Disconnected: Maximum number of connections from user+IP exceeded

microvax

• April 19, 2024 16:37

Hello,

Can you help me with this error message that is receiving one of my users

 

Apr 19 10:48:24 s2 dovecot: pop3-login: Disconnected: Maximum number of connections from user+IP exceeded (mail_max_userip_connections=3): user=<user@domain>,

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  cPRex Jurassic Moderator

  • April 19, 2024 18:20

  Hey there!  This is just letting you know that there is a limit being hit for that user or account.  This can be adjusted in WHM >> Mailserver Configuration, although the default is set to 20:

  https://docs.cpanel.net/whm/service-configuration/mailserver-configuration/

  Has that value been changed on your machine?

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  gvard

  • December 31, 2025 07:54
  • Edited

  Hello cPRex,

  I just wanted to let you know that according to the documentation provided by you, the default value is 3 not 20 as you mention.

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  cPRex Jurassic Moderator

  • December 31, 2025 15:40

  Ah, I think there was some confusion on what specific value we were talking about.  

  Maximum IMAP Connections Per IP defaults to 20.

  Maximum POP Connections per IP defaults to 3.

  so you may need to adjust either or both for your machine.

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  Antonio Caporrini

  • February 06, 2026 15:32

  Hi, one of my users is having the same problem, but i don't know if he's using imap or pop3. This is an error message shown in Outlook. 
  
  

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  gvard

  • February 06, 2026 17:47

  Antonio Caporrini he's using POP3 which has 3 max connections per IP. You can either raise this number or have him make fewer connections (instead every 1 minute, have him make every 3 or 5 minutes for example).

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