How to start dovecot?

Question

I'm building a web server to host multiple websites. I got everything working except the mail server. I'm using linode to host my vps and I've been following their tutorials. FYI, I'm using Ubuntu 11.10.

Here is the link I've been following, http://library.linode.com/email/postfix/dovecot-mysql-ubuntu-10.04-lucid. I got up to the part where it tells me to restart dovecot, so I tried "service dovecot restart". But then I get this "restart: Unknown instance:". I'm logged in as root, so I'm not using sudo.

Since that didn't work I tried "/etc/init.d/dovecot restart" and I get "dovecot start/running, process 4760". So I try "/etc/init.d/dovecot status" and I get "dovecot stop/waiting".

So I tried "service dovecot start" and I get "dovecot start/running, process 4781". So I tried to get the status, so I tired "service dovecot status" and got "dovecot stop/waiting"

Then I tired "/etc/init.d/dovecot start" and I get "dovecot start/running, process 4794". So I tired to get the status, so I tired "/etc/init.d/dovecot status" and got "dovecot stop/waiting"

Just for kicks and giggles I tired to kill the process, I used the PID that I got when I did "service dovecot start", this was the command "kill -9 4444" and I get this "bash: kill: (4805) - No such process"

Am I doing something wrong?

--EDIT 1--

The following are logs that were found in /var/log/syslog that involved dovecot

dovecot: master: Dovecot v2.0.13 starting up (core dumps disabled)
dovecot: ssl-params: Generating SSL parameters
dovecot: ssl-params: SSL parameters regeneration completed
dovecot: master: Warning: Killed with signal 15 (by pid=1 uid=0 code=kill)
dovecot: config: Warning: Killed with signal 15 (by pid=1 uid=0 code=kill)
dovecot: anvil: Warning: Killed with signal 15 (by pid=1 uid=0 code=kill)
dovecot: log: Warning: Killed with signal 15 (by pid=1 uid=0 code=kill)
kernel: init: dovecot main process (10276) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (10289) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (10452) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (2275) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (3028) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (3216) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (3230) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (3254) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (3813) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (3845) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (4664) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (4760) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (4781) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (4794) terminated with status 89
kernel: init: dovecot main process (4805) terminated with status 89

--Edit 2 (/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf)--

The following is the dovecot.conf file

protocols = imap imaps pop3 pop3s
log_timestamp = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S "
mail_location = maildir:/home/vmail/%d/%n/Maildir

ssl_cert_file = /etc/ssl/certs/dovecot.pem
ssl_key_file = /etc/ssl/private/dovecot.pem

namespace private {
    separator = .
    prefix = INBOX.
    inbox = yes
}

protocol lda {
    log_path = /home/vmail/dovecot-deliver.log
    auth_socket_path = /var/run/dovecot/auth-master
    postmaster_address = postmaster@[mydomainname.com]
    mail_plugins = sieve
    global_script_path = /home/vmail/globalsieverc
}

protocol pop3 {
    pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv
}

auth default {
    user = root

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

    userdb static {
        args = uid=5000 gid=5000 home=/home/vmail/%d/%n allow_all_users=yes
    }

    socket listen {
        master {
            path = /var/run/dovecot/auth-master
            mode = 0600
            user = vmail
        }

        client {
            path = /var/spool/postfix/private/auth
            mode = 0660
            user = postfix
            group = postfix
        }
    }
}

-- Edit 3 (/var/log/mail.log) --

The following is what is in /var/log/mail.log

dovecot: master: Dovecot v2.0.13 starting up (core dumps disabled)
dovecot: ssl-params: Generating SSL parameters
postfix/master[9917]: daemon started -- version 2.8.5, configuration /etc/postfix
dovecot: ssl-params: SSL parameters regeneration completed
postfix/master[9917]: terminating on signal 15
postfix/master[10196]: daemon started -- version 2.8.5, configuration /etc/postfix
dovecot: master: Warning: Killed with signal 15 (by pid=1 uid=0 code=kill)
dovecot: config: Warning: Killed with signal 15 (by pid=1 uid=0 code=kill)
dovecot: anvil: Warning: Killed with signal 15 (by pid=1 uid=0 code=kill)
dovecot: log: Warning: Killed with signal 15 (by pid=1 uid=0 code=kill)
postfix/master[2435]: daemon started -- version 2.8.5, configuration /etc/postfix
postfix/master[2435]: terminating on signal 15
postfix/master[2965]: daemon started -- version 2.8.5, configuration /etc/postfix

Answer 1

As a general tip, try running dovecot directly in the foreground:

dovecot -F

The reason is the foreground will often output loadup error messages directly to the console, which will often allow you to quickly track down errors that are not usually logged (such as config parsing errors).