Hello all,
I am relatively new to FreeBSD, with little prior Unix experience (have
YEARS of Microsoft server/network exp).
I installed FreeBSD 5.1-RELEASE (bought the FreeBSD Mail CD) on a clone
box (Abit IS7 motherboard, 2.4Ghz P4, 512M ram, 80GB sata drive, Intel
Pro 10/100 nic, no usb, no serial/parallel), installed qmail, vpopmail,
qmailadmin, etc (all latest versions) to use this box as an email server
for SMTP/POP3 clients. I use PuTTY 0.55 and SSH to admin the box. The
kernel is modified to include IPFW support.
The entire installation went well, no errors, hiccups, etc. (I went
through the entire installation 15-20 times before the final
installation, to make sure I was familiar with the process)
I immediately noticed that connecting to the POP server with email
client software is very quick most times, but slow, slower, or EXTREMELY
slow at others, with delays reaching 1-2 minutes at times. The
connection has timed-out once or twice (the client software timed-out,
actually, waiting for the connection)
Telnetting to port 110 on the server revealed that the welcome message
from the server would appear after a variable delay time. After entering
the username, it sometimes takes a minute or more to get the prompt for
the password. After entering the password, then the process of data
transfer from server to client is very quick, with no errors.
I am experiencing the same delay characteristics when connecting to
SMTP, and when using PuTTY. Once I get logged on with PuTTY, I am able
to 'su root', do anything I need to on the server, without any
noticeable delay in response (I'm not saying there is no delay, only
that I do not notice any). I use WinSCP3 v3.6.8 to transfer files
to/from the server, and have noticed that after I get through the
(delayed) login process, the file transfers occur very quickly, always,
without errors.
Logging in at the server console always works perfectly.
'netstat -an' shows that, during those periods where I am telnetting to
port 110, and waiting through one of these delays for just the welcome
message, an established connection already exists between my workstation
and the server. Under the 'Active Unix domain sockets' section, 'x'
number of streams exist, and when the server does finally respond,
additional streams have been created (as I write this, it occurs to me
that I don't know how many additional.. maybe two or three?)
Because of the nature of the symptoms, I think this is an authentication
issue, not related to the installation of qmail, etc.
To eliminate all hardware/configuration/compatibility/application-
software concerns, I installed the OS (only, GENERIC kernel) on another
box, a Dell PowerEdge server with scsi drives, connected on my local
lan... same result. Also installed (OS only, GENERIC kernel) on another
workstation, with ata ide drives... same result (meaning same login
delays with PuTTY).
Using ftp, I installed (from
www.freebsd.org) versions 4.10 and 5.2.1 at
different times... same result (using the PuTTY login as a test).
If this were Windows, I'd know just where to go and start looking for
clues. Being new to Unix, I'm almost certainly not looking in all the
right places, although I have gone through everything I find in var/log.
I've looked for (and looked at) any '.log'-type files I can find on the
system. I've read through 'The FreeBSD Handbook', 'Absolute BSD',
Googled my brains out, and looked at man pages, but haven't been able to
find the right document to help me, although I certainly read almost
everything Google returned that even looked close. I applied some
'sysctl' changes (suggested on Google result pages) in /etc/sysctl.conf,
but to no avail.
Having a delay instead of an outright 'timeout' makes it even harder to
troubleshoot, at least for me.
I feel pretty stupid right now (I know I'm not...), but I realize this
is only because I'm not sure of WHAT I am looking for, or exactly where
to look ('newbie' syndrome). I have tried to do my homework before this
post, but have exhausted my (limited knowledge) resources.
I will greatly appreciate it if anyone can point me in the right
direction, or ask me ANY question you like that might trigger my
understanding. I am obviously not lazy, and will hunt down anything I
need to supply/do/find/research, etc.
Thank you in advance for your time and help.
Les
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