Dovecot stops with No passdbs specified in configuration file error

Question

I'm working with Dovecot and Postfix but recently I tried to use Postfixadmin (following this references). Regardless Postfixadmin works normally, when somebody try to login via Outlook or Thunderbird with an existent email account, the Dovecot service stops with the following error:

Jul 20 16:12:41 email-server systemd[1]: Started Dovecot IMAP/POP3 email server.
Jul 20 16:12:41 email-server dovecot[28856]: master: Dovecot v2.3.4.1 (f79e8e7e4) starting up for imap, lmtp, imap, lmtp (core dumps disabled)
Jul 20 16:12:56 email-server dovecot[28858]: auth: Debug: Loading modules from directory: /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/auth
Jul 20 16:12:56 email-server dovecot[28858]: auth: Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/auth/lib20_auth_var_expand_crypt.so
Jul 20 16:12:56 email-server dovecot[28858]: auth: Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/auth/libdriver_mysql.so
Jul 20 16:12:56 email-server dovecot[28858]: auth: Fatal: No passdbs specified in configuration file. LOGIN mechanism needs one
Jul 20 16:12:56 email-server dovecot[28856]: master: Error: service(auth): command startup failed, throttling for 2 secs
Jul 20 16:12:56 email-server dovecot[28858]: imap-login: Disconnected: Auth process broken (disconnected before auth was ready, waited 0 secs): user=<>, rip=187.208.178.229, 
Jul 20 16:12:56 email-server dovecot[28858]: imap-login: Warning: Timeout leak: 0x7f112d1aa730 (auth-server-connection.c:397)

Regardless my /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext file contains already the following code my Dovecot continue crashing with the same error:

passdb {
  driver = sql
  args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext
}

userdb {
  driver = sql
  args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext
}

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 20 '22 at 17:53

The file you edited, /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext, is optionally included from another configuration file /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-auth.conf, usually commented out but ready to be activated. The default dovecot.conf includes only the additional config files ending in .conf, the .ext snippet files are usually optional components or extensions of those .conf files.

Comment out other unwanted auth-related includes, and make the commented include statement (#!include ..) a real include (!include ..)

When uncertain of any configuration file interpretation, use doveconf to print effective configuration, that should clarify any perceived mismatch between file content and Dovecot program behaviour.

Very well, I've commented out `!include auth-sql.conf.ext` from `/etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-auth.conf` which was causing the Dovecot crashing and now it works! Thank you! — Fernando Torres, Jul 20 '22 at 19:07

Dovecot stops with No passdbs specified in configuration file error

1 Answers1