[SWLUG] Postfix woes: Mail Transport Unavailable

[Emyr Derfel]

Hi all

This problem concerns the following software, freshly installed on new
hardware to replace an unstable WinXP/Vpop3_ISP aliasing solution:
Arch Linux, Postfix, Courier-imap, and eventually spamassassin when it
works enough to consider poking at again.

I have the following line in /var/log/mail.log:
postfix/qmgr[3465]: warning: connect to transport private/smtp:
Connection refused

after that line, outbound mail (i.e not delivered into a Maildir)
passes from smtpd, to the active queue, then eventually a line like
this appears:
postfix/error[3973]: 197FD12EA12D: to=<person at addressremoved.co.uk>,
relay=none, delay=5820, delays=5820/0/0/0.13, dsn=4.3.0,
status=deferred (mail transport unavailable)

I tried using a relayhost line in /etc/postfix/main.cf to send via BT
(our ISP) but I took that out again after realising I didn't know how
to make it authenticate yet.

So far I have 37 messages in the deferred queue, which is only twice
the number of angry people I'll have when the boss comes back on
Monday.

The MX record does point to our router, which has this linux server as
the DMZ host. Incoming mail seems to work fine as does local to local
mail. I've just learnt how to use sendmail -q to move deferred items
back into the active queue, so as soon as it all works I can give it a
shove.

Any suggestions?

Emyr