strange behavior with dovecot

[slando]

Hi there,

I have a strange problem with the imap/pop3 server, dovecot.

I have a sendmail server that works just fine in a lab. I installed dovecot on the same server and it seems to be working if I use thunderbird on the same server. However, if I use thunderbird from any other machine for the same LAN, then it won't work. The error message is "won't connect"

The strange thing is that if I'm on the mailserver and try "telnet localhost imaps" or "telnet localhost pop3", or "netstat -l", then it appears that the server is working.

For example, the "netstat -l" shows the following.

tcp 0 0 *:imaps *:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 *op3s *:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 *:imap *:* LISTEN

But when I try "telnet the_mail_server imaps" from another machine on the same LAN, then it shows the following.

Trying xx.xx.xx.xx...
telnet: connect to address xx.xx.xx.xx: No route to host
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: No route to host

This explains that imaps/pop3 works only on the localhost. But these ports are open and listened by server. There is no firewall on the mail server either. I'm able to ssh to the mailserver from other machines on the same Lan. So I thought the problem, which may not necessarily relate to dovecot, is a bit weird. Please help. Thanks.

BTW, the mail server which is also the dovecot server, runs CentOS5.

[b2bwild]

Make sure both machines are in same Network and under same Network ID.
Check for firewalls.
Check for any hosts.allow/hosts.deny entries.
Have you configured the dovecote correctly? ( check protocols = imap pop3 ) in /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
Check if the service/deamon of deovecot is running.

Hehe..

tcp 0 0 *op3s *:* LISTEN