dovecot won't start during boot

[Leander Janssen]

Dovecot won't automatically start during boot.
In /var/log/mail.log the following messages are logged:

Jan 9 17:46:40 njord dovecot: bind(<ip address>, 993) failed: Cannot assign requested address
Jan 9 17:46:40 njord dovecot: Fatal: listen(<ip address>, 993) failed: Cannot assign requested address

I think this issue is related to the fact that I've specified specific interfaces on which dovecot should listen in /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf:

protocol imap {
   listen = 94.142.x.x:143, 192.168.x.x:143
   ssl_listen = 94.142.x.x:993,[2a02:898:x::x:0]:993, 192.168.x.x:993
}

[Leander Janssen (leanderjanssen)]

Ubuntu release is Maverick
Dovecot version is 1:1.2.12-1ubuntu8

[Jussi Jaurola (jussi-jaurola)]

Hi!

Can you upload your /etc/network/interfaces-file? It might be that network is not fully up before your dovecot starts, can you also run sudo find /etc/rc* -name '*networking*' and sudo find /etc/rc* -name '*dovecot*'

[Leander Janssen (leanderjanssen)]

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
        address 94.142.x.x
        netmask 255.255.255.240
        network 94.142.x.0
        broadcast 94.142.x.x
        gateway 94.142.x.1
        # dns-* options are implemented by the resolvconf package, if installed
        dns-nameservers 94.142.x.1
        dns-search slaco.net

iface eth0 inet6 static
        address 2a02:898:x::x:0
        netmask 64
        gateway 2a02:898:x::1

# The private network interface
auto eth1
iface eth1 inet static
        address 192.168.x.x
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        network 192.168.x.0
        broadcast 192.168.x.255

iface eth1 inet6 static
        address 2a02:898:x:ffff::x:0
        netmask 64

[Leander Janssen (leanderjanssen)]

sudo find /etc/rc* -name '*networking*'
/etc/rc0.d/S35networking
/etc/rc6.d/S35networking

sudo find /etc/rc* -name '*dovecot*'

no matches, as dovecot is started by upstart

[Jussi Jaurola (jussi-jaurola)]

Hi,

Thank you. My mistake, I forgot that dovecot is moved to upstart, you could alter dovecots upstart-script (/etc/init/dovecot.conf) to be like;

start on (started rc-sysinit and net-device-up IFACE=eth0)

to ensure that network is up before upstart tries to start postfix-service. This is because it looks like now your server tries to start dovecot while network is still not up.

[Leander Janssen (leanderjanssen)]

I've tried your suggestion, but that doesn't seem to help.
Dovecot is not started during boot and I see the same "failed: Cannot assign requested address" messages in mail.log

I've pasted part of the /etc/init/dovecot.conf

# dovecot - pop3/imap mail server
#
# Dovecot is a mail server whose major goals are security and extreme reliabilit
y.

description "dovecot - pop3/imap mail server"

#start on started rc-sysinit
start on (started rc-sysinit and net-device-up IFACE=eth0)
stop on runlevel [!2345]

pre-start script
    test -x /usr/sbin/dovecot || { stop ; exit 0; }
    test -r /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf || { stop ; exit 0; }

<snip>

[Jussi Jaurola (jussi-jaurola)]

Thank you. So Dovecot is starting if you start it manually, but not during boot?

[Leander Janssen (leanderjanssen)]

Yes, when I (re)start it after boot it starts successfully.

[Clint Byrum (clint-fewbar)]

This bug was fixed in Oneiric by changing the boot sequence to not emit runlevel 2 until after all interfaces in /etc/network/interfaces are up.

[bamyasi (iadzhubey)]

There was apparently a regression in Ubuntu 15.10 since I started experiencing exactly the same problem with dovecot server failing to start on system boot after upgrading my computer to release 15.10 (from 15.04):

$ sudo systemctl status dovecot.service
● dovecot.service - Dovecot IMAP/POP3 email server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/dovecot.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2015-11-09 12:15:21 EST; 4min 21s ago
  Process: 798 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/dovecot -F (code=exited, status=89)
 Main PID: 798 (code=exited, status=89)

Nov 09 12:15:21 dovecot[798]: master: Error: service(imap-login): listen(192.168.1.100, 143) failed: Cannot assign...address
Nov 09 12:15:21 dovecot[798]: master: Error: bind(192.168.1.100, 993) failed: Cannot assign requested address
Nov 09 12:15:21 dovecot[798]: master: Error: service(imap-login): listen(192.168.1.100, 993) failed: Cannot assign...address
Nov 09 12:15:21 dovecot[798]: Error: service(imap-login): listen(192.168.1.100, 143) failed: Cannot assign requested address
Nov 09 12:15:21 dovecot[798]: Error: bind(192.168.1.100, 993) failed: Cannot assign requested address
Nov 09 12:15:21 dovecot[798]: Error: service(imap-login): listen(192.168.1.100, 993) failed: Cannot assign requested address
Nov 09 12:15:21 dovecot[798]: Fatal: Failed to start listeners
Nov 09 12:15:21 systemd[1]: dovecot.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=89/n/a
Nov 09 12:15:21 systemd[1]: dovecot.service: Unit entered failed state.
Nov 09 12:15:21 systemd[1]: dovecot.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

The network interface is configured dynamically by the DHCP server on the router.