Mail server setup question: remote client's can't connect

Hi all,
I'm new to Linux mail server configuration, so sorry if this is a dumb question:

I've just set up my Linux box as a mail server for my various domains. I seem to have my MX records, sendmail, etc. set up properly, as I can send and receive mail fine when logged in to the box (via emacs -RMAIL). However I can't seem to connect to the server remotely from any email clients (Thunderbird, Outlook, etc.). The mail client times out when trying to check mail.

When trying to connect remotely, I'm using my Linux account credentials, as I'm expecting my remote mail client to use the same mailbox as I use when logged in locally and using emacs to send/receive. Do I misunderstand something?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!

Hi
what is the protocol u are using for ur email clients to get the mail....imap or pop3

Hi Blade,
Thanks for the reply. I've tried both, but my preference is IMAP.

Ok

What i would suggest is that go with Qmail as the mail server and squirrelmail as the client. It is the best that i have tried with very good imap server too

also its a no hassel mail server and client and very well documented...

If you want to stick with this then kindly send me the logs of the imap server u are using

Thanks for the suggestion, Blade, I've heard good things about both of those. That said, I feel like I'm pretty close to what I want with an "out of the box" solution. I'll look over the logs (good suggestion, I should have thought of that) and will send them to you if I see something I can't grok.

Thanks again for the prompt replies.

Hmm. I can't seem to find my imapd.log file, but maybe this is a clue:
When I try to telnet to my imapd server to test it, it connects and gives the "Escape character is" line, but then closes the connection immediately. "Connection closed by foreign host". Permissions on imapd look correct. Any ideas? Thanks again for helping.

Making progress. The TELNET issue was caused by my /etc/hosts.deny file. After fixing that, I can telnet to my IMAP server, but my email clients still time out when attempting to connect.

Using TELNET, I see that the IMAP server is reporting LOGINDISABLED, so maybe that's why. Still digging...

Hi Blade,
Seems like fixing the LOGINDISABLED problem involves recompiling my IMAP server.
So, I'm going with your suggestion and installing QMail and SquirrelMail.

I'm almost done with the QmailRocks install, and things look pretty good so far. However, I still can't connect remotely from Thunderbird even though the SquirrelMail web client can send and receive. Any ideas?

Thanks again for your suggestion.

Ok ..

have you tried it with outlook

if its working with outlook then the problem is with configuration...


first try with outlook