SpamAssassin does not work: Connection refused

Symptoms

• The following errors can be found in /var/log/maillog:

  # cat /var/log/maillog | grep -i fail | grep -i spam | less
  spamc[32154]: connect to spamd on 127.0.0.1 failed, retrying (#3 of 3): Connection refused

  Or

  # cat /var/log/maillog | grep -i fail | grep -i spam | less
  spamc[32154]: connect to spamd on ::1 failed, retrying (#3 of 3): Connection refused

• The 127.0.0.1 IP address is assigned to several network interfaces:

  # ifconfig |grep -C 1 127
  lo Link encap:Local Loopback
  inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
  inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
  --
  venet0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
  inet addr:127.0.0.1 P-t-P:127.0.0.1 Bcast:0.0.0.0 Mask:255.255.255.255

• SpamAssassin service is listening to public IP:

  # netstat -tulpn | grep spam
  tcp 0 0 203.0.113.2:783 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 1018/.spamassassin

Cause

Unclear.

Resolution

Note: This article may require additional administrative knowledge to apply. If any help required, contact the server’s administrator or hosting support.

Re-assign SpamAssassin work process on server IP address, e.g 203.0.113.2:

1. Connect to the server via SSH.

2. For the spamd service add the following parameters in /etc/sysconfig/spamassassin using the command below:

   # echo -e '\nSPAMDOPTIONS="-i 203.0.113.2 -A 203.0.113.2 --nouser-config --username=popuser --daemonize --helper-home-dir=/var/qmail --virtual-config-dir=/var/qmail/mailnames/%d/%l/.spamassassin --create-prefs --max-children=1"' >> /etc/default/spamassassin

3. For spamc service edit /etc/mail/spamassassin/spamc.conf and add the parameter -d 203.0.113.2 in it.
   So the file will look as follows:

   # cat /etc/mail/spamassassin/spamc.conf
   -d 203.0.113.2

Re-assign SpamAssassin work process on localhost:

1. Connect to the server via SSH

2. Add the following parameters in /etc/default/spamassassin:

   # grep OPTIONS /etc/default/spamassassin | grep -v "#"
   OPTIONS="-i 127.0.0.1 -A 127.0.0.1 --create-prefs --daemonize --helper-home-dir=/var/qmail --max-children=1 --nouser-config --username=popuser --virtual-config-dir=/var/qmail/mailnames/%d/%l/.spamassassin"

3. Restart the service:

   # systemctl stop spamassassin.service
   # systemctl start spamassassin.service