Problem with running POP3 from xinetd

nhouse

nhouse

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Joined
Nov 26, 2003
Messages
152
Location
Tennessee
Hello... I apologize if this appears to be a double post as I originally had asked this question as a reply on another thread... but didn't get much traffic there... so I will try it in this forum (which is probably more appropriate anyway)

Ok, I have been having complaints from my clients over the last few days with their POP3 accounts timing out and not being able to connect to the server. I searched these forums and found a help topic about running vm-pop3d through xinetd which would overcome such issues as too many connections maxing out, etc.

The help article is this one: http://help.directadmin.com/item.php?id=94

Now, I followed the directions exactly and when I tested it, I couldn't get a POP3 connection. I looked at the server status and it looked like vm-pop3d never restarted with xinetd... even after a server reboot. Can someone give me a suggestion of why this might be? I had to manually start the service to get the mail to work again.

My Config: CentOS 4.3, DA 1.29.2, vm-Pop3d 1.1.7f-DA-2, Apache 1.3.37, MySQL 4.1.21
 
Did you configure xinetd to run vm-pop3d?

First:
Code: 
# grep pop /etc/xinetd.d/*
If there's nothing there learn how to create a file to configure xinetd to run vm-pop3d.
Code: 
# man xinetd
# man xinetd.conf
Or just switch to dovect :)

Jeff
 
Jeff, thanks for the thoughts... I am considering switching to Dovecot. However, right now I feel that using the suggestion of running vm-pop3d through xinetd may be the best thing. I did check the subdirectory that you mentioned and there is no POP file or POP3 listed. I did create one as mentioned in the DA help article and restarted ther services and it didn't work.

I simply need someone out there to give me a tip on how to make the thing work as stated in the DA Help article stated in my original posting. It just simply don't seem to work as I thought it would. The DA help article says "Set up vm-pop3d to be run from the xinetd.. which should be rock solid and never die." Actually this statement was taken from an archived forum post found here

Anyone elde have a moment to advise me?
 
Ok... hopefully this thread will help some other poor soul in the future. After reading posts and help files and such over again, I went back and followed the directions as mentioned in the help article above. This time I was a bit more patient and it seems to be working. I will wait and see how well tomorrow when normal business hours kick in and more connections are working.

One thing though... while I have been testing this setup tonight, the mail does come through... but it seems like Outlook pauses on around 75% for almost a minute before the mail actually comes in. If anyone else is using POP3 through xinetd in this fashion, is this typical?

Another thing to note (for us less technical types)... with this setup vm-pop3d will show up as stopped in the DA control panel. Maybe this should be obvious... but I justthought I would say it out loud for those who come after me. :)
 
The delay is typical for large mailboxes under the default mbox mail format used by DA absent Dovecot.

Jeff
 
Jeff, thanks again for the input... so, I take it that with Dovecot the system would process the requests faster and more fluidly?
 
Much. Dovecot uses Maildir; there's a separate file for each mailbox. The default DA install uses mbox, which puts all the emails into one large file and has to manipulate the file every time you do anything at all with even one email.

Jeff
 
Ahhh.... now I understand why I see all of the posts which are so enthusiastic about the change. ;) Have a great day. (afternoon)
 
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