scotty knows all about Enterprise stability.

"I'm givin' ye all she's got, Captain. Any more and she's gonna blow!"

[K7SGJ]

"I'm givin' ye all she's got, Captain. Any more and she's gonna blow!"

It's gotta be those damn dilithium crystals.

[N8OBM]

Defend that or STFU. :P That's an incredibly vague and absolutely untrue thing to say. Fedora is the back bone of all future EL releases. Fedora is notable for driving the enterprise, not breaking it.

Oh Boy, here comes the holy war of linux geeks defending there favorite distro. This is not likely to end well but, it could be fun to watch. Heck I'll even start the kerfuffle. Viva BSD! Long live Ubuntu Studio!

Archie N8OBM

[NY4Q]

Oh Boy, here comes the holy war of linux geeks defending there favorite distro.

Yup; there's not much danger of actually helping with the thread topic now.

Just for shits & giggles, how about John set up a test box with Ubuntu 12.04LTS and see if his clients can authenticate....Hmmm.

[n2ize]

Yup; there's not much danger of actually helping with the thread topic now.

Just for shits & giggles, how about John set up a test box with Ubuntu 12.04LTS and see if his clients can authenticate....Hmmm.

It's a good idea but not practical right now. I haven't bothered to deal with the problem over the last week or so being that it's not a high priority and the needed services are already running on another system or are outsourced via IMAP/POP3, etc. Last few days I have been experimenting with FlightGear. I suspect the authentication issue is probably a minor oversight on my part. I just have to give it some time and I am sure I'll get the problem solved.

BTW... I have tried Ubuntu. It's a nice distro. I am cool with all the distros. I have had to depend on Debian from time to time and I like it. Every person has a different reason for their choice. For many of my friends its Microsoft Windows ONLY!!! Hey, if that works for them I am okay with it.

Sometimes I even have to resort to the Slackware approach and unzip and compile tarballs. Although that is not as frequently necessary these days. When I first started with Linux configuring and compiling your own kernel was a thing you had to do if you expected to get all your hardware working. These days I have rarely had to compile a kernel. Just about everything works right out of the box.

[n2ize]

uh, nah. the enterprise needs stability--that's why they use EL instead of Fedora. Fedora exists so you can break things on the way to figuring out how to make them stable.

Exactly... fedora is the proving ground for RHEL. We are the test pilots. We are like the guys flying in the deserts of California before the aircraft comes to production.

[n6hcm]

I am trying to set up "dovecot" (POP/IMAP) server on Fedora 19 64 bit. Seems that no matter what I do it won't authenticate any users.

are you building your own POP/IMAP, or are you using the binary provided in rpms? i would think there is room for error if you're building your own and that what is provided in rpms should work out of the box.

also, centos 6 introduced changes to the authentication infrastructure ... not sure which version of fedora this maps to, but if you're using a binary from before the change on a system that was produced after the change you will almost certainly have trouble.

[n2ize]

are you building your own POP/IMAP, or are you using the binary provided in rpms? i would think there is room for error if you're building your own and that what is provided in rpms should work out of the box.

also, centos 6 introduced changes to the authentication infrastructure ... not sure which version of fedora this maps to, but if you're using a binary from before the change on a system that was produced after the change you will almost certainly have trouble.

I am using the binary rpms that came bundled with Fedora 19_64 bit (the latest version).

[W4GPL]

I just installed dovecot on Fedora 20 using the default RPM and configuration, and setup Thunderbird to auth against a local user account -- came back with no errors.

Did you update Fedora? Perhaps you're still using an older config of dovecot?

rpm -V dovecot # this will verify your dovecot installation.

[n2ize]

I just installed dovecot on Fedora 20 using the default RPM and configuration, and setup Thunderbird to auth against a local user account -- came back with no errors.

Did you update Fedora? Perhaps you're still using an older config of dovecot?

rpm -V dovecot # this will verify your dovecot installation.

Thanks. I am not on that system right now and it's currently shut down but I'll give your suggestion a try in a little while. I am pretty sure it is current but I'll double check to make sure.

BTW, since Fedora 20 is out I'll probably upgrade from 19 to 20 soon. I want to keep the distro updates current. In the past I have found that if I let ny systems fall too many distros back it becomes easier to do an install instead of an upgrade. BTW I may have a couple of questions to ask regarding the upgrade procedure. In the past I have always either upgraded or re-installed using local media. This time I think I'll start going the network upgrade route.

[n2ize]

I just installed dovecot on Fedora 20 using the default RPM and configuration, and setup Thunderbird to auth against a local user account -- came back with no errors.

Did you update Fedora? Perhaps you're still using an older config of dovecot?

rpm -V dovecot # this will verify your dovecot installation.

Actually when I installed Fedora it was a fresh install on a brand new drive in a brand new machine. Once the install was done I applied all the updates and added additional packages that I would need from the repository and have been continually keeping everything updated. Tried checking rpm -V and everything looks good and up to date.