Can’t Send Outgoing Mail (Virtualmin + Postfix)

After a recent operating system update on my Virtualmin server, outgoing emails (accounts, forwarding, system generated) stopped working. Connections to the SMTP server worked fine, authentication had no issues, and mail could be sent locally to domains on the same server.

But when trying to mail to on external address (Gmail for example), the mail client and mail logs showed an error: “Relay access denied”. It took quite a while to discover the offending settings so I thought I’d share what worked for me (finally) here.

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Near the end of the /etc/postfix/main.cf you should ensure the settings are as follows:

smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes
#smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes

Where ‘smtp_sasl_auth_enable” is commented out. After making this change I was again able to send mail to external domains.

Make sure you test your setup to a few different mail providers though. The update enabled IPv6 for my Postfix server, and because I don’t have reverse DNS for IPv6 enabled on my server Gmail rejected all mail. You might also wish setup reverse DNS for IPv6, or make the following change so that only IPv4 is used:

inet_protocols = ipv4

TD Bank US for Canadians

Angled_debitcardEarlier this year I opened a TD Convenience Checking account at TD Bank — the US equivalent to TD Canada Trust. This isn’t like the US Dollar accounts you can open up at almost any Canadian bank: TD Bank N.A. is a full fledged American bank with over a thousand locations in the eastern United States. Its operated separately from its Canadian parent.

There are some helpful connections between the two, though, that make managing US money much easier (and faster) for Canadians. Funds can be instantly wired between your TD Bank US and TD Canada Trust accounts for free. The process requires calling in to the TD Cross Boarder Banking phone line, but its reasonably quick and painless. The representative reads an agreement, lets you know the exchange rate, and completes the transaction for you. You’re accounts (US and / or Canadian) may be debited for a wire transfer fee, but in my experience it is refunded within about a day.  Continue reading

Moving from cPanel + WHM to Virtualmin

Until this year I was using cPanel + WHM on my server to help manage the various websites I’m responsible for. The software makes it reasonably easy to add new sites, manage features like databases + email + DNS + FTP, and is familiar to users who have been using other hosts. The problem is that on a small scale its just so expensive. Its also not terribly flexible, so making changes or customization can be challenging. So I decided to look for an cPanel alternative.

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After some research I decided to try Virtualmin GPL. It has all of the features I was using in cPanel and is free to use. It even includes a super useful import tool for cPanel backups. Migrating my sites from the cPanel server to my Virtualmin setup was as easy as creating a full backup in cPanel and opening the migration tool. It was able to import the home directory, databases and even email accounts.

It comes with a great remote incremental backup solution, DNS clustering, site and reseller access levels, and other features that were important to me. It took a a few days to get everything set up the way I liked–but the result has been great so far!