[Mailman-Users] Low level smtp error - connection refused

[Andy McHargue]

Hi all,

Hoping you can help a newbie with a Mailman install.  Using Sendmail.

I can't get Mailman to distribute messages.  I see the messages in 
~mailman/lists/test3/digest.mbox, so they seem to be reaching the server 
OK, just not being sent on.  In smtp-failure I'm getting:

Feb 08 16:44:41 2005 (1411) Low level smtp error: (111, 'Connection 
refused'), msgid: <420932AE.9060209 at usc.edu>
Feb 08 16:44:41 2005 (1411) delivery to mchargue [at] usc.edu failed 
with code -1: (111, 'Connection refused')

Specs on my install:
version: Mailman 2.1.5
installation: no rpm; followed the instructions at 
http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-install/mailman-install.html
OS version: Linux 2.4.9-e.49 #1 Fri Aug 6 11:56:52 EDT 2004 i686 unknown
MTA : Sendmail

When logged into the machine, telnet localhost 25 -- results in 
'connection refused' -- uhh, is this a problem?  Since my messages are 
reaching mailman, I'm not sure.  If it's a problem, how can I correct.

Here are more notes, mostly a recap of my reading of FAQ 3.14 
(http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/faqw-mm.py?req=show&file=faq03.014.htp)

FAQ 3.14:
"
   Mailman would accept messages but they wouldn't go anywhere.
   logs/smtp would just show "All recipients refused: (61,
   'Connection refused')". My mailserver is configured to listen
   only on its external IP address, no localhost or anything like
   that. I had to add to ~mailman/Mailman/mm_cfg.py:
      SMTPHOST = '<ip of my mailserver>'
   After that Mailman started working perfectly.
"
Tried that, didn't do anything for me. I get a different error code in 
smtp-failure, fwiw:
Feb 08 16:44:41 2005 (1411) Low level smtp error: (111, 'Connection 
refused'), msgid: <420932AE.9060209 at usc.edu>
Feb 08 16:44:41 2005 (1411) delivery to mchargue [at] usc.edu failed 
with code -1: (111, 'Connection refused')


* I ran bin/check_perms -- "No problems found"

* crontab -u mailman crontab.in -- no errors,
BUT when I ps -aux |grep cron |grep -v grep, I don't find cron or 
crond??  Apparently my system lacks cron which seems very odd.
but, the stuff in ~mailman/cron/crontab.in doesn't look that crucial?  
or am i missing something.

* mailmanctl is running.

* aliases look OK e.g.
test3:              "|/usr/local/mailman/mail/mailman post test3"
test3-admin:        "|/usr/local/mailman/mail/mailman admin test3"
etc.; there are like 10

* ran newaliases after updating /etc/aliases

* I don't have any virtual domains to configure.

* no smrsh in sendmail.cf, though an empty dir exists at /etc/smrsh ???

* sendmail.cf : DaemonPortOptions=Name=MTA
Tried changing to
O DaemonPortOptions=Name=MTA,Port=smtp
per a googled recommendation, but that didn't seem to help

* mailq : /var/spool/mqueue is empty

* nothing in  /var/log/maillog

Anything else I should check?

Thanks,
Andy