IMAP server with multiple mail account on multiple mail clients

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IMAP server with multiple mail account on multiple mail clients

Hello,

I have the following problem that I would like to share with the community in order to find a solution.

On my Mac OS X Maverick (OS X 10.9.3 (Build 13D65)) Server (Server 3.1.2 (Build 13S4517)) I configured dovecot (Ver. 2.2) as IMAP server.

I created 8 email accounts on the server and I started the email traffic on the system.

It works well and it sound good! But...

I started to configure different mail clients (i.e. OS Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook (different release, same behavior)) on different client machines (i.e. Mac OS X, Windows xxx, Lubuntu 14.04).

On each client I have to configure all 8 emails accounts previously created on the Server and...

Something strange start to appear...

1. On the dovecot error file a lot of messages appear like the following:

Jul 02 16:56:55 imap(pid 15241 user <xxxxx>): Fatal: setuid(505(<xxxxx>) from userdb lookup) failed with euid=506(<yyyyy>): Operation not permitted (This binary should probably be called with process user set to 505(<xxxxx>) instead of 506(<yyyyy>))

but also if it's not normal there are not problems and dovecot works fine...

2. Sometime on the Thunderbird and Outlook clients a message that says that some account has been disconnected appears...

but also this problem appears a false because by moving on the different accounts configured I'm able to see the right emails present on the Server

3. On the OS Mail clients I see continuously error messages that say that some account has been disconnected...

but also in this case the problem appears a false because by moving on the different accounts configured I'm able to see the right emails present on the Server (also if with some trouble more than the other email clients...)

Now, the question is: have you may be information about problems with this kind of configuration? Maybe am I trying to make something that at the moment is not possible to be made? Or, have I found a bug (or more than one) in the components that I'm using?

Thanks a lot to all the people that will help me

Posted on Jul 2, 2014 8:17 AM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

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Jul 2, 2014 9:16 AM in response to andresfrommi

How did you create the accounts?

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Answer 2

andresfrommi Author

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Jul 3, 2014 12:15 AM in response to Linc Davis

On the system by following standard way for the creation.

Apple menu > System Preferences > Users & Groups.

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

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Jul 3, 2014 7:51 AM in response to andresfrommi

Do you have any problems logging in to the accounts on the server and retrieving mail with the built-in Mail application?

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Answer 4

andresfrommi Author

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Jul 3, 2014 9:07 AM in response to Linc Davis

Something similar... Mail application says that there are problems in connection with the different accounts (see the attached screenshots);

actually some connection goes up and down, up and down, until the situation returns to normal (perhaps seemingly)... In any

case, all the connections stay down for seconds and then return up so that I'm able to manage all the accounts and the emails of everyone without problems... it's annoying behavior but this could be not a problem, actually I am afraid that there is some more serious problem behind...

It seems a timeout problem: something like if someone close the connection after a while...

In any case, first of all I would like to understand if the problem is in client (Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook) or server (dovecot) side.

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

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Jul 3, 2014 11:54 AM in response to andresfrommi

Back up all data.

Quit the Server application and drag it to the Trash, but don't empty. You'll be prompted to confirm that you want to stop all services. You won't lose any data.

Put the app back where it was and launch it. Test.

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Answer 6

Jul 3, 2014 1:03 PM in response to andresfrommi

Assuming you're on a NAT'd network, DNS services can cause all sorts of weird errors with the mail server, including spontaneous name changes.

To verify local DNS services, launch Terminal.app from Applications > Utilities and issue the following harmless diagnostic message:

sudo changeip -checkhostname

You'll need to enter an administrative password for the sudo, might see a one-time informational message around the usage of sudo, then you'll see some host and network configuration information, and finally an indication that either no changes are required, or that there are local DNS or the network has configuration issues. Also, make sure you're not using .local or .arpa as the top-level domain within the DNS services.

Public DNS for the mail server can also cause communications issues, if that's not configured correctly — that won't cause the issue you're seeing in the logs here, but it will cause inbound mail to not reach your server, and outbound mail from your server to be dropped by the remote server. To verify your public DNS, launch Terminal.app from Applications > Utilities and issue the commands discussed in this thread or this thread and confirm that your internal and external MX record and your internal and external forward and reverse DNS settings are all correct.

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Answer 7

andresfrommi Author

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Jul 7, 2014 3:16 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hello,

sorry but I wasn't able to work on this issue last friday...

This morning I followed your suggestion but I haven't good news...

Now dovecot give me an error that I don't understand with my configuration file environment: when I start the mail system in the Server.app and I try to access the emails from an email client I see in the dovecot error log the following:

Jul 07 11:52:48 imap(pid 26928 user xxxxxxxx): Error: Failed to autocreate mailbox INBOX: Permission denied

Actually I haven't parameter settings that configure the INBOX auto creation and, moreover, all the Maildir environment for each user has been already created and available for the access. The mailbox_location is set maildir:~/Maildir.

If you think could be useful I can attach doveconf output but, as you know, is very big text file...

Have you maybe other ideas/suggestions?

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Answer 8

andresfrommi Author

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Jul 7, 2014 3:34 AM in response to MrHoffman

Hello,

here in the following the output to the changeip -checkhostname command

Primary address = x.x.x.x

Current HostName = server-macos.local

The DNS hostname is not available, please repair DNS and re-run this tool.

dirserv:success = "success"

Actually, it seems that there is some problem with the DNS hostname also if I think it's present and rightly configured... In any case, I verified also my public DNS by following your instruction in the thread and I confirm that it seems all right.

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Answer 9

Linc Davis

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209,547 points

Jul 7, 2014 6:54 AM in response to andresfrommi

The mailbox_location is set maildir:~/Maildir.

How and why did you do that? What are the permissions of that directory? If the user doesn't have write permission for it and all its contents, then obviously mail is not going to work.

Don't expect to be able to customize OS X Server as you would a Linux server. It's designed for simplicity, not flexibility. Deviate from the default path and you will create problems for which there are no solutions.

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Answer 10

andresfrommi Author

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Jul 7, 2014 7:37 AM in response to Linc Davis

I agree with you but, of course, I profiled my users so that they have all the permission that allows the management of their folders...

But, by following your sentence "Don't expect to be able to customize OS X Server as you would a Linux server."... You are right, I'm a Linux server administrator and this is my first professional experience with Mac OS X...

If you say that my customization could be dangerous for my system I believe you and if I have to go back to the default Server configuration I'll do it but... let me ask you another question: I made a lot of customization in postfix and dovecot because I wasn't able to find a default way into the Server.app allows me to retrieve, store and distribute to my company's users the emails that my ISP manages for me; so, I installed fetchmail to do this and I tried to configure OS X Server as I normally do on linux systems... If I have to leave the default postfix and dovecot configuration foreseen in OS X Server how could I reach my goal?

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Answer 11

Linc Davis

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Jul 7, 2014 10:31 AM in response to andresfrommi

If you want to retrieve mail from a remote server and host it on your own server, one way to do that is with the scriptable mail client mpop. You would set it up in a user account as a launchd agent and store the password(s) in the user's keychain. The setup is rather complex, but it works well. No customization of OS X Server is necessary.

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Answer 12

andresfrommi Author

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Jul 7, 2014 10:43 AM in response to Linc Davis

Are you meaning something like a pop client that stores all my emails proceeding from the ISP and pass them to dovecot?

Is it so?

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Answer 13

andresfrommi Author

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Jul 7, 2014 11:21 AM in response to Linc Davis

Ok, I have just see something of the mpop documentation and it sounds good.

In my system I'm working in this moment with fetchmail but mpop seems better because it can deliver directly email to mbox and maildir folder: by following this way probably I can avoid some noise that I had trying integrating fetchmail with dovecot.

In the next days I'll try this solution and I'll give you a feedback.

In any case thanks a lot for your support

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Answer 14

andresfrommi Author

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Jul 10, 2014 12:55 AM in response to andresfrommi

Hello,

this is just to trace the activity so that can be useful for the community.

I decided to re-install all my Server from scratch because, as Linc Davis said in the previous "Don't expect to be able to customize OS X Server as you would a Linux server." and that's right!

Now, with no big effort (I had in any case something to do because not all the dovecot's configuration files where properly set) and by using the Server OS X GUI, I'm able to manage email internally to my organization (in my domain) and send email outside via SMTP.

I'm now starting to install and configure mpop for email retriving from my ISP by following this interesting article

http://ios-webstack.tk/imap

See you at end of the work

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Answer 15

andresfrommi Author

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Jul 14, 2014 1:51 AM in response to andresfrommi

Ok, now my server works as good as well.

Thanks a lot for your support, ideas and suggestions Linc Davis.

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