Hi,

I can connect to the web sites very fast.
But connecting through FTP seems to be a little slow to authenticate, and
same with email. It seems to take a while to authenticate usernames


What would be the issue?

thanks

They're probably doing reverse DNS lookups and possibly Ident queries. What MTA, ftp and pop3 servers are you using?

Richard

Well, there is no reverse dns enabeled.


What do you mean by that?

What MTA, ftp and pop3 servers are you using?

Please let me know..

thanks

MTA = sendmail, postfix, exim, qmail, etc.

ftp = proftp, wu-ftp, etc.

pop3 = qpopper, qmail-pop3d, etc

If you don't know what servers are being used, if you can tell us what OS and control panel you are using that will help.

Richard

Thanks.

I am using Cpanel.

MTA = Sendmail

OS, we are using Linux Red hat 7.2

Not sure about pop3 and ftp.

How could I find it.


thanks

Are you using a firewall on the client machine?

If I go out through my firewall, ftp and pop3 auth takes a while longer than without the fw.

Matt

Hi,

Authentication through these servers are too slow, There is no firewall.

Thanks

FTP is probably proftp. You should have a file named /etc/proftpd.conf. You'll need to add the following lines near the top of the file:

UseReverseDNS off
Identlookups off

If it's slow sending mail using you server's smtp, sendmail may be timing out doing an Ident query. In the /etc/mail directory there should be a .mc file. Something like yourdomain.com.mc. Edit this file and add the following

define(`confTO_IDENT', `0s')

then compile and install a new sendmail.cf file by typing

make cf
make install

I'm not sure what pop server Cpanel uses. I haven't had a chance to dig around a Cpanel server as root yet :D If you'll look in the /etc/xinted.d directory you may see a file named pop-3 or something similar. If you can post the contents of that file that might help.

You should also check the file /etc/resolv.conf and verify that all the nameservers listed are correct. That can also slow authentications down.

Richard

hi,

i am experiencing a similar problem with one of my RH7.1 servers running sendmail and ipop3d.

While i am able to connect and check mails on other linux server and nt server extremely fast, this server of mine takes quite long to authenticate and login, also retrieving messages seems slow then other servers. The server isn't overloaded, http, ftp is quite fast, i am not behind any firewall.

What is POP delay? Do i need to change / alter some values?

For ipop3d edit your /etc/xinetd.d/ipop3 file and modify the log_on_success and log_on_failure to look like the following

log_on_success +=
log_on_failure +=

That should speed up your pop authentication.

Richard

Currently the file says;

log_on_success += USERID
log_on_failure += USERID

What will your suggested change do? pls explain.

Yes, the USERID causes the xinetd server to do an Ident query so that it can log the idently of the user trying to log in. If you would like to log some type of information you can replace USERID with HOST. That'll log the IP address. This type of information is usually logged by your pop server anyway, so it's somewhat redundant.

Richard

replacin USERID from HOST would not log userid in the /var/log/messages? is it so?

Originally posted by hostchamp
replacin USERID from HOST would not log userid in the /var/log/messages? is it so?
I'm not exactly sure what you're asking, but removing the USERID will stop xinetd from doing an Ident query and writing the response to that query to your log file. The Ident query is usually what is causing the delay when you try to check your pop mail.

This USERID is completely different from the username that the user will provide for logging into the pop server and if your pop server logs this information it will continue to do so.

Hope that answers your question :)

Richard

Sorry i will rephrase, would replacing USERID with HOST turn off logging the pop session in /var/log/messages?

But i believe you already asnwered it above, it will not.

What is an Ident query?

Also what would the Ident query log once USERID is replaced with HOST?

Appreciate your response, it helps a lot :)

Sorry i will rephrase, would replacing USERID with HOST turn off logging the pop session in /var/log/messages?

Replacing USERID with HOST will tell xinetd to write the IP address of the connecting computer instead of writing the response of an Ident query in the log. Replacing it with a blank tells it not to log any additional information. This logging is done by xinetd and is separate from any logging that your pop server may do.

What is an Ident query?

Here's the official RFC http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1413.txt

And here's why you don't need it http://www.clock.org/~fair/opinion/identd.html

Also what would the Ident query log once USERID is replaced with HOST?

If you remove USERID it will not do an Ident query, which is what you want since the Ident query is what is causing the delay.

Richard

Noldar, thanks!
That really helped and the links were a good addition.
I shall now try your tip.

Your welcome. Let us know if it helps :agree:

Richard