pop3 and imap problem

[stavros]

Hello,
I am having a problem with a SUSE Enterprise Linux 9 server machine. It will be a mail server. The sendmail has been correctly set up but when I try to log in as a pop3 or imap user, the machine does not accept the users' passwords. I use the same passwords that each linux user has as a system user.
For example, I create a test user with password "test" and then, I create an email client account trying to log in to my network from outside internet (either pop3 or imap). I get prompted for password and when i put "test" it keeps asking for a password.

What may be the fault?

[kkubasik]

first check your logs, try to see if the server is not recieveing the password, or if the user is actualy failing authentication. Also, check your group permissions to make sure your test user is in the group given access to mail ext. I recently had authentication problems with the new update of courier-imap, as it switched to or from saslauth (cant remember) but on that note, what program are you using for pop3/imap access?

[stavros]

I am using the imap and pop3 services included in the /etc/xinetd.d directory
service pop3
{
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
wait = no
user = root
server = /usr/sbin/ipop3d
flags = IPv4
disable = no
}

service imap
{
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
wait = no
user = root
server = /usr/sbin/imapd
flags = IPv4
disable = no
}

In Red Hat 9, I have used the same configuration and I can log in to my mail server (POP3 and IMAP) with the system user passwords. In SUSE Enterprise Linux 9, I cannot. The system user passwords are rejected. The mail server runs properly.