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Looking for a decent guide to walk me through configuring the mail server, testing the configuration, etc. plus the obvious DNS and other configuration necessary to make it work and access it from the outside world.
Any suggestions?
OS X Server, 10.8 Mail Server
Thanks for all the advice guys.
The 'whois' option tells me the main domain is associated with the name servers at 123-reg but I'm guessing as my local server is set up to check the local DNS first and then refer to the Google DNS I should still be able to see things from a local machine.
> host mail.xyz.com
Host mail.xyz.com not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)
> host xyz.com
xyz.com mail is handled by 0 mail.xyz.com.
The DNS configuration at 123-reg is:
@ MX 10 mail.xyz.com
@ A <my router external IP address>
www A <my router external IP address>
The DNS on my local server is:
mail.xyz.com mailexchanger
www.xyz.com machine
www.xyz.com nameserver
If I hit the 'create an MX record for this hostname' option I get another record that says:
www.xyz.com mailexchanger
What am I missing?
OK, here's the problem. I may not have been clear in my post detailling this... The mail.xyz.com needs to be an A record ("Machine Record" in OSX parliance). You then click the option to create an MX record for that hostname. What you've done above is create an MX of the server hostname.
To add to this... It's a common mistake that adding an MX record such as "mail.domain.com" makes it available in a DNS server. It doesn't. It merely says "This is the hostname to send the mail to". The hostname does have to have to actually exist as an A ('machine") record.
So I need to add:
@ A mail.xyz.com
to the 123-reg config and:
mail.xyz.com machine
on my local DNS server?
Do I really need both?
Both an machine and MX should be set in your local DNS at the very least.
mail.xyz.com IN A 123.456.789.123
or, using a CNAME,
mail.xyz.com CNAME somemachine
The MX has to point to an actual machine. Note that really an MX should point to A record, not a CNAME (alias), but it's a common mis-use. You'll actually see a warning in OSX Server's logs about using CNAMES ( "ILLEGAL!").
One thing though, in your local, you're using a CNAME. At the remote DNS, you're using an A record. Pick one method. In the end, you should have...
mail.xyz.com IN A 123.456.789.123
xyz.com mx 10 mail.xyz.com
or...
mail.xyz.com CNAME host.xyz.com
xyz.com mx 10 mail.xyz.com
OK, my eyes are getting blurry and I'm starting to drift. I'll check back in with your progress in a bit. This discussion sort of highlights my very first post. You really should read up on how this works before proceeding. In some cases, OS X Server works "out of the box" for services. However, what you need requires a little more understanding and planning.
I read up on it a fair bit but there was clearly a bunch of assumptions both in the "idiot's guide" and the Apple documentation about some of the subtleties.
So I now have the following in Server.app for my local DNS:
mail.xyz.com mailexchanger
mail.xyz.com machine
www.xyz.com machine
www.xyz.com nameserver
In the 123-reg configuration I get:
@ MX 10 mail.xyz.com
@ A <my router external IP address>
www A <my router external IP address>
mail A <my router external IP address>
I tried to enter 'mail.xyz.com A <my router external IP address>' but it always shortens it to just 'mail'.
Yes, I agree that the guides are full of assumptions. I tend to avoid just pointing people to documents like that. It can actually be a disserve because it tells people what steps to follow for a particular end result, but does not provide context or explanation as to how the thing actually works. It doesn't help one understand the overall functionality.
OK, mail should work for you now. Let me know if there are more difficulties.
Just tried sending mail to that address and get the following 'Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender' message. Any bright ideas:
This is the mail system at host mdfmta004.tbr.inty.net.
I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.
For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster.
If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
delete your own text from the attached returned message.
The mail system
<mike@xyz.com>: host mail.xyz.com[12.34.56.789]
said: 550 5.1.1 <mike@xyz.com>: Recipient address rejected:
User unknown in virtual alias table (in reply to RCPT TO command)
Reporting-MTA: dns; mdfmta004.tbr.inty.net
X-Postfix-Queue-ID: C5DA7A0C07F
X-Postfix-Sender: rfc822; mike@abc.com
Arrival-Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2012 22:48:44 +0100 (BST)
Final-Recipient: rfc822; mike@xyz.com
Original-Recipient: rfc822;mike@xyz.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.1.1
Remote-MTA: dns; mail.xyz.com
Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 550 5.1.1 <mike@xyz.com>: Recipient
address rejected: User unknown in virtual alias table
From: Mike <mike@abc.com>
Subject: Test 456
Date: 19 September 2012 22:48:44 BST
To: "mike@xyz.com" <mike@xyz.com>
Ah, fixed it.
In addition to setting the email address in Server.app->Users->Edit User... I also needed to add it to Server.app->Users then <right click>Advanced Options...
Why does it need setting in both places?
One is setting the actual email address for the user (Server.app->Users->Edit User), the other sets email aliases for the user (Server.app->Users then <right click>Advanced Options). For example, your actual email address could be medwards@xyz.com, and the alias could be mike@xyz.com
Sounds like you got it resolved now. Congratulations and thanks for perseveering through details. You'll be a better admin for it. If I helped you solve your question, go ahead and mark it as "solved" (and throw some points my way 😉)
Couple of questions:
i) Why does the recipient of a message only get the email address and not the sender's name alongside it? Is that something that should be set in the alias part?
ii) When I first open Apple Mail on my laptop why does the account I've just set up come up with an error "The server returned the error: The attempt to send data to the server “(null)” failed.". Then when I use the Connection Doctor does it show an error against the SMTP or POP side of things but if I hit 'retest' everything comes up fine?
1) you need to insert the sender's name in the mail client preferences account; It works.
(I have tried to modify info user using Workgroup manager for 10.8 but not useful for this request)
2) don't know but if It can help you, in the mail client full working, at the moment I have:
POP3 domain.local (the mail server OSX), username and password, port 110 plus SSL, APOP
SMTP 127.0.0.1 (testing the mail server OSX in localhost, but strange I have errore if inserted the domain.local itself), username and password, port 25 plus SSL, authentication password basic
At the moment the mail server works, in this configuration:
registered a Domain Name (configured the records A, MX, CNAME in maintainer panel, enabled the DNS service in OSX using the primary and secondary DNS of the ISP), as SMTP in mail server service used the SMTP of the ISP.
Is there now online a well done step by step guide to configure all the mail server options postfix in OSX ? or I can post here many questions about it ?
edit:
this is useful http://krypted.com/mac-os-x/setting-up-the-mail-service-in-mountain-lion-server/
Step by step guide to configure 10.8 mail server
