Sending outgoing emails from this dovecot/postfix server is Ok (ie emails received at destination) but incoming mails keep getting the logs below :
smtp.myportaltech.com[202.6.163.31]:25: Connection timed out Feb 21 16:37:04 hostname postfix/smtp[1381]: 8B35C200060: to=recipient_idg@myportaltech.com, relay=none, delay=30, delays=0.1/0.01/30/0, dsn=4.4.1, status=deferred (connect to smtp.myportaltech.com[202.6.163.31]:25: Connection timed out)
From this postfix server, if I tried doing "telnet 202.6.163.31 25" it won't respond. That is the public IP address.
If I issue "telnet private_IP_address 25" , it responds. My firewall colleague said it's not feasible to create a firewall rule from this server to its own external public address - is this a valid comment?
I'm not sure if this is the issue but I've also defined smtp.myportaltech.com in /etc/hosts to point to my server's private address but seems like smtp/postfix (or dovecot?) is still trying to connect to the external private address when it attempts to connect to smtp.myportaltech.com
Thanks Sun