Postfix with SASL and Dovecot 2 configuration

Question

I'm trying to configure my server to receive and send mails. Sending mails is no problem, but there seems to be an issue receiving mails. I have this configuration working on my old server, but now I'm migrating to a new server, on which Dovecot 2 is installed, the configuration seems to fail. I keep getting following error logs in /var/log/syslog:

May 25 12:51:18 server postfix/smtpd[17208]: connect from localhost[::1]
May 25 12:51:18 server postfix/smtpd[17208]: warning: SASL: Connect to smtpd failed: No such file or directory
May 25 12:51:18 server postfix/smtpd[17208]: fatal: no SASL authentication mechanisms
May 25 12:51:19 server postfix/master[17011]: warning: process /usr/lib/postfix/smtpd pid 17208 exit status 1
May 25 12:51:19 server postfix/master[17011]: warning: /usr/lib/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling

Output from dovecot -n:

# 2.1.7: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
# OS: Linux 3.2.0-4-amd64 x86_64 Debian 7.8 ext4
auth_mechanisms = plain login
base_dir = /var/run/dovecot/
first_valid_uid = 150
last_valid_uid = 150
mail_access_groups = mail
mail_gid = 150
mail_location = maildir:/var/vmail/%d/%n
mail_uid = 150
namespace inbox {
  inbox = yes
  location = 
  mailbox Drafts {
    special_use = \Drafts
  }
  mailbox Junk {
    special_use = \Junk
  }
  mailbox Sent {
    special_use = \Sent
  }
  mailbox "Sent Messages" {
    special_use = \Sent
  }
  mailbox Trash {
    special_use = \Trash
  }
  prefix = 
}
passdb {
  args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext
  driver = sql
}
protocols = imap
service auth {
  unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth {
    group = postfix
    mode = 0660
    user = postfix
  }
  unix_listener auth-master {
    group = mail
    mode = 0660
    user = vmail
  }
}
service imap-login {
  executable = /usr/lib/dovecot/imap-login
  inet_listener imap {
    port = 0
  }
  inet_listener imaps {
    address = *
    port = 993
  }
}
service imap {
  executable = /usr/lib/dovecot/imap
}
ssl_cert = </etc/ssl/eyeducate.com/eyeducate-com.crt
ssl_key = </etc/ssl/eyeducate.com/eyeducate-com.key
userdb {
  args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext
  driver = sql
}
protocol lda {
  auth_socket_path = /var/run/dovecot/auth-master
  postmaster_address = [e-mail]
  sendmail_path = /usr/sbin/sendmail
}
protocol imap {
  imap_max_line_length = 64 k
}

Output from postconf -n:

alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases
alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases
append_dot_mydomain = no
biff = no
broken_sasl_auth_clients = yes
config_directory = /etc/postfix
dovecot_destination_recipient_limit = 1
inet_interfaces = all
mailbox_command = procmail -a "$EXTENSION"
mailbox_size_limit = 0
milter_default_action = accept
milter_protocol = 2
mydestination = localhost, localhost.localdomain
myhostname = hera.eyeducate.com
mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8 [::ffff:127.0.0.0]/104 [::1]/128
myorigin = eyeducate.com
non_smtpd_milters = $smtpd_milters
readme_directory = no
recipient_delimiter = +
relayhost =
smtp_tls_session_cache_database = btree:/var/lib/postfix/smtp_tls_session_cache
smtpd_banner = $myhostname ESMTP $mail_name (Debian/GNU)
smtpd_data_restrictions = reject_unauth_pipelining, reject_multi_recipient_bounce, permit
smtpd_milters = inet:localhost:8891
smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_mynetworks, permit_tls_all_clientcerts, permit_sasl_authenticated, reject_non_fqdn_hostname, reject_non_fqdn_sender, reject_non_fqdn_recipient, reject_unauth_destination, reject_unauth_pipelining, reject_invalid_hostname, reject_rbl_client zen.spamhaus.org, reject_rbl_client bl.spamcop.net, reject_rbl_client cbl.abuseat.org, reject_rbl_client dnsbl.njabl.org, reject_rbl_client dnsbl.sorbs.net, reject_rhsbl_sender dsn.rfc-ignorant.org, check_policy_service inet:127.0.0.1:60000, permit
smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes
smtpd_sasl_exceptions_networks = $mynetworks
smtpd_sasl_local_domain = $myhostname
smtpd_sasl_path = smtpd
smtpd_sasl_security_options = noanonymous
smtpd_sasl_type = dovecot
smtpd_tls_cert_file = /etc/ssl/eyeducate.com/eyeducate-com.crt
smtpd_tls_key_file = /etc/ssl/eyeducate.com/eyeducate-com.key
smtpd_tls_loglevel = 0
smtpd_tls_received_header = no
smtpd_tls_security_level = may
smtpd_tls_session_cache_database = btree:/var/lib/postfix/smtpd_tls_session_cache
smtpd_use_tls = yes
tls_random_source = dev:/dev/urandom
virtual_alias_maps = proxy:mysql:$config_directory/mysql_virtual_alias_maps.cf
virtual_gid_maps = static:8
virtual_mailbox_base = /var/vmail
virtual_mailbox_domains = proxy:mysql:$config_directory/mysql_virtual_domains_maps.cf
virtual_mailbox_maps = proxy:mysql:$config_directory/mysql_virtual_mailbox_maps.cf
virtual_minimum_uid = 150
virtual_transport = dovecot
virtual_uid_maps = static:150

Can this have anything to do with the upgrade to Dovecot 2 (I updated the config files). Postfix is built with support for dovecot, but I'm not sure whether this has to be compiled differently for version 2?

Answer 1

Dovecot is configured to listen for auth requests at private/auth:

unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth

However, you're telling Postfix to connect to an entirely different location:

smtpd_sasl_path = smtpd

– in fact, you're (almost) telling it to send the auth requests to its own SMTP daemon, which isn't going to understand them at all, much less forward them to Dovecot.

Change the SASL socket path in Postfix to private/auth.