cannot connect to saslauthd server : no such file or dir?

Charles Read

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Jan 2, 2005, 8:56:38 PM1/2/05

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Hey everybody!

Im thrashing with a Debian sarge postfix install, trying to rig postfix
to use 'saslauthd -a pam', when I do 'testsaslauthd -u xxx -p xxx' it
returns success. When I connect via an MUA it rejects my passwords and
when I check the logs it shows:

Jan 2 20:43:33 ip-207-145-0-9 postfix/master[5690]: daemon started --
version 2.1.4
Jan 2 20:44:03 ip-207-145-0-9 postfix/smtpd[5693]: connect from
unknown[24.99.204.76]
Jan 2 20:44:03 ip-207-145-0-9 postfix/smtpd[5693]: warning: SASL
authentication failure: cannot connect to saslauthd server: No such
file or directory
Jan 2 20:44:03 ip-207-145-0-9 postfix/smtpd[5693]: warning: SASL
authentication failure: Password verification failed
Jan 2 20:44:03 ip-207-145-0-9 postfix/smtpd[5693]: warning:
unknown[24.99.204.76]: SASL PLAIN authentication failed
Jan 2 20:44:04 ip-207-145-0-9 postfix/smtpd[5693]: lost connection
after AUTH from unknown[24.99.204.76]
Jan 2 20:44:04 ip-207-145-0-9 postfix/smtpd[5693]: disconnect from
unknown[24.99.204.76]

I am aware the debian postfix runs chrooted and copied over my
smtpd.conf to every possible location
(/var/spool/postfix/usr/local/lib/sasl2 etc.) which reads:

pwcheck_method: sasauthd

which I think is working b/c postfix knows to use saslauthd but cant
reach it, I have confirmed that saslauthd is running and tested it like
said above.

Any help appreciated, you guys and gals are great!

Thanks!

Charles Read

Charles Read
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benjamin thielsen

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Jan 2, 2005, 9:09:52 PM1/2/05

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the postfix smtpd daemon cannot talk to saslauthd because postfix is
jailed. i had to edit /etc/init.d/saslauthd to include:

PARAMS="-m /var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd"

keep in mind i'm not using sasl for anything other than postfix. this
might not be where you want things if sasl is used by other processes..

and of course setup the necessary directories to accommodate the above:

mkdir /var/spool/postfix/var/
mkdir /var/spool/postfix/var/run/
mkdir /var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd
chown -R root:sasl /var/spool/postfix/var/

you might have to add postfix to the sasl group as well - i'm sure
someone will chime in if this is not necessary.
adduser postfix sasl

once things are working, you should see some *mux* files in
/var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd/

i hope this helps.

-ben

Charles Read

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Jan 2, 2005, 9:30:25 PM1/2/05

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Thanks! I added the exact thing you said, the PARAMS="etc.", did I put
it in the right spot? I also created the directories but it still
returns the same error, what are mux files? Below is a snippet of
/etc/init.d/saslauthd... do I need to create a link to saslauthd for
the chroot environment?

Thanks again!

#!/bin/sh -e

NAME=saslauthd
DAEMON="/usr/sbin/${NAME}"
DESC="SASL Authentication Daemon"
DEFAULTS=/etc/default/saslauthd
PWDIR=/var/run/saslauthd
PIDFILE="/var/run/${NAME}/saslauthd.pid"
PARAMS="-m /var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd"

createdir() {
# $1 = user
# $2 = group
# $3 = permissions (octal)
# $4 = path to directory
[ -d "$4" ] || mkdir -p "$4"
chown -c -h "$1:$2" "$4"
chmod -c "$3" "$4"

Charles Read
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benjamin thielsen

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Jan 2, 2005, 10:13:12 PM1/2/05

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did you restart saslauthd?

/etc/init.d/saslauthd stop
/etc/init.d/saslauthd start

look in /var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd to see if it creates a few
files (the aforementioned mux files) and such upon restarting it.

if you haven't already, you might also check /etc/default/saslauthd to
see that it contains

START=yes
MECHANISMS="pam"

-ben