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Unable to send mail messages: fatal: no SASL authentication mechanisms

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Alisa Kasyanova
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Applicable to:

  • Plesk for Linux

Symptoms

  1. Unable to send mail messages;

  2. The following error could be found in /var/log/maillog :

    CONFIG_TEXT: postfix/smtpd[25002]: connect from example.com[127.0.0.1]
    postfix/smtpd[25002]: warning: SASL: Connect to private/auth failed: Connection refused
    postfix/smtpd[25002]: fatal: no SASL authentication mechanisms
    postfix/master[24991]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd pid 25002 exit status 1
    server postfix/master[24991]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling

  3. Parameter smtpd_sasl_type is enabled in /etc/postfix/main.cf file.

    # grep smtpd_sasl_type /etc/postfix/main.cf
    smtpd_sasl_type = ***

  4. When sending email using Horde webmail, the following errors appear in the /var/log/psa-horde/psa-horde.log with the enabled debug:

    CONFIG_TEXT: ERR: HORDE [imp] Error connecting to SMTP server ERR: HORDE [imp] Error when communicating with the server

Cause

Misconfiguration in /etc/postfix/main.cf file.

Resolution

Note: if direct SSH access to the server is not possible, contact server administrator for further assistance

  1. Log in the server via SSH;

  2. Open the file /etc/postfix/main.cf in any text editor and remove the string with smtpd_sasl_type parameter.

  3. Reload postfix service:

    # service postfix reload

Note: By default, Postfix SMTP server configured by Plesk uses Cyrus SASL implementation.

Comments

3 comments

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  • Avatar
    Yves YperLine

    I have the same problem and my string is smtp_sasl_type = dovecot

    If the string smtp_sasl_type is removed, does that mean sasl is disabled ?

     

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  • Avatar
    Konstantin Annikov

    Hello Yves, 

    The smtp_sasl_type parameter is defined to choose he SASL plug-in type that the Postfix SMTP client should use for authentication. The available types are listed with the "postconf -A" command.

    If the string is not defined, the SASL authentication will be still in use, but without plugins. If it is needed to disable SASL authentication, please change the 

    smtpd_sasl_auth_enable =yes

    to 

    smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = no 

    In the same configuration file. 

    You can read more about both parameters in official postfix documentation: 

    http://www.postfix.org/postconf.5.html#smtp_sasl_type

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  • Avatar
    Yves YperLine

    Thank you Konstantin.  You give me the exact solution.

    Indeed ! postconf -A  gives cyrus.

    So, I changed smptd_sasl_type = dovecot  to  smptd_sasl_type = cyrus

    It seems it works fine now ! 

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