Couldn't connect to custom domains after setting up SMTP and IMAP

[elhananjair]

Greetings guys,
I have tried to set up both SMTP and IMAP on my server running Nextcloud. I am trying to connect to any mail servers easily without adding custom domains in snappymail admin setting.

I have installed postfix and Dovecot already, both are running as the service seems fine.

● dovecot.service - Dovecot IMAP/POP3 email server
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/dovecot.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2024-09-03 21:44:52 EAT; 1s ago
       Docs: man:dovecot(1)
             https://doc.dovecot.org/
   Main PID: 135091 (dovecot)
     Status: "v2.3.21.1 (d492236fa0) running"
      Tasks: 4 (limit: 9348)
     Memory: 5.6M (peak: 5.7M)
        CPU: 49ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/dovecot.service
             ├─135091 /usr/sbin/dovecot -F
             ├─135092 dovecot/anvil
             ├─135093 dovecot/log
             └─135094 dovecot/config

Sep 03 21:44:52 smartbits.dev systemd[1]: Starting dovecot.service - Dovecot IMAP/POP3 email server...
Sep 03 21:44:52 smartbits.dev dovecot[135091]: master: Dovecot v2.3.21.1 (d492236fa0) starting up for imap, pop3, lmtp
Sep 03 21:44:52 smartbits.dev systemd[1]: Started dovecot.service - Dovecot IMAP/POP3 email server.

● postfix.service - Postfix Mail Transport Agent
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/postfix.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Sun 2024-09-01 22:43:21 EAT; 1 day 23h ago
    Process: 65032 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/restorecon -R /var/spool/postfix/pid (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 65033 ExecStartPre=/usr/libexec/postfix/aliasesdb (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 65036 ExecStartPre=/usr/libexec/postfix/chroot-update (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 65038 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/postfix start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 65106 (master)
      Tasks: 4 (limit: 9348)
     Memory: 5.6M (peak: 9.5M)
        CPU: 3.119s
     CGroup: /system.slice/postfix.service
             ├─ 65106 /usr/libexec/postfix/master -w
             ├─ 65108 qmgr -l -t unix -u
             ├─ 65730 tlsmgr -l -t unix -u
             └─133643 pickup -l -t unix -u

Sep 01 22:43:20 domain systemd[1]: Starting postfix.service - Postfix Mail Transport Agent...
Sep 01 22:43:21 domain postfix[65104]: postfix/postlog: starting the Postfix mail system
Sep 01 22:43:21 domain postfix/postfix-script[65104]: starting the Postfix mail system
Sep 01 22:43:21 domain postfix/master[65106]: daemon started -- version 3.8.5, configuration /etc/postfix
Sep 01 22:43:21 domain systemd[1]: Started postfix.service - Postfix Mail Transport Agent.
Sep 01 22:56:41 domain postfix/smtpd[65728]: connect from unknown[::1]
Sep 01 22:56:41 domain postfix/smtpd[65728]: disconnect from unknown[::1] ehlo=2 starttls=1 quit=1 commands=4

But when I try to add an account on snappymail, I get Authentication Failed error message although the password I am using is the correct one.

Here is the screenshot from snappymail admin settings

And the error showing up as I try to add an account

Sep 01 22:44:21 domain auth[65179]: pam_unix(dovecot:auth): check pass; user unknown
Sep 01 22:44:21 domainauth[65179]: pam_unix(dovecot:auth): authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=dovecot ruser=user@mydomain rhost=::1
Sep 01 22:44:26 domain dovecot[39858]: imap-login: Disconnected: Connection closed (auth failed, 1 attempts in 5 secs): user=<user@mydomain>, method=PLAIN, rip=::1, lip=::1, TLS, session=<fVEFDRQhkN0AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAB>

Can someone please support me on this?
Thanks

[cm-schl]

Hi,
What do you mean by "try to add an account"? Does your first login is successful and only when you're trying to add additional accounts you're getting this error?
Does your server uses usernames like [email protected] or only "user"?

[cm-schl]

SnappyMail itself is "just" an IMAP client that accesses your IMAP server... So have you tried to connect to your server using an other client like Thunderbird?

[elhananjair]

Nope, I haven't tested with another one, but I still suspect that it could be a configuration issue on both IMAP and SMTP. I didn't touch both configuration files, since I couldn't find a guideline on that and what was required by snappymail.

[elhananjair]

@the-djmaze any support on this, please? I wanted to know if what I was trying to achieve was impossible.

[the-djmaze]

Use the Login Autoconfig extension

I like the users to connect their preferred mail address to snappymail easily with any domain.

[elhananjair]

Hello I didn't want to limit domains on snappymail that's why I am trying to use *. I like the users to connect their preferred mail address to snappymail easily with any domain.

Use the Login Autoconfig extension

Thank you for replying, I have enabled the Login Autoconfig extension and tried to add an account to snappymail but have another issue now, Request Timeout.
Here is a log from Nextcloud

{"reqId":"ZuSI-dflGvnd9pNu2KYdVwAAxQU","level":3,"time":"2024-09-13T18:50:31+00:00","remoteAddr":"196.190.62.169","user":"USERNAME","app":"PHP","method":"POST","url":"/apps/snappymail/?/Json/&q[]=/0/","message":"file_get_contents(http://autodiscover.MYDOMAIN/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml Linux x86_64; rv:130.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/130.0","version":"29.0.5.1","data":{"app":"PHP"}

[elhananjair]

@the-djmaze UPDATE
It worked fine for all domains except for an email address created with a domain I am using for Nextcloud. It shows Request Timeout on that specific domain, but other domains work fine. any clues?

[the-djmaze]

http://autodiscover.MYDOMAIN is not resolvable and timeouts.
You need to create your NextCloud domain config manually.

[elhananjair]

Thank you

[elhananjair]

One thing to mention here is, that the Nextcloud Mail application works fine without additional configuration. You can log in with any domain you like.

[the-djmaze]

Not really, it also fails for my custom IMAP setups.
Difference is that NC mail uses autoconfig by default and SnappyMail does not for security reasons.

So if you are the company IT and need to secure mail access...
SnappyMail is secure by default and NC Mail is not.

I also could not find a setting in NC Mail to disable autoconfig and/or manual config to disallow users from using private/other mail accounts.

Also see:

• https://help.nextcloud.com/t/disable-setting-add-new-mail-account/106160
• Disable adding of own accounts nextcloud/mail#5759

So it all depends on the security requirements for a NextCloud instance in use.

[elhananjair]

Thank you for the brief explanation