Email - Dovecot 10-logging.conf

category: solutionz · date: 2019-12-31 · updated: 2026-10-02 · author: LALA

Email Solution · Config document · referenced from Dovecot authentication

Where Dovecot logs and how much it says about authentication. Everything goes to syslog with the facility mail, next to the Postfix messages, and failed logins are logged with their reason. Stock comments are left out.

Item	Value
Path on the server	`/etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-logging.conf`
Shown here	`DC2-A-VCMSX001`
Also on	`DC2-B-VCMSX001` and `DC2-A-VCMSX002`, with four more lines, see the table
Log file	`/var/log/maillog` through rsyslog, facility `mail`
Software	Dovecot 2.2 from the RHEL 7 repository; the exact package release is not recorded

The file

ini

# Both values are also the defaults; they are written out.
# CFG-ON  -> log_path = syslog
log_path = syslog

# CFG-ON  -> syslog_facility = mail
syslog_facility = mail

# Log failed authentication attempts and the reason. Default is no.
# CFG-ON  -> auth_verbose = yes
auth_verbose = yes

# Stock, empty: settings of the mail_log plugin.
plugin {
}

Differences between the hosts

Host	Line	Value
`DC2-A-VCMSX001`	`auth_verbose_passwords`, `auth_debug`, `auth_debug_passwords`, `mail_debug`	commented out, as in the stock file
`DC2-B-VCMSX001`	the same four	each set explicitly to `no`
`DC2-A-VCMSX002`	the same four	each set explicitly to `no`

no is the default of all four, so the three servers behave the same. The explicit lines look like debugging switches that were turned on once and turned off again by writing no instead of restoring the comment; the Source material does not say. On DC2-A-VCMSX001 a 10-logging.conf.rpmnew confirms that the three marked settings are the only local changes there.

Checked against Dovecot 2.4.5

As built	Today
`log_path = syslog`, `syslog_facility = mail`, `auth_verbose = yes`	all three still exist
`auth_debug = no`	`auth_debug` became `log_debug = category=auth`
`plugin { }`	the `plugin` section no longer exists

CentOS Stream 9 and 10, the upstream of RHEL 9 and 10, still carry Dovecot 2.3, so on RHEL the step from 2.2 to 2.3 comes first and the 2.4 syntax applies with upstream packages only.