Test new installation

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Hussain
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri May 25, 2018 1:07 pm

Test new installation

Post by Hussain »

I installed Zimbra 8.8.8 on a new CentOS7.5 VM.

I've never used this before so want to make sure that everything is working before switching from my regular server; i.e. I haven't made any MX changes.

I opened the admin console, defined a new domain (mydomain.com) and added a couple of users (user1@mydomain.com & user2@mydomain.com)

Next, used the web console and logged in as user1@mydomain.com and sent an email to user2@mydomain.com (also to my regular eddress). Logged in as user2. Result: Inbox is empty. Nor did it arrive at regular mail server.

Next, I used PuTTY to connect to telnet port 25 and used SMTP commands:
helo abc.def
mail from: aaa@abc.def
rcpt to: user1@mydomain.com
data
testing
.

Checked the web UI. Result: Inbox of User1 is empty. :evil:

Hmmm...

Comments?
Hussain
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri May 25, 2018 1:07 pm

Re: Test new installation

Post by Hussain »

Update: Checking /var/log/messages shows that this VM is attempting to deliver all the messages to my actual server and is failing because its IP is not in the DNS.

This means that despite having an entry of mail.mydomain.com in /etc/hosts, it is still doing a DNS lookup for the MX records. Ok, I can understand that.

Can't do further tests as I can no longer telnet to port 25 from outside for some reason. No, not due to firewall as I tried disabling it. Didn't work. I can telnet from the VM to its own port 25 showing that the service itself is running.
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L. Mark Stone
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Re: Test new installation

Post by L. Mark Stone »

Zimbra is very dependent on proper functioning of DNS. Many components use DNS to find each other; /etc/hosts is much less frequently used.

I have some DNS checks in my Installation Quick Start blog post. May I suggest running the tests and then updating your DNS accordingly?

I expect you’ll find Zimbra will work as expected then.

Hope that helps,
Mark

https://www.missioncriticalemail.com/20 ... ick-start/
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L. Mark Stone
Mission Critical Email - Zimbra VAR/BSP/Training Partner https://www.missioncriticalemail.com/
AWS Certified Solutions Architect-Associate
Hussain
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri May 25, 2018 1:07 pm

Re: Test new installation

Post by Hussain »

Hi Mark

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I understand DNS and its workings.

As mentioned, I was trying to test the installation before making changes to my main DNS.
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L. Mark Stone
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Re: Test new installation

Post by L. Mark Stone »

Yes, many try to test Zimbra before changing their production DNS. That’s why IMHO it’s best to run dnsmasq on the test/production Zimbra server so you don’t need to change your production DNS just to test Zimbra.

As you have seen, Zimbra won’t work if the DNS on which it relies is not configured correctly (for Zimbra).

All the best,
Mark
___________________________________
L. Mark Stone
Mission Critical Email - Zimbra VAR/BSP/Training Partner https://www.missioncriticalemail.com/
AWS Certified Solutions Architect-Associate
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