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Unable to send or receive mails using postfix

This document (7009644) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11

Situation

Not able to send or receive emails using postfix after upgradation of SLES or after reboot of the server.

Resolution

Please follow the procedure in case of resolution of the issue:-
  1. Check the postfix service if its running or not by executing the command rcpostfix status. The service should be running.
  2. Open the file main.cf which should be located at /etc/postfix/ and go to the location where the parameter mydestination is present.
  3. Edit the file and add the variable $mydomain and should look like this :- mydestinaion = $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, $mydomain 
  4. Save and exit the file.
  5. Open the file master.cf which should be located at /etc/postfix/ and check for the parameter maildrop
  6.  Compare the lines which should be mentioned as below:-

maildrop             unix    -       n       n        -         -           pipe

flags=DRhu user=vmail argv=/usr/local/bin/maildrop -d ${recipient}

cyrus                   unix    -      n       n        -         -           pipe

user=cyrus argv=/usr/lib/cyrus/bin/deliver -e -r ${sender} -m ${extension} ${user}

uucp                   unix    -      n       n       -          -           pipe

flags=Fqhu user=uucp argv=uux -r -n -z -a$sender - $nexthop!rmail ($recipient)

ifmail                unix     -      n       n       -         -            pipe

flags=F user=ftn argv=/usr/lib/ifmail/ifmail -r $nexthop ($recipient)

bsmtp               unix     -      n       n        -        -            pipe

flags=Fq. user=foo argv=/usr/local/sbin/bsmtp -f $sender $nexthop $recipient

procmail         unix      -       n       n       -        -            pipe

flags=R user=nobody argv=/usr/bin/procmail -t -m /etc/procmailrc ${sender} ${recipient}

retry               unix      -       -        n       -        -            error

proxywrite      unix     -       -        n       -       1           proxymap

Additional Information

The above mentioned syntaxes (under step 6) are the pipe syntax. Many of the above services use the Postfix pipe delivery agent. The pipe daemon processes requests from the Postfix queue manager to deliver messages to external commands. Those program expects to be run from the master process manager. Message attributes such as sender address, recipient address and next-hop hostname can be specified as command-line macros that are expanded before the external command is executed. The pipe daemon updates queue files and marks recipients as finished, or it informs the queue manager that the delivery should be tried again at a later time. Delivery status reports are sent to the bounce, defer or trace daemon as appropriate.

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

  • Document ID:7009644
  • Creation Date: 26-Oct-2011
  • Modified Date:03-Mar-2020
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

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