debian dovecot as a submission server

Andrei

8/13/24, 9:28 PM

I am using debian 12 as a submission server. I cant get it to work as described. Here is my doveconf -n:

auth_mechanisms = plain login
disable_plaintext_auth = no
mail_location = maildir:/home/vmail/%d/%n
mail_privileged_group = vmail
namespace inbox {
  inbox = yes
  location =
  mailbox Drafts {
    special_use = \Drafts
  }
  mailbox Junk {
    special_use = \Junk
  }
  mailbox Sent {
    special_use = \Sent
  }
  mailbox "Sent Messages" {
    special_use = \Sent
  }
  mailbox Trash {
    special_use = \Trash
  }
  prefix =
}
passdb {
  args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext
  driver = sql
}
protocols = " imap submission"
ssl_cert = </etc/dovecot/private/dovecot.pem
ssl_client_ca_dir = /etc/ssl/certs
ssl_dh = # hidden, use -P to show it
ssl_key = # hidden, use -P to show it
submission_relay_host = localhost
submission_relay_port = 2525
userdb {
  args = uid=vmail gid=vmail home=/home/vmail/%d/%n
  driver = static
}

When i telnet to localhost 2525 i get connected when i telnet localhost 25 i get connection refused. Why is that?

1 + 4

debian

dovecot

vidarlo

8/13/24, 9:52 PM

You need to update your question to tell us *WHAT* is not working, and how it is not working. What error messages do you get? What does the log show? How are you testing your configuration?

Andrei

8/13/24, 9:58 PM

I have made postfix listen on port 2525. I want dovecot be a front - end for it, on port 25. Thanks.

vidarlo

8/13/24, 10:29 PM

No, you don't want that. Port 25 is SMTP, not submission. Submission normall runs on 587. Submission is authenticated, SMTP is not. If you don't want to receive external e-mail on this host, you don't need anything listening on port 25.

Andrei

8/13/24, 11:35 PM

Thank you for clarifying. can you post an answer to choose it as a solution.

Score:0

Server

vidarlo

8/13/24, 9:45 PM

Submission is not SMTP. It receives mail from authenticated clients, and forwards said mail to SMTP.

From the documentation:

Relay MTA

The Dovecot SMTP submission service directly proxies the mail transaction to the SMTP relay configured with the following settings:

You have to tell Dovecot where to forward e-mail. This may or may not be a local SMTP server. You have told it that localhost is the appropriate delay, so you would have to set up a MTA, such as Exim or Postfix on the same machine.

Is there any specific reason you want to use Dovecot for this? Services such as Postfix can handle authentication just fine.

+ 3

Andrei

8/13/24, 9:48 PM

Yes, I have set up postfix on same machine on port 2525. Just wanted to know if dovecot can relay on localhost 2525. Thanks for your answer.

vidarlo

8/13/24, 9:49 PM

Sure it can. But why do you then wonder why port 25 is not listening?

Andrei

8/13/24, 10:01 PM

Do i have to add a dovecot service on port 25?

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: debian dovecot as a submission server

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