Configure Dovecot POP/IMAP Mail Server in Linux

This is "How to" install and configure POP/IMAP server using Dovecot . This configurations should work in all RPM based linux distributions (Redhat, CentOS, Fedora, etc.)


Step1: Install Dovecot package
[root@server ~#]yum install dovecot


Step2: Edit the dovecot configuration file /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
[root@server ~#]vi /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf


#In the 31st line, enable line and edit 
listen = *

#(Save the dovecot.conf file)

Step3: Edit configuration file /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-auth.conf

#In the 9th line, enable the line, and edit as below

disable_plaintext_auth = no

#In the 97th line, Edit like below

auth_mechanisms = plain login

(Now save the 10-auth.conf file)

Step4: Edit configuration file /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf

[root@server ~#]vi /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf

#in the 30th line, enable it, and edit like below

mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir

(Save the 10-mail.conf file)

Step5:Edit the configuration file /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-master.conf

[root@server ~#]vi /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-master.conf

#Edit the lines from 84 to 88 as below (also enable these lines by removing the "#" infront of all lines ) 
#(the lines from 84 to 88 should be in the below order, you may need to add only 2 new lines)
unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth {
    mode = 0666
    user = postfix
    group = postfix
  }

(Now save the 10-master.conf file)

Step6: Start the Dovecot daemon

[root@server ~#]service dovecot start

[Important: By default Dovecot server will listen on port  143/TCP, so you should open this port in firewall or Click here to Disable firewall]

Continue building your Mail server

Related Topics: How to configure SMTP server using Postfix in Linux  (Click Here)

Related Topics: Final Configurations after configuring Postfix and Dovecot (Click Here)

LABELS: CentOS, Dovecot, E-mail, Fedora, How-To, IMAP, linux, Linux-server, Mail Server, POP, Redhat