Ian Masters: > Hello, > > I've set up a local mail server with Postfix 2.3.3 and Dovecot 1.0.7 on > CentOS 5.2. > > This is the first time I've used Postfix. > > I can send and receive local mail which, for the moment, is fine. > > When I tried to send a mail to an external mail address, the delivery > failed, but I did not get a mail from the server notifying me of that.
The delivery did not fail. The conection timed out. Postfix tries again every so often until it gives up. You get notification when postfix gives up. By default, Postfix gives up after four days ($maximal_queue_lifetime) You can also get notification when Postfix hasn't given up, but that will be sent only once ($delay_warning_time). > Using "mailq" I can see that the mail is languishing there: > > (connect to alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[209.85.163.27]: Connection > timed out) This shows that Postfix has not yet given up. > I'd like to know why I didn't get notified. You really don't want notification of every mail delivery attempt every five minutes or so. > According to http://www.postfix.org/bounce.5.html: > "The Postfix bounce(8) server produces delivery status > notification (DSN) messages for undeliverable mail, > delayed mail, successful delivery or address verification > requests. Your mail is not undeliverable, that is why it is still in the queue. It becomes undeliverable when the destination rejects it, or when Postfix gives up retrying. Wietse
