Re: [Evolution] Can't send mail over an OpenVPN connection with Evolution.

["G.W. Haywood" <evolution jubileegroup co uk>]

Hi there,

On Wed, 23 Apr 2014, Christian Dysthe wrote:

> I'm running Evolution 3.10.4 on Ubuntu GNOME 14.04. I am not able to
> send mail over an OpenVPN connection with one of my IMAP accounts, but
> can send from others (this mail is sent with Gmail while on the VPN).
> I get the following error message after a while when trying to send
> from this particular account:
>
> "Cound not connect to "mail.XXXXXX.com:587: I/O operation timed out".
>
> I can send with this account when not on the VPN. ...

There are at least four areas that need to be investigated.

Remember that the OpenVPN connection between the two parties (client
and server) will be using different IP addresses from those used when
the communications are not routed over the VPN.  This means that

1. The server and client must have correctly configure routes, so that
   the packets can actually cross the network from client to server
   and back.  If your VPN is actually up (check the OpenVPN logs) then
   the routes are set up more or less OK for the non-VPN IP addresses,
   but that doesn't mean they're OK for the VPN addresses.  They might
   not exist at all.  The routes are usually created by configuration
   statements in the OpenVPN configuration files after the VPN becomes
   ready, and usually deleted when the VPN is closed down.

2. The server and client must be sending and receiving on the correct IP.
   It is possible that the server is not listening to the VPN IP at all.
   That's decided by the server administrator.

3. Any firewalls in the path must be configured to pass the VPN packets.
   That's decided by the firewall administrator(s).  If for example it's
   an iptables firewall, you're looking for FORWARD rules or similar.

4. If you access the server by its FQDN, the nameserver which gives out
   the IP address needs to know the VPN IP address.  If it returns some
   public IP address then the client will send packets there instead of
   to the VPN address.  That's largely up to you (for example you could
   put something in /etc/hosts, or run your own nameserver) or possibly
   whoever administers your DNS service if you're using one.

Have you tried to access this server using its VPN IP address instead
of its FQDN?

--

73,
Ged.