Problem with Postfix/Dovecot simple server: no such file or directory

[dmontpe]

After trying several ones, I've come down to the simplest of server configurations and still can't get it to work. It's just Postfix/Dovecot by the tutorial from centos.org.

I can send mail using telnet fine but when I try to connect from home via Thunderbird I get 'Internal error occurred'. The log says directories don't exist. Now, I guess this should be created by dovecot so maybe it's a permissions issue? Please, help!

Versions: Centos 5.5 / Postfix 2.3.3 / Dovecot 1.0.7

/var/log/maillog:

Jun 27 19:12:47 mail dovecot: IMAP(admont): open(/home/admont/Maildir/temp./root.19207.839b277620b0522c) failed: No such file or directory
Jun 27 19:12:47 mail dovecot: IMAP(admont): file_dotlock_open(/home/admont/Maildir/dovecot-uidlist) failed: No such file or directory
Jun 27 19:13:49 mail dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<admont>, method=PLAIN, rip=::ffff:88.23.112.146, lip=::ffff:173.203.80.152
Jun 27 19:13:49 mail dovecot: IMAP(admont): open(/home/admont/Maildir/.temp./root.19212.d7d30d9638e5dad9) failed: No such file or directory
Jun 27 19:13:49 mail dovecot: IMAP(admont): file_dotlock_open() failed with file /home/admont/Maildir/dovecot.index.log: No such file or directory
Jun 27 19:13:49 mail dovecot: IMAP(admont): open(/home/admont/Maildir/temp./root.19212.f9c7a315ab83b6d0) failed: No such file or directory
Jun 27 19:13:49 mail dovecot: IMAP(admont): file_dotlock_open(/home/admont/Maildir/dovecot-uidlist) failed: No such file or directory

dovecot.conf

protocols = imap imaps pop3 pop3s
login_process_size = 64
mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir
protocol imap {
}
protocol pop3 {
  pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv
}
protocol lda {
  postmaster_address = postmaster@example.com
}
auth default {
  mechanisms = plain
  passdb pam {
  }
  userdb passwd {
  }
  user = root
}
dict {
}
plugin {
}

/postfix/main.cf

queue_directory = /var/spool/postfix
command_directory = /usr/sbin
daemon_directory = /usr/libexec/postfix
mail_owner = postfix
myhostname = mail.estacionposibilidad.es
mydomain = estacionposibilidad.es
myorigin = $mydomain
inet_interfaces = all
inet_interfaces = localhost
mydestination = $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, localhost, $mydomain
unknown_local_recipient_reject_code = 550
mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8
relay_domains =
alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases
alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases
home_mailbox = Maildir/
debug_peer_level = 2
debugger_command =
         PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin
         xxgdb $daemon_directory/$process_name $process_id & sleep 5
sendmail_path = /usr/sbin/sendmail.postfix
newaliases_path = /usr/bin/newaliases.postfix
mailq_path = /usr/bin/mailq.postfix
setgid_group = postdrop
html_directory = no
manpage_directory = /usr/share/man
sample_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix-2.3.3/samples
readme_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix-2.3.3/README_FILES
smtpd_delay_reject = yes
smtpd_helo_required = yes
smtpd_helo_restrictions =
    permit_mynetworks,
    reject_non_fqdn_helo_hostname,
    reject_invalid_helo_hostname,
    permit
smtpd_sender_restrictions =
    permit_mynetworks,
    reject_non_fqdn_sender,
    reject_unknown_sender_domain,
    permit
smtpd_recipient_restrictions =
   reject_unauth_pipelining,
   reject_non_fqdn_recipient,
   reject_unknown_recipient_domain,
   permit_mynetworks,
   reject_unauth_destination,
   check_sender_access
         hash:/etc/postfix/sender_access,
   reject_rbl_client zen.spamhaus.org,
   reject_rbl_client bl.spamcop.net,
   check_policy_service unix:postgrey/socket,
   permit

[falko]

You must send an email to a new account first - Maildir will then be created automatically.

[dmontpe]

I already did and my message didn't bounce back so I guess it was delivered.

[falko]

What's in the mail log when you try to send an email to that account?

[dmontpe]

Thanks for taking the time, Falko.

I tried again and got one line:

Jun 29 15:51:28 mail dovecot: imap-login: Disconnected: rip=::ffff:79.153.177.214, lip=::ffff:173.203.80.152

Now, along with that I just saw this from earlier, which sounds important though I have no clue what it means:

Jun 29 15:40:34 mail postfix/qmgr[19069]: 7A68CA85B0: from=<root@estacionposibilidad.es>, size=691, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Jun 29 15:40:34 mail postfix/local[17867]: warning: valid_hostname: invalid character 47(decimal): /root
Jun 29 15:40:34 mail postfix/local[17867]: fatal: unable to use my own hostname
Jun 29 15:40:35 mail postfix/qmgr[19069]: warning: premature end-of-input on private/local socket while reading input attribute name
Jun 29 15:40:35 mail postfix/qmgr[19069]: warning: private/local socket: malformed response
Jun 29 15:40:35 mail postfix/qmgr[19069]: warning: transport local failure -- see a previous warning/fatal/panic logfile record for the problem description
Jun 29 15:40:35 mail postfix/master[19052]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/local pid 17867 exit status 1
Jun 29 15:40:35 mail postfix/master[19052]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/local: bad command startup -- throttling
Jun 29 15:40:35 mail postfix/qmgr[19069]: 7A68CA85B0: to=<root@estacionposibilidad.es>, orig_to=<root>, relay=none, delay=43833, delays=43832/1.1/0/0, dsn=4.3.0, status=deferred (unknown mail transport error)

[falko]

Can you post your /etc/postfix/main.cf?
What's the output of

hostname

and

hostname -f

? What's in /etc/hosts?

[dmontpe]

#hostname
/root

#hostname -f
hostname: Unknown host

/etc/hosts:
127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain
173.203.80.152 mail.estacionposibilidad.es

And my /etc/postfix/main.cf is the same I posted in my first message. I haven't changed anything.

[falko]

Originally Posted by dmontpe

#hostname
/root

That's no valid hostname. Please run

system-config-network

and correct it.

[dmontpe]

OK. Now that part was an easy fix. I found my hostname was correct in network config, so I figured a reboot might work. I would've tried that earlier had I realized something was wrong with hostname, so thanks for the tip. I still need to figure out the rest.

Now, I don't understand one thing. When I first tried configuring Postfix, I did with Courier and MySQL, so I knew exactly what the usernames and passwords were because I added them myself to the db. But with this "simple" config, I don't know what I should use to connect and how to add new addresses. My first guess is I create new addresses by creating new server users and passwords. Is that right?

Now, after reboot I tried sending an email and then checking my mail again and this is what I got in /var/log/maillog:

Jul  2 12:05:37 mail dovecot: imap-login: Aborted login: rip=::ffff:79.153.177.214, lip=::ffff:173.203.80.152
Jul  2 12:06:43 mail dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<admont>, method=PLAIN, rip=::ffff:79.153.177.214, lip=               ::ffff:173.203.80.152
Jul  2 12:07:11 mail last message repeated 2 times
Jul  2 12:19:49 mail dovecot: Time just moved backwards by 73 seconds. This might cause a lot of problems, so                I'll just kill myself now. http://wiki.dovecot.org/TimeMovedBackwards

I will check the solutions for this in that web page but I'll go ahead and post this in case you have any suggestions.

[dmontpe]

Update on the 'time moved backwards' error:

I checked and ntpd does start at boot before dovecot does, so the problem isn't there. I'll keep checking the other possible causes for this problem.