Docs / Obsidian Mail Server / Running the server

Troubleshooting

Start with the Setup guide: it checks the host name, DNS records and certificate, which cause most problems.

Mail from outside does not arrive

1. Is the MX record right? The Domains page shows it. It must point to mail.example.com (or to your filtering gateway, which must then deliver to this server).
2. Can the internet reach port 25? From a computer outside your network, telnet mail.example.com 25 should answer with 220 mail.example.com. If not, check port forwarding and firewalls; many home internet lines block incoming port 25.
3. Did it arrive and go somewhere unexpected? Search for the sender in Track a message. Delivered means it is in the mailbox, perhaps moved by one of the person's rules or into Junk Email.
4. Was it refused? The sender's error message says why. 550 5.1.1 means the address does not exist here: check the spelling, and the person's addresses under Users & groups.

Mail to outside does not arrive

1. Open Track a message and search for the recipient.
   • Delayed: the Details column has the other server's answer; the server keeps trying for 2 days.
   • Failed: the other server refused it; the sender received a notice with the reason.
2. Connection timed out on every attempt usually means your provider blocks outgoing port 25: send through their relay instead (see Mail flow).
3. Rejected as spam, or lands in the recipient's spam folder: check the SPF record (see DNS), the reverse DNS of your IP address, and whether your IP address is on a blocklist (MXToolbox has a blacklist check). A relay with a good reputation is the fastest fix.

Apps do not connect

• Password: can the person sign in to webmail at https://mail.example.com/mail? If not, reset the password.
• Too many attempts: after 10 wrong passwords within 15 minutes the account and the IP address are blocked for a while. A phone with an old password can cause this for everyone behind the same internet connection; fix the phone and wait 15 minutes.
• Certificate: a self-signed or expired certificate makes phones and Macs warn or fail. See Certificates.
• Automatic setup fails: the domain needs its autodiscover record, and the certificate must include autodiscover.<domain>. Setting up manually with server mail.example.com works around both.
• Phone asks to accept security rules: that is the phone security policy; the person must accept it.
• Phone blocked: check Phones & tablets for a blocked or erase-pending device.

A service shows as down

The home page shows each service (mail transfer, IMAP, POP3, web) and whether its ports are listening. If one is down, look at the log:

sudo journalctl -u obsidian-mailserver -n 100

A common cause is another program using the same port after changes to the machine, or an error in a manual edit of the configuration file. The log names the problem.

The server does not start

sudo systemctl status obsidian-mailserver
sudo journalctl -u obsidian-mailserver-init -n 50
sudo journalctl -u obsidian-mailserver -n 100

• After editing the configuration file: it must stay valid JSON. Check it with python3 -m json.tool /etc/obsidian-mailserver/appsettings.json; it prints the line of any error.
• Database not reachable: check PostgreSQL with sudo systemctl status postgresql.
• Disk full: df -h /var/lib. Mail stops being accepted when the disk is full.

Logs and useful commands

Getting help

When asking for help, include the server version (0.9.0), what happened and when, and the relevant lines of the log. Never share passwords or the contents of /etc/obsidian-mailserver/db-password.