Ok, i've read the stuff about Pop3/Imap configuration for email clients, but i'm none the wiser - i cant get it to work in Windows Mail.
In virtualmin I added a new user through the Edit Users section. I also enabled Mail Client Configuration under the Email Messages menu.
In Windows Mail i've put mail.domainname.com for both the Incoming Mail (Pop3) and Outgoing Mail (SMTP) fields. In the Email Username field i put the username as it appears in Virtualmin, (i.e. user.mainuser). And obviously i put the password i just set in virtualmin for this new user. I select 'Logon using clear text authentication' and I check 'My Server requires Authentication'.
But this isnt working for me - the Windows Mail error says the host mail.domainname.com could not be found.
Not sure what i'm supposed to do here - is there something else i need to install in virtualmin for email to work, or is mail.domainname.com the wrong structure to use in those Pop3/SMTP fields?
Can you tell us the actual domain name in question, so we can do some tests?
The problem you're facing sounds like a DNS issue and is not immediately related to your mail server/client.
i'm just wondering if it has something to do with the fact that this site was a cpanel site that i migrated to virtualmin, and the email account already existed on the old cpanel, and then i tried setting up an email account with the same address as the one from the old cpanel.
also, when i first setup virtualmin on my server, i didn't include the email libraries - however, since then i updated the features & plugins section to include 'Mail for Domain', 'Spam filtering', and 'Virus filtering'.
when i login using winscp and go to my site at 'home/mysite/Maildir' i see folders for .default@mysite_com, .info@mysite_com, and john@mysite_com - these would have existed on the old cpanel account so i assume that's where they came from. Anyway, the new user i setup in virtualmin was john@mysite.com, so i'm just wondering if there's an issue because that address already existed on the old cpanel?. [There's also another directory at 'home/mysite/Maildir/mysite.com' and inside it there are folders for default, info, and john also.]
what do you think i've done wrong?
Again: The error message you got was, as per your initial post, " the Windows Mail error says the host mail.domainname.com could not be found".
This has probably nothing to do with your email setup, but is first and foremost a DNS issue. Until that is resolved, further debugging is more or less speculation. So, can you tell me the actual domain name in question so that I can do some tests?
the domain name is webterrain.net
The domain "webterrain.net" cannot be found at the .net root servers. If it's a newly registered domain, it might take some time until it's propagated. Otherwise you'll want to check with your domain registrar for problems with the domain.
it's an old domain - since i moved to a DO (digital ocean) virtualmin setup, i just pointed my A record to the ip of my DO droplet - in this case the nameservers will be my registrars nameservers. The website shows up fine, but cant get email to work. Should I put something in the MX records?
Howdy,
It appears to be working for me, so it might just have been a DNS issue. When I do an MX record lookup on your domain, it does find a host for that.
Also, you can get a DNS report here at intodns.com... it shows that things appear to be working properly now.
-Eric
The domain resolves again now at the .net root servers. It might have been a temporary issue. Try your mail client again, it should work now, or in a while if the negative responses are still in the cache.
I can see no immediate problems with the domain. "mail.webterrain.net" is active and points to the same IP as "www.webterrain.net". Also the MX record for "webterrain.net" looks fine.
yeah, i changed the A record and MX records, so they're setup correctly now.
However, outgoing mail still wont work - i did some tests on incoming and i'm receiving mail from gmail and other servers, altho curiously one email account i sent a mail from does not come through.
any ideas? the registrar said there may be a waiting period for dns propogation since i made the changes - however, since i can see incoming mail i'm thinking that's not the issue?
Well, can have any number of reasons, guessing is problematic there. :) What's in the maillog/syslog under /var/log when you try to send a mail?
ah, i was using port 465 for outgoing (SMTP), and 995 for incoming (POP3) - apparently i need to setup an SSL cert on my virtual server for port 465 to work, so i tried port 25 instead and the mail got sent.
can you setup SSL certs for free on virtualmin? no need to buy an SSL cert i mean?
You can install SSL certs for free in Virtualmin, of course, and it can also self-sign one for you, but to get an officially signed one you need to pay an external service. The Virtualmin team is not a certificate authority (as far as I know). ;)
I use "StartSSL" myself which is incredibly cheap compared to the rest (you pay $60 once and can create as many wildcard and multi-domain certs as you want for a year; the certs are valid for two years).