[oclug] imap dumb question

[Ross Jordan]

On Thu, Sep 01, 2005 at 12:42:16AM -0400, elefino wrote:
> Cyrus imap is running on computer "junkbox" on my home network (which I've 
> given address 192.168.0.150).
> How do I connect from laptop? I mean, what's the procedure? There's a 
> working network connection and I can ping junkbox from the laptop.

Set the imap server on your mail client to be 192.168.0.150
(I assume the imap server is running on 192.168.0.150 as opposed
to an local ip).

> The laptop's mail reader works if I configure its Preferences with 
> mail.magma.ca and give my Magma account name and password. 
> But I don't know what to put in Preferences to make it look on junkbox 
> for mail instead of going out to the Magma mail server.

Most mail clients have seperate server entries for outgoing (smtp)
and incoming (pop/imap) mail servers. Your outgoing smtp server should
probably remain mail.magma.ca, but incoming would be changed to the
above IP.

> Fetchmail has brought some mail from Magma onto junkbox, and I'd like to 
> see it and play with it via the imap server on junkbox. The various HowTos 
> and other stuff that I've found with Google seem to describe installing 
> and config but nothing as basic as how do you connect to the server once 
> it's running, and how do you know that you have a working connection to 
> it?
> What name or other form of address lets cyrus-imap know that you want 
> its attention?

You connect to the imap server by connecting to the IP address it is
running on with the imap port (port 220 for imap3). So, if you
telnet 192.168.0.150:220, you should see some type of imap banner.

> Does the mail reader need the name of the cyrus-imap "user" which is 
> "cyrus" and which owns the imap server?  Or does it need the name of the 
> "kevin" account on junkbox ("kevin" is one of a couple of users added to 
> saslauth)?

The user account; not the account running the email server.

> Neither one seems to do anything. If I leave out the password, I don't get 
> prompted (sasl default is pam on junkbox). If I include the password in 
> the Preferences in the mail reader and say "Get mail", nothing seems to 
> happen.   On box junkbox, I've stopped and started cyrus 
> (rccyrus start) and it acknowledges.

ok, so:

Assuming your laptop is on the same network as the mail server:
1. Verify connectivity by pinging the mail server (ping 192.168.0.150)
2. Verify on the mailserver that imapd is running and check the IP and
   port that it is listening on (netstat -alnp will show you the
   what ports are being listened on and by what processes)
3. Verify that you can connect to the mail server with telnet:
   telnet 192.168.0.150 220
4. Set your mail client to receive email via imap from 192.168.0.150
   and specify the user account on the mail server which owns the mail

Most likely problems:
1. General network connectivity issues
2. Mail server not running, or running on localhost (127.0.0.1) only
   or otherwise misconfigured (bad permissions, bad port, running SSL
   only or non-SSL only)
3. Firewall issues (firewall on mail server or on mail client blocking
   connections)

Hope that helps,
Ross