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smtp in Tiger Mail.app suddenly dead
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jsk173
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-05-30, 23:10

Woke my PB this a.m., checked email and went to reply to one and, upon sending, I get an error msg about 2 seconds later telling me "smtp.myservername.com" cannot be used, with a dialogue box allowing me to choose another smtp server.

Deleted and re-entered smtp info., turned firewall off, and contacted tech support and they say everything is OK.

Any ideas? Thanks.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2005-05-30, 23:18

I'm in on this problem too. I just didn't take the time to write a post about it. My Mail acted the same way two days ago. I just switched over to my WinXP and wrote my message though.

My setup; Mail 2.0.1 with Cable HSI. My SMTP was fine, like I mentioned it worked great on my PC. As of now I have been able to send again. It just seemed temperamental. I have no solution, just

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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jsk173
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-05-30, 23:41

As a follow-up, I just repaired permissions, restarted my PB, etc. Went into Mail and problem persisted with my main email acct/smtp server. Tried a secondary account/smtp (an ISP I use elsewhere) and that msg was sent okay.

I was able to telnet my main smtp server on port 25 as someone on another board suggested, so I'm not sure where that leaves me -- problem with my domain host or within Mail.app specific to that one account.

All suggestions appreciated.
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jsk173
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-05-31, 21:17

As a follow-up to my posts above, the problem persisted for about 24 hours. I tried re-starting, etc., yesterday and that didn't work. I then re-started a few minutes ago, after the QuickTime update, and my smtp servers are now okay. Strange issue; hope it's not recurring.
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tomy82
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-06-01, 04:00

Hello guys,

I don't know wether you're using Tiger or Panther, but do you know that Mac OS X includes its own smtp server... this solves a lot of problems and is quite usefull when you travel around with your laptop, cause you can send mail through any internet connection...

If your using panther the best step is to use PostFix Enabler for panther which is free..

If you're using Tiger well, tell me and i'll tell you the step to take to enable your postfix

Enjoy!
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jsk173
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-06-01, 04:15

tomy82 -- I've been interested in the built-in smtp server but thought it was a daunting task and was also concerned about possible security lapses, etc. I am on Tiger and, if you don't mind, I would greatly appreciate the info. on how to set it up, ensure security, etc. Thanks very much.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2005-06-01, 09:23

If Tiger has its own server built is would it work with my cable provider? I have several POP accounts I use but when connected to my home LAN I have to use the cable company's SMTP. As I understand this, most company's are setting this in place to limit SPAM from being sent through their networks. Your thoughts?

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
tomy82
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-06-01, 09:48

If you install a SMTP server on your computer, the SMTP has nothing to do with your Internet Provider anymore. It just uses your internet connection to send the mail, but nothing else dealing with your ISP.

To reply to FSK173, I only know how to enable the SMTP on Tiger, but not how to secure it.. I would say that the best way for you to secure it is to settle your firewall on your Mac.

The point is, that postfix is already used on your mac but just to send Operating System problem, and we change the configuration files to enable postfix to stay awake and send mail you want to send from your Mail Applications.

To do this,follow this steps in a terminal:

sudo vi /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.postfix.master.plist

change the settings of this file as follow:

<key>Label</key>
<string>org.postfix.master</string>
<key>OnDemand</key> //Add the OnDemand key
<false/> //add the false key to ovoid postfix to shutdown
<key>Program</key>
<string>/usr/libexec/postfix/master</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>master</string> // take off <string>-e</string> <string>60</string>
</array>
<key>QueueDirectories</key>
<array>

When you've done all this (hope its clear enought) do:

postfix start

And then in your Mail Application (whatever it is) just put localhost as your smtp

Enjoy ....
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jsk173
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-06-01, 16:20

tomy82 -- Thanks very much. Looks simpler than I thought.

Can anyone offer any feedback on the security of such a set-up, any drawbacks/limitations, etc.? Also, would this have any effect on my mail's likelihood of being filtered as spam since my smtp server will not match my email's domain? (I thought I read somewhere that if a sender's email address domain does not match the server domain the message came from, that it is more likely to be treated as spam.)

Thanks very much.
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tomy82
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-06-01, 16:39

Well, maybe i'm wrong, but when you settle your mail account on your computer, you put your e-mail adress that comes from your ISP... so that you send your e-mail from your ISP smtp or your own doesn't matter because your account exists at your ISP's place... Otherwise just imagine, you move place, you keep the same e-mail adress but the ISP you're using for internet at that place doesn't allow mail sending from other ISP than his...(yes, it does exist ) well if you put the smtp adress of that ISP, your mail will be perfectly sent...

Some ISP do put a filter on e-mails that do not match a domain, but that's only if you send an e-mail as root@blabla.com... then yeah your mail might go to junk or will even maybe never arrive...

Otherwise I looked a bit for the security... in /etc/postfix you'll find a few configuration files... the ones that might interest you are "access" and "main.cf"

good Luck!
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jsk173
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-06-01, 19:26

Thanks. I'm a novice with Terminal, so if anyone could expand on the comments regarding the /etc/postfix configuration files, etc., above, that would be great. Thanks again.
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Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2005-06-01, 19:45

If you're uncomfortable with manual configuration, Postfix Enabler might be just the thing for you.
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jsk173
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-06-01, 19:51

OK. I just read the info on Postfix Enabler's site, and he mentions how some ISPs block the use of port 25. I thought the whole point of this was to get around ISPs who block port 25 and that such blocking wouldn't matter if the built-in smtp is enabled. What am I missing?
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FFL
Fishhead Family Reunited
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Slightly Off Center
 
2005-06-01, 20:09

maybe you need to open port 25 on your own firewall
http://www.cutedgesystems.com/weblog.../firewall.html
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tomy82
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-06-02, 02:31

the port 25 cannot be bloked don't worry.. cause even when you send a mail with your ISP's smtp you're using port 25

Remember that you've to pay to use postfix enabler (on tiger, don't know about Panther)
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tomy82
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-06-02, 02:33

Quote:
Originally Posted by FFL
maybe you need to open port 25 on your own firewall
http://www.cutedgesystems.com/weblog.../firewall.html

To open the port 25 on your firewall is not to clever i would say... because this would enable anyone on your network to use your computer as an SMTP server.. and i don't think you want this
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tomy82
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-06-02, 02:39

Quote:
Originally Posted by jsk173
Thanks. I'm a novice with Terminal, so if anyone could expand on the comments regarding the /etc/postfix configuration files, etc., above, that would be great. Thanks again.
ok:

sudo makes you become root (which is the highest level you can get on your computer), it will ask you your session password.

vi is the editer integrated in the terminal. To write something with it press "i" then write what your want. Press "esc" when you're done. If you want to save the file press "wq" (write&quit), if you want to quite without saving press "q".

So in our case:

sudo vi /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.postfix.master.plist

>enter your session password
>press "i" to edit the file; delete and add what i wrote above.
>press "esc"
>press "wq"
>then write: postfix start

There you go... not to hard hugh

Enjoy!!! :smokey:
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jsk173
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-06-23, 21:40

I'm finally getting around to enabling postfix as detailed above. One quick question: Once postfix is enabled, is it 100% permanent thru future restarts, software updates, etc., or could it become disabled or corrupted by a security update, corrupted prefs file, etc.? Having a built-in smtp server will be great if it's a one-time thing and doesn't need to be continually monitored.

The above question aside, if anyone has any other tips, things to watch out for, security tips, etc., they would be much appreciated. Thanks again for advice/feedback.
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tomy82
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-06-24, 03:35

yes it is permanent.. no need to restart it ever I've it on now for about 3 months and I never had to restart it... I've been through all the security update and so on
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jsk173
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-06-24, 07:17

Okay; thanks. I'll be trying it soon and report back.

As for postfix generally, is it really as good as advertised? I would be using it because (1) I travel a lot and bounce from ISP to ISP and (2) I have a 500-member email list and my host is now limiting outgoing emails to 100/hour, which is a major pain when trying to send out a msg to my list.

HOWEVER, I'm wondering just how good postfix really is. I've read on other sites that a lot of servers, AOL included, will reject emails it recognizes as being from a non-permanent IP address (such as a hotel 'net connection). Is this true? I've also read that the postfix/localhost method of sending email can be unreliable in the sense that outgoing mail errors are not reliably or promptly reported. (I usually BCC myself, so I assume this problem would be readily apparent.)

Curious how many people are using this and what their experiences are. Thanks for all feedback.
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