[techtalk] A question regarding POP3 and Inet..

[Glen Jarvis]

I was browsing the net to find help for a linux situation I was having and
found linuxchix.org..  I'm a member of several other mailing lists.. But,
hadn't heard a reply from them yet..

So, I thought I'd try here.. I'm not a girl, but I'm gay does that count? :)

I am configuring a new Linux mail server.  I have an old server that I 
configured in the past (sendmail, smtp, pop, etc.).  

I have completed absolutely everything and it's working famously.. even the
DNS MX records.. But, I can't remember how I got around a POP security 
problem.

I have installed default Red Hat Linux 6.1.  Clients on the box like elm
can send and receive mail.  But, I have not yet told inetd that pop3 can
be used from other computers on the internet..

I have changed /etc/inetd.conf and uncommented out pop3 (entry copied
below):

pop-3   stream  tcp     nowait  root    /usr/sbin/tcpd	ipop3d

My associated /etc/services file has these entries:
pop-3		110/tcp				# POP version 3
pop-3		110/udp

I restarted inetd.  I even rebooted the box.  But, still the client that
tries to connect to port 110 (pop3) fails with error number 0x800CCC0F.
I used 'netstat -a | grep pop' to verify that the port was being 
listened on.  I tried telnetting to the machine and port 110 to see if 
I received the standard 'OK Pop server (....)' I would then know that my 
client is crazy.  But, instead I'm immediately dropped out with
"Connnection closed by foreign host".

I know I need to make an entry somewhere to say go ahead and talk on the
pop port, but I can't find it.. /etc/hosts.allow doesn't have anything
but an unrelated portmapper entry on my original machine, so I don't think
it's there.

Any ideas?


Glen
http://glenjarvis.net