Topic: Port 25 blocked FIX , make sme listen on port 26 , walkthru

[radbrad]

Hello all.

I have the same problem many here are having. You cannot send/receive mail because your ISP is blocking port 25.

See my earlier post here - http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=35317.0

My ISP told me it was not blocking but one off the outher contributors here scanned me and sure enough blocked.

After reading countless posts I have come to some conclusinons.

If you want to run a mail server from home/office and your ISP has you blocked you must find a work around.

The best solution I have found so far is to have and outside company with port 25 open forward your mail to your SME on port 26(or what ever port you chose).

This would entail setting SME to do the following:

1) Have qmail listen for mail on port 26
2) Change spam assassin to also work on port 26.
3) Change clamav to monitor port 26
4) Change the firewall to open port 26
5) Change Horde web mail to work on port 26


Then find a company to forward your mail. I have found several that will do sotre and forward for as little as $20.00 a year if you send only a few messages a day. Free would be best but as of yet I have not found any free services. All I need is forward, I dont want some company to store my mail incase my server goes down. But that is my need.

What I am asking for is for one of the many, many talented people here on this forum to write a walkthrough on changing SME 7.1 or later to listen to mail on port 26 along with the other changes outlined above for all the other services. It should be cookbook style. First add water, then eggs, mix and bring to a boil for 10 minutes style.

I will do the research on finding companies that forward mail and also do store and forward and post them on this thread. Hopefully the moderator will make it permanent, once we have it all here.

Thank you in advance for all your help on this. Please make a donation to the SME folks and I look forward to hearing from all you GURU's out there.


Radbrad

[JonB]

You don't need to do any of that. Have your mailhop service send mail out on whatever port you choose say 2525 and create a Port Forwarding rule in the server manager that forwards port 2525 to localhost port 25.

This keeps your server standard and it will survive upgrades/updates.

Jon

[duncan]

I know this is not really contributing to the howto but it must be said.

If your ISP is blocking ports - vote with your feet and find another that doesn`t. Unfortunately this may not be an option for every one - but this kind of crap would not be tolerated in Aus.

[cactus]

If your provider blocks port 25 there is not much you can do, certainly changing the listening port will not help as other mail servers will still try to deliver the mail at port 25.

The only solution is to make use of a mailrelay. This means you will have to configure your MX records for your domain in such a way that the mail server for your domain has a backup server to which it can deliver mail in case it can not directly reach your server. This alternative server should be able to find your mailserver. Normally the mailserver of your provider is able to do so.

Your DNS entries should look something like this:

Code: [Select]

MX 10 your.mail.server.domain.extenstion
MX 20 your.providers.mail.server.domain.extension

[raem]

radbrad

> See my earlier post here - http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=35317.0

The answer has been provided in that post too, with links to earlier posts on the subject, but you are again failing to read and absorb the answer.


> 1) Have qmail listen for mail on port 26 etc etc,  

This means your mail server is now working on a non standard port.
No-one else will be able to receive mail from you. It's not advisable to do that and will only complicate things for you and give an unsatisfactory end result.


> Free would be best but as of yet I have not found any free services.

no-ip.com is free service
Edit - sorry the Reflector service for mail port redirection is $39.95 p/y, so look around for the best deal.

The walkthrough you want is:
go to the Port Forwarding panel and set up a forward from port 2525 to port 25 on "localhost".

Configure your external DNS/Redirector/Mailforwading service to send your email on port 2525

Which part don't you understand or feel you can't do because there are not enough instructional steps given ?


>...I look forward to hearing from all you GURU's out there.

We all look forward to you listening to what you have already been advised, and advised yet again & again.

[radbrad]

Ok. well I am getting real close.

I purchased the mail reflector at no-ip.com for $39.00.
I redirect my mail to port 2525.
I added my list of mail receipents to the No-ip.com list so there in no bounce message.

On the sme server I set port forwarding  from port 2525 to port 25 and the local host to 127.0.0.1.

I changed my MX records to the mail1.no-ip.com

Now how do I open the port 2525 to listen?

Once I have it working I will post a step by step for all the folks out there.

Again thanks for the help so far.

regards,

[raem]

radbrad

> On the sme server I set port forwarding  from port 2525 to port 25
> and the local host to 127.0.0.1.
> Now how do I open the port 2525 to listen?

Notice on the server manager port forwarding panel it says:

"You can use this panel to modify your firewall rules so as to open a specific port on this server and forward it to another port on another host. Doing so will permit incoming traffic to directly access a private host on your LAN."

ie open a port and forward it, so it's already open now !

I think you should enter "localhost" for the Destination Host IP although  127.0.0.1 should do the same thing.

[radbrad]

It is done.

I can send and receive mail from yahoo or any other place I want to.

Even though port 25 is blocked by my ISP ("Thanks Astound for keeping me safe").

I will write a detailed explanation and post it here the next couple of days.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you all for putting up with my stubborness, and seeing me through this port 25 block maze.

I hope it will help someone else.

Proof read my walkthrough once I post it.

Brad Kershaw

[radbrad]

First off thanks to all the people who helped in this forum. The information was already here but kind of scattered. I am slowly becomming a Linux convert.

First I signed up for a free DNS hosting account through Mydomain.com
I registered my domain through them years ago. So I have control over my own DNS records.

Second I went to NO-IP.com and signed up for the $39.99 mail reflector
account. I found a great article by them on how to set it up here :

http://www.no-ip.com/support/guides/email/blocked_port_25.html

It was quick and easy. I paid my $39.99 and added my domain name. I put in port 2525. Then I added my email alias in the place provided by their site so when they receive my mail it would not bounce.

Third my DNS MX(mail exchange) record pointed to my domain ip address, so I had to change my my record to point to the no-ip.com mail servers. I changed my MX records to mail1.no-ip.com and a secondry mx record to point to mail2.no-ip.com.

Fourth I logged in to my SME server. I went to port forwarding and set port 2525 to forward to port 25 with the ip set to the word localhost.

It worked perfectly. Here is my litte map:

INCOMING MAIL.

Yahoo mail --> MX record check --> Mail1.no-ip.com (port25) --> My SME
server (port 2525).

OUTGOING MAIL.

MY SME server ---> MY ISP's SMTP server ---> World

Works perfectly.

[raem]

radbrad

Good to hear your mail server is working with port 25 blocked.

You can also do a similar thing when your ISP blocks port 80 and stops you hosting a web site.

no-ip and others have a domain/port redirection for web so that port 80 is redirected to say port 9090 at no-ip, and then you set up a port forward on your sme server from port 9090 to port 80 on localhost.

That service is free at many providers depending how you exactly want to implement it.

[radbrad]

Thank you ray.  

Maybe next I will tackle VPN (PPTP) configuration. From my XP laptop to sme.

Have not found any good docs yet.  


Now you can reach me at brad@logonquick.com

Yeah!

[raem]

radbrad

> Maybe next I will tackle VPN (PPTP) configuration. From my XP laptop to sme.
> Have not found any good docs yet.

Read the section of the manual on VPN, and type VPN into the forum search window at the top of this screen. Go back a year or so and you will find references to a good How To on configuring your Windows XP VPN connection.

It's even easier to setup than the port 25 workaround.
A VPN server is already part of sme by default, just remember to enable VPN on a per user basis in server manager user panel.

The walktrough that you like to have is:

Configure your VPN client in Win XP, see Networking in Control Panel, track down the How To if you feel it's necessary, but configuring the VPN client is easy.

In server manager panel, enable VPN for the Users you wish to have connect via VPN to your sme server.

That's it, then establish the connection from your XP by double clicking the VPN icon for your connection & entering a valid sme user/password combination.
I suggest/advise you to use the same login name on your Windows PC as you use on sme, it's easier (& seamless) to deal with permissions for ibays etc that way.

Then map a drive etc as required like
net use M: \\192.168.1.1\ibayname

Of course you will need to ensure that required ports & protocols are open and that your router/modem supports VPN without any hassles. Problems people experience are usually port/protocol related when the server is in server only mode, and the router is acting as gateway without the required ports having been forwarded to sme. The search on VPN will tell you all about this.

[radbrad]

Wow, the vpn works perfectly. Now I am really impressed. I am considering converting my companies Windows servers now.

More testing needed, but look positive.

Brad

Thanks again!

[stephen noble]

locking thread, port 25 fix sounds good
any updates to the howto
http://smeserver.sourceforge.net/howto/PortRedirect