warning: process /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/qmgr pid 206673 exit status 1

Question

I set up postfix as per https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-and-configure-postfix-as-a-send-only-smtp-server-on-ubuntu-20-04

I tried sending a test email. I did not get an error message, but email was never delivered. Looked at log. Got this output:

Apr 27 22:33:02 postfix/master[204809]: warning: process /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/qmgr pid 206673 exit status 1

Apr 27 22:33:02 postfix/master[204809]: warning: /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/qmgr: bad command startup – throttling

Apr 27 22:33:02 postfix/master[204809]: warning: process /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/pickup pid 206672 exit status 1

Apr 27 22:33:02 postfix/master[204809]: warning: /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/pickup: bad command startup – throttling

Apr 27 22:34:02 postfix/pickup[206796]: fatal: open dictionary: expecting “type:name” form instead of “site:”

Apr 27 22:34:02 postfix/qmgr[206795]: fatal: open dictionary: expecting “type:name” form instead of “site:”

Apr 27 22:34:03 postfix/master[204809]: warning: process /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/qmgr pid 206795 exit status 1

Apr 27 22:34:03 postfix/master[204809]: warning: /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/qmgr: bad command startup – throttling

Apr 27 22:34:03 postfix/master[204809]: warning: process /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/pickup pid 206796 exit status 1

Apr 27 22:34:03 postfix/master[204809]: warning: /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/pickup: bad command startup – throttling

Anything here sticks out to anyone here?

Bobby · Answer

Hi there,

Based on the logs, the issue seems to be related to an incorrect configuration in your Postfix configuration file. The error message fatal: open dictionary: expecting “type:name” form instead of “site:” indicates that there might be a problem with the format of a lookup table in your configuration.

To resolve this issue, you should double-check your configuration files (mainly /etc/postfix/main.cf and /etc/postfix/master.cf) for any incorrect syntax or misconfiguration related to lookup tables.

Here are some steps to help you find the issue:

Open /etc/postfix/main.cf and search for any lines containing the word “site”. Check if there are any lines that might be causing the problem.
If you find any problematic lines, either fix the syntax or comment them out (by adding a # at the beginning of the line) if they are not necessary for your configuration.
Similarly, check the /etc/postfix/master.cf file for any incorrect configurations.
After making any changes, restart Postfix with the following command: