Topic: How to configure SME Server to aloow pop3 mails

[mobassir]

hello

i was using my pop3 mails behind my Microsoft ISA Server(Which is directly connected with Linksys Router for DLS Service). we dont have nay mail server in our netowrk, all incoming and outgoing email manage by mail server of our domain hosting company.

For testing purpose i installed SME SERVER 6.0.1-01 on an other pentium machine, and connected it behind our Linksys router for internet.
Then i move my machin setting to work behind SME Server, Browsing and all other softwares working fine and i feel its working better then past.

But the major problem my email r not working, any email i try to sedn outer world, its return back wit undeliverable massage.
I think the Qmail server need some configuration to work as gatway for my email, or its needs to disable Qmail Server.

I need some guied line, for more then one month i am stucked on this point.

Regards
Mobassir

[djhomeless]

Hi There,
There really isn't enough information to go on here. First off, I'm not clear but are there other PC's hooked up to your Linksys router, or is the SME box directly touching the router and modem? How have you setup SME to talk to your ISP?

I don't know Linksys, but most routers have settings where you define rules on which host in your LAN can do what, and which ports are open to who. SME, email-wise, should pretty much work out of the box.

Geoffrey

[KelvinLee]

But the major problem my email r not working, any email i try to sedn outer world, its return back wit undeliverable massage.

I take it your e-mail software is still set to send mails via your ISP's mail server. If so, the current SME has SMTP proxy enabled which prevents you from sending mails out via an external SMTP server, unless you turn it off :-

# /sbin/e-smith/db configuration setprop smtpfront-qmail Proxy disabled
# /sbin/e-smith/signal-event email-update

Kelvin

[mobassir]

Hello
Thanks for your reply
I tried these both commands

# /sbin/e-smith/db configuration setprop smtpfront-qmail Proxy disabled

# /sbin/e-smith/signal-event email-update

But problem is still same

Once again let me clear that my SME Server is directly behind my linksys DSL router, i moved my Pc configuration to work behind SME Server for testing purpose, And all other user are behind My ISA Server which is also directly connected Linksys DSl Router, and all clients are working fine. they can send and recive thier mails.

here below is copy of my email which i try to send my yahoo and hotmail account, from my machine which is behind SME Server.

[size=12]Hi. This is the qmail-send program at pakexpert.com.pk.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

<mobassir_sattar@yahoo.com>:
64.41.126.243 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 554 <mobassir_sattar@yahoo.com>: Relay access denied Giving up on 64.41.126.243.

<mobassir@gmail.com>:
64.41.126.243 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 554 <mobassir@gmail.com>: Relay access denied Giving up on 64.41.126.243.

<mbassir@hotmail.com>:
64.41.126.243 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 554 <mbassir@hotmail.com>: Relay access denied Giving up on 64.41.126.243.[/size]

[KelvinLee]

OK. Time to stop guessing.

Please post your setup in as much detail as possible (you may change names to protect your server identity if you wish).

1) SME server in server only mode / gateway mode ???
2) Is the Linksys forwarding specific ports to specific servers in the network, etc.
3) The workstation you setup behind the SME, what servers have you setup in your mail client for sending and receiving
4) My tests shows that pakexpert.com.pk does not exist. Who or what is pakexpert.com.pk ? A lot of servers around the world will NOT accept mails from a non-existent domain.
5) Who does the IP address 64.41.126.243 belong to ?

Post as much info as you can. Guesswork only hampers any efforts to help you.

Kelvin

[mobassir]

hello
thanks you very much for your positive responce.

1-SME server in server only mode / gateway mode ???
Ans.GAteway Mode

2) Is the Linksys forwarding specific ports to specific servers in the network, etc.
Ans. No i have not specified nay port forwarding, and i think its no need it, i dont wants to run mail or web server on my Test Sme Server.

3) The workstation you setup behind the SME, what servers have you setup in your mail client for sending and receiving
Ans. my company mail server address mail.digimart.com.pk (and behind isa its work fine)

4) My tests shows that pakexpert.com.pk does not exist. Who or what is pakexpert.com.pk ? A lot of servers around the world will NOT accept mails from a non-existent domain.

Ans-  yes pakexpert.com.pk is not hosted with any other server, this is just my server domain name, and i can change it with any name,

5) Who does the IP address 64.41.126.243 belong to ?
Ans- this is our actual mail server ip addrss. mail.digimart.com.pk  and our domain is hosted in USA.


i have given almost all information, and i am sure now you can understand that i just wants to through my pop3 mail behind SME server. as any one use ISP mail from his machin behind ics server.

regards

[KelvinLee]

I think you are getting some fundamental terminology wrong here.

Are you having trouble sending e-mails or receiving e-mails ?

If you are concerned about POP3 mails (which is for receiving mails), SME's qmail plays no part in it all as you should have configured your mail client's incoming server to your external POP3 server's address.

If you are having trouble send mails (via SMTP), as given in the error message you are getting :-

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at pakexpert.com.pk.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

implies that pakexpert.com.pk (which I assume from your answer is the SME server) is trying to send out mails, which does not make sense since your have stated that your mail clients have been set to mail.digimart.com.pk as incoming and outgoing servers in addition to the fact that you have disabled SMTP proxy.

If you set up SME behind a router in gateway mode, you end up with Double NATing (ie. router does NAT once and SME does NAT once more) which could lead to further issues down the track.

You have not provided all the information about your SME setup (such as Mail Retrieval, whether or not a Secondary Mail server has been set, whether you have any contribs installed, etc. etc. etc.) We need as much information (not just point by point answers to my listed questions) about your setup. Something is missing from this for us to get a complete picture of your setup.

[CharlieBrady]

5) Who does the IP address 64.41.126.243 belong to ?
Ans- this is our actual mail server ip addrss. mail.digimart.com.pk  and our domain is hosted in USA.

That server is not configured to accept mail from your server, and relay it to outside parties. Therefore, you cannot use it as your outbound mail server (Smarthost). Either use no SmartHost, or use your local ISP's mail server.

As noted, this has *nothing* to do with pop3.

[mobassir]

hello

i thing its getting more confuseing day by day. i have given all the informtion. let me start once again from begining forget all above thing.

My current scnarion is:

(ISP)-->(Adsl modem + router)--> (MS ISa Server)--> (24 port Switch)---> Clients

We r using:  
              Web Browsing, Pop3 Emails using our domain mail server mail.digimart.com.pk.
every thing working Fine No email server is running on my Windows Server machine.

I start Migration Microsoft to SME:
                                    2 months back i decided to migrate my Windows Server to Linux based SME, because i think is good product.
For that i juts Installed and test SME server on my Pentium-II machine

(ISP)-->(ADSL modem + router)--> (SME Server)--> My machine as a test client
Note: my Router has built-in 4 port switch so i connected my Sme server directly with router, and MS ISA server working as it is for other clients.

SME Server detail:
Mode:         Server and gateway
Lan card 1:   (Connected with Router 192.168.0.73)
Lan card 2:   (Connected with My machine with cross  
               over cable, 192.168.1.200)
Server Console: linux-server.pakexper.com.pk
DNS:            Yes
DHCP:           yes

i just disconnected my Machine from main Network switch and connected with crossover cable coming from SME 2nd LAN card, and change ip configuration of my machine to work behind SME.
But the email configuration in Ms Outlook was as it is.

Result:
      SME Server start work, and my machine start browsing, then i check my email very first send and receive done successfully with no error. and i sent few email which took just 1 second to go from out box, i assume that its working fast that was end of my day,
Next morning all massages return back with mail Delivery failure massages. (the massage i past in last post), but browsing was working fine,

Then once again i switched machine behind ISA, my machine start receiving all massages which i could not receive last day working behind SME.

Since that day I am stuck and could move to next step of migration.

My question is that MS ISA is allowing by default Pop3 mail, why don’t SME, and I this the following can be reasons:
1-   The Qmail Server need to Disable because I don’t wants to use any  Mail server in my local network.
2-   The Qmail Server need to configure to allow  send receive Pop3 mail directly form my mail.digimart.com.pk
   

This all above information is enough to understand and giving me some solution for mail so I could move all my network clients to work behind SME.

regards

[KelvinLee]

I realise this is frustrating for you. However, you must be patient with us if we are to have patience to help you as well.

Quick question :

When you moved your PC from behind ISA to behind SME, did you disable / remove the MS Proxy client ?

Kelvin

[raem]

mobassir

> i thing its getting more confuseing day by day........ let me start once again from begining forget all above thing.

Why start again, Charlie has given you the answer you need. I think you should absorb and understand what he has advised you. Your mail.digimart.com.pk external server is not configured to receive mail from your sme server, so you cannot do what you are trying to do.

The other possibility in your case (as I see it) is to send mail directly via your ISP's mail server.
Look in server manager/Configuration/E-mail/Delegate mail servers/Address of Internet provider's mail server
Add your ISP's mail server address there eg mail.yourisp.com.
Then you will be able to send mail from your fake domain of pakexpert.com.pk.


> this is our actual mail server ip addrss. mail.digimart.com.pk and our domain is hosted in USA.
 
That server is not configured to accept mail from your server, and relay it to outside parties. Therefore, you cannot use it as your outbound mail server (Smarthost). Either use no SmartHost, or use your local ISP's mail server.

[raem]

How have you configured your email clients, what is the POP & SMTP server addresses ?

When I have setup Windows workstations to collect mail directly from my ISP's POP account I do this:

OE email client
POP server = ISP POP address eg mail.bigpond.com
SMTP server = sme server IP eg 192.168.1.1

In the Email panel I would add mail.bigpond.com as my ISP's smtp server.
Generally this is needed as many ISP's won't let you send email directly to the Internet anymore using your fake domain & dynamic IP.
(Note that if you have a real domain & a Static IP you don't need to add your ISP's smtp server address).

The above should work with the smtp proxy enabled as all outgoing mail goes via my sme servers smtp mail server.


If I wish to send and receive DIRECTLY from & to my  workstation, to & from my ISP I would do this.

email client
POP server = ISP POP address eg mail.bigpond.com
SMTP server = ISP SMTP address eg mail.bigpond.com

In the Email panel I would add mail.bigpond.com as my ISP's smtp server (for reasons mentioned above unless I had a static IP & real domain).

In sme 6.0 & above I need to disable the smtp proxy using:

/sbin/e-smith/db configuration setprop smtpfront-qmail Proxy disabled
/sbin/e-smith/signal-event email-update

This will allow outgoing mail to get through (bypass)my sme servers mail system rather than using the sme smtp mail server.

Hope this makes sense to you & helps you understand how it all works & sort out your problem.

[raem]

Sorry I reread my post.
Actually if doing method 2 you don't need to add your ISP smtp server to the email panel.
To recap:

If I wish to send and receive DIRECTLY from & to my workstation, to & from my ISP I would do this.

email client
POP server = ISP POP address eg mail.bigpond.com
SMTP server = ISP SMTP address eg mail.bigpond.com

In the Email panel leave the ISP's smtp server field blank (as the sme server will not be sending your mail anyway as you have disabled the smtp proxy).

In sme 6.0 & above I need to disable the smtp proxy using:

/sbin/e-smith/db configuration setprop smtpfront-qmail Proxy disabled
/sbin/e-smith/signal-event email-update

This will allow outgoing mail to get through (bypass)my sme servers mail system rather than using the sme smtp mail server.

Hope this makes sense to you & helps you understand how it all works & sort out your problem.

[raem]

I'm not 100% sure if
/sbin/e-smith/signal-event email-update
and
/sbin/e-smith/signal-event remoteaccess-update
do the same thing.

The actual command advised in the sme 6.0 release notes for disbling smtp proxy is:

A transparent SMTP proxy has been added, to force all outgoing SMTP connections to go through the SME server. This feature enhances security with respect to viruses and worms that use SMTP to propagate themselves.

If you wish to disable this proxy, you can do so via:

/sbin/e-smith/config setprop smtpfront-qmail Proxy disabled
/sbin/e-smith/signal-event remoteaccess-update

[mobassir]

Hello

thanks allot all of you, RayMitchell, KelvinLeeand CharlieBrady
i really appreciate your guidance.
First of all o would like answer of question from KelvinLee that
" When you moved your PC from behind ISA to behind SME, did you disable / remove the MS Proxy client? "

yes i disabled the Microsoft isa firewall client every time when i move behind SME.

i read 2 to 3 times all posts to understand problem, and on the bases of your guide line i did some more test to finalize problem.
Here is detail of test and result
This is incoming and outgoing mail tests.

i configured my outlook with these mail accounts

Account provider                  Mail Servers
1-my company mail account     mail.digimart.com.pk
2-google mail account         pop & smtp.gmail.com
3-hotmail account             http server address

and for external mail i used yahoo web mail account

send tets:
 from                to              Result
google mail        yahoo           Pass
company mail       yahoo           fail
company mail     company mail            fail
hotmail         yahoo                       pass  

Recive tests
  from          to                     Result
yahoo       google    (outlock)       pass
yahoo           company mail (outlock)    pass
yahoo         hotmail      (outlock)   pass
company mail    company mail (outlock)    pass

its mean that i am receiving all mail from external user behind SME Server, and sending mail from Google or hotmail account (configured in outlook)to external user is successful.
But only from my company mail account to any other external users Google mail, hotmail, company mail, yahoo are fail.

You suggest that i will have to send request to hosting company who r handling our mail server to configure mail server to receive mail from my SME Server.

My question is that why we can not configure SME server act as gateway like ICS server or my ISA Server doing this.
Is it important to configure SME Domain? Like as we configure Windows Server domain (MyDomain.local).

So any other suggestions and guideline

Once again many thanks

Regards