Postfix
From Postfix's site:
- "Postfix attempts to be fast, easy to administer, and secure, while at the same time being sendmail compatible enough to not upset existing users. Thus, the outside has a sendmail-ish flavor, but the inside is completely different."
The goal of this article is to setup postfix for virtual mailbox delivery only. There will be no delivery to user accounts on the system (Template:Filename). Further, access will only be available via a web mail frontend (squirrelmail), no direct pop3 or imap access will be granted. It should be fairly easy to allow those additional features given the information below, but it is not within the scope of this document.
For a local mail delivery guide guide, see: Local Mail Delivery with Postfix.
Contents
- 1 Required packages
- 2 Postfix Installation
- 3 Postfix Configuration
- 3.1 Step 1: Ensure DNS setup
- 3.2 Step 2: /etc/postfix/master.cf
- 3.3 Step 3: /etc/postfix/main.cf
- 3.4 Step 4. /etc/postfix/aliases
- 3.5 Step 5. /etc/postfix/virtual_alias
- 3.6 Step 6. mysql_virtual_domains.cf
- 3.7 Step 7. mysql_virtual_mailboxes.cf
- 3.8 Step 8. mysql_virtual_forwards.cf
- 3.9 Step 9. postfix check
- 3.10 Step 10. /etc/rc.conf
- 3.11 Step 11. newuser
- 4 Mysql configuration
- 5 Test Postfix
- 6 Courier IMAP Installation
- 7 Configure Courier IMAP
- 8 Squirrelmail Installation
- 9 Configure Squirrelmail
- 10 See also
- 11 External links
Required packages
- postfix (compiled for mysql support)
- courier-imap
- squirrelmail
- mysql
- apache
- ssl
If you have trouble finding a package specific to this How-To, try the resources link at the bottom.
Postfix Installation
Step 1: Install Postfix
Postfix with MySQL enabled is required for this HOW-TO. So we will install the package called postfix which can be found in the official repositories.
Step 2: Check /etc/passwd, /etc/group
Make sure that the following shows up in /etc/passwd
:
postfix:x:73:73::/var/spool/postfix:/bin/false
Make sure that the following shows up in /etc/group
:
postdrop:x:75: postfix:x:73:
Postfix Configuration
Step 1: Ensure DNS setup
For mail delivery on the internet, your dns must be correct. An MX record should point to the mail host. It should be noted that some mail servers will not deliver mail to you if your MX record points to a CNAME. For best results, always point an MX record to an A record definition. More info about DNS and records is beyond the scope of this document.
Step 2: /etc/postfix/master.cf
This is the Pipeline configuration file, in which you can put your new pipes e.g. to check for Spam!
Step 3: /etc/postfix/main.cf
Step 3.1 myhostname
set myhostname if your mail server has multiple domains, and you do not want the primary domain to be the mail host. The default is to use the result of a gethostname() call if nothing is specified. For our purposes we will just set it as follows:
myhostname = mail.nospam.net
This is assuming that a DNS A record, and an MX record both point to mail.nospam.net
Step 3.2 mydomain
this is usually the value of myhostname, minus the first part. If your domain is wonky, then just set it manually.
mydomain = nospam.net
Step 3.3 myorigin
this is where the email will be seen as being sent from. I usually set this to the value of mydomain. For simple servers, this works fine. This is for mail originating from a local account. Since we are not doing local delivery (except sending), then this is not really as important as it normally would be.
myorigin = $mydomain
Step 3.4 mydestination
This is the lookup for local users. Since we are not going to deliver internet mail for any local users, set this to localhost only.
mydestination = localhost
Step 3.5 mynetworks and mynetwork_style
Both of these control relaying, and whom is allowed to. We do not want any relaying. For our sakes, we will simply set mynetwork_style to host, as we are trying to make a standalone postfix host, that people with use webmail on. No relaying, no other MTA's. Just webmail.
mynetworks_style = host
Step 3.6 relaydomains
This controls the destinations that postfix will relay TO. The default value is $mydestination. This should be fine for now.
relay_domains = $mydestination
Step 3.7 home_mailbox
This setting controls how mail is stored for the users. Set this to "Maildir/", as courier IMAP requires Maildir style mail storage. This is a good thing. Maildir format mailboxes remove the possible race conditions that can occur with old style mbox formats. No more need to deal with file locking. The '/' at the end is REQUIRED.
home_mailbox = Maildir/
Step 3.8 virtual_mail
Virtual mail is mail that does not map to a user account (/etc/passwd). This is where all the email for the system will be kept. We are not doing local delivery, remember, so if you want a user that has the same name as a local user, just make a virtual account with the same name. First thing we need to do is add the following:
virtual_mailbox_domains = virtualdomain.tld virtual_alias_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/virtual_alias, mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql_virtual_forwards.cf virtual_mailbox_domains = mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql_virtual_domains.cf virtual_mailbox_maps = mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql_virtual_mailboxes.cf virtual_mailbox_base = /home/vmailer virtual_uid_maps = static:5003 virtual_gid_maps = static:5003 virtual_minimum_uid = 5003 virtual_mailbox_limit = 51200000
virtual_mailbox_domains is a list of the domains that you want to receive mail for. This CANNOT be the same thing that is listed in mydestination. That is why we left mydestination to be localhost only. virtual_mailbox_maps will contain the info about the virtual users and their mailbox locations. We are using a hash file to store the more permanent maps, and these will override the forwards in the mysql database.
virtual_mailbox_base is the base dir where the virtual mailboxes will be stored. The gid and uid maps are the real system user account that the virtual mail will be owned by. This is for storage purposes. Since we will be using a web interface, and do not want people accessing this by any other means, we will be creating this account later with no login access. Virtual_mailbox_limit controls the size of the mailbox. I do not know how well this works yet. I have set the size above to about 50MB.
Step 3.9 Default message & mailbox size limits
Postfix imposes both message and mailbox size limits by default. The message_size_limit controls the maximum size in bytes of a message, including envelope information. (default 10240000) The mailbox_size_limit controls the maximum size of any local individual mailbox or maildir file. This limits the size of any file that is written to upon local delivery, including files written by external commands (i.e. procmail) that are executed by the local delivery agent. (default is 51200000, set to 0 for no limit) If bounced message notifications are generated, check the size of the local mailbox under /var/spool/mail and use postconf to check these size limits:
supersff:~> postconf -d mailbox_size_limit mailbox_size_limit = 51200000 supersff:~> postconf -d message_size_limit message_size_limit = 10240000
Step 4. /etc/postfix/aliases
We need to map some aliases to real accounts. The default setup by arch looks pretty good here. =D Uncomment the following line, and change it to a real account. I put the user account on the box that I use. Best not to just send mail to root, because you do not want to be logging in as root or checking email as root. Not good. Sudo is your friend, and so is forwarding root mail. Since this is for local delivery only (syslogs and stuff), it is still within the realm of mydestination.
root: cactus
Once you have finished editing /etc/postfix/aliases you must run the postalias command.
postalias /etc/postfix/aliases
Step 5. /etc/postfix/virtual_alias
Create /etc/postfix/virtual_alias with the following contents
MAILER-DAEMON: postmaster postmaster: root # General redirections for pseudo accounts bin: root daemon: root named: root nobody: root uucp: root www: root ftp-bugs: root postfix: root # Put your local aliases here. # Well-known aliases manager: root dumper: root operator: root abuse: postmaster # trap decode to catch security attacks decode: root # Person who should get root's mail. Don't receive mail as root! root: cactus@virtualdomain.tld
Then run the postalias command on it.
postalias /etc/postfix/virtual_alias
Step 6. mysql_virtual_domains.cf
Create the /etc/postfix/mysql_virtual_domains.cf file with the following (or similar) contents:
user = postfixuser password = XXXXXXXXXX hosts = localhost dbname = postfix table = domains select_field = 'virtual' where_field = domain
Step 7. mysql_virtual_mailboxes.cf
Create the /etc/postfix/mysql_virtual_mailboxes.cf file with the following (or similar) contents:
user = postfixuser password = XXXXXXXXXX hosts = localhost dbname = postfix table = users select_field = concat(domain,'/',email,'/') where_field = email
Step 8. mysql_virtual_forwards.cf
Create the /etc/postfix/mysql_virtual_forwards.cf file with the following (or similar) contents:
user = postfixuser password = XXXXXXXXXX hosts = localhost dbname = postfix table = forwardings select_field = destination where_field = source
Step 9. postfix check
Run the postfix check command. It should output anything that you might have done wrong in a config file. To see all of your configs, type postconf. To see how you differ from the defaults, try postconf -n
Step 10. /etc/rc.conf
Add postfix to the list of daemons. Put it near the right side, after iptables and network. Put it after mysqld, as we are going to be using mysql for some of the virtual domain information storage. It is also best to put it before httpd, as it might be possible, however unlikely, for a webmail user to try something before postfix has fully started.
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng hotplug !pcmcia iptables network netfs crond sshd mysqld postfix httpd)
Step 11. newuser
We need to create the user for storing the virtual mail. Create a vmailuser as follows:
groupadd -g 5003 vmail useradd -g vmail -u 5003 -d /home/vmailer -s /bin/false vmailer mkdir /home/vmailer chown vmailer.vmail /home/vmailer chmod -R 750 /home/vmailer passwd vmailer
note that 5003 is the gid specified in the postfix main.cf file. note that 5003 is the uid specified in the postfix main.cf file.
Mysql configuration
Step 1. Create a mysql Database
Create mysql database called 'postfix', or something similar.
CREATE DATABASE postfix; USE postfix;
Step 2. Create a mysql user
Add a user for postfix to use. Something like \"postfixuser\". Give permissions for postfix user to the table. This user should be listed in the /etc/postfix/mysqlvirtualdomains.cf file.
The official reference manual has a detailed guide on user management and server administration in general.
The following is just an example for creation of 'postfixuser' with password 'XXXXXXXXXX'. Note that the GRANT statements need to be executed after creating the tables in the next step.
CREATE USER 'postfixuser' IDENTIFIED BY 'XXXXXXXXXX'; GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON domains TO postfixuser; GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON forwardings TO postfixuser; GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON users TO postfixuser;
Step 3. Setup table structure.
Import the following table structure.
CREATE TABLE `domains` ( `domain` varchar(50) NOT NULL default '', PRIMARY KEY (`domain`), UNIQUE KEY `domain` (`domain`) ); CREATE TABLE `forwardings` ( `source` varchar(80) NOT NULL default '', `destination` text NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (`source`) ); CREATE TABLE `users` ( `email` varchar(80) NOT NULL default '', `password` varchar(20) NOT NULL default '', `quota` varchar(20) NOT NULL default '20971520', `domain` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '', UNIQUE KEY `email` (`email`) );
Step 4. Add a domain.
INSERT INTO `domains` VALUES ('virtualdomain.tld');
Step 5. Add a user.
INSERT INTO `users` VALUES ('cactus@virtualdomain.tld', 'secret', '20971520', 'virtualdomain.tld');
The above creates the user and sets a password as secret.
This will allow you to use encrypted passwords
INSERT INTO `users` VALUES ('cactus@virtualdomain.tld', ENCRYPT('secret'), '20971520', 'virtualdomain.tld');
Test Postfix
Step 1: Start postfix
/etc/rc.d/postfix start
Step 1: Test postfix
Lets see if postfix is going to deliver mail for our test user.
telnet servername 25 ehlo testmail.org mail from:<test@testmail.org> rcpt to:<cactus@virtualdomain.tld> data This is a test email. . quit
now type the following:
find /home/vmailer
you should see something like the following:
/home/vmailer/virtualdomain.tld/cactus@virtualdomain.tld /home/vmailer/virtualdomain.tld/cactus@virtualdomain.tld/tmp /home/vmailer/virtualdomain.tld/cactus@virtualdomain.tld/cur /home/vmailer/virtualdomain.tld/cactus@virtualdomain.tld/new /home/vmailer/virtualdomain.tld/cactus@virtualdomain.tld/new/1102974226.2704_0.bonk.testmail.org
The key is the last entry. This is an actual email. If you see that, it is working.
Courier IMAP Installation
Step 1: Install Courier IMAP
pacman -S courier-imap courier-imap-mysql
Configure Courier IMAP
Step 1: /etc/courier-imap/imapd
ADDRESS=127.0.0.1
We set the listen address to LOCAL ONLY. No outside connections.
Step 2: /etc/authlib/authdaemonrc
authmodulelist="authmysql"
Step 3: /etc/authlib/authmysqlrc
MYSQL_SERVER localhost MYSQL_USERNAME postfixuser MYSQL_PASSWORD secret MYSQL_SOCKET /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock MYSQL_DATABASE postfix # MYSQL_NAME_FIELD name MYSQL_USER_TABLE users MYSQL_CLEAR_PWFIELD password MYSQL_UID_FIELD '5003' ##note, this is the uid that we set in /etc/postfix/main.cf MYSQL_GID_FIELD '5003' ##note, this is the gid that we set in /etc/postfix/main.cf MYSQL_LOGIN_FIELD email MYSQL_HOME_FIELD "/home/vmailer" MYSQL_MAILDIR_FIELD concat(domain,'/',email,'/') MYSQL_QUOTA_FIELD quota
If your using encrypted passwords by using MySQL's encrypt function. Use "MYSQL_CRYPT_PWFIELD columnname" instead of "MYSQL_CLEAR_PWFIELD columnname".
Step 6: /etc/conf.d/courier-imap
First start the courier-imap daemon then stop it right away. I do not know exactly what this does (if anything.lol), but I have attempted the following step without having fulfilled that precondition and it borked on me. shrug A quick
/etc/rc.d/authdaemond start /etc/rc.d/courier-imap start /etc/rc.d/courier-imap stop /etc/rc.d/authdaemond stop
should be enough. Now, remove the pop3d listings from courier-imap. We are only using the imap facility. Since the daemon is local only (localhost), we do not need the ssl imapd server either. /etc/conf.d/courier-imap
CI_DAEMONS="imapd" #CI_DAEMONS="imapd pop3d imapd-ssl pop3d-ssl"
Step 7: Add courier-imap to rc.conf
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng hotplug !pcmcia iptables network netfs crond sshd mysqld postfix authdaemond courier-imap httpd)
Again, make sure to add courier after postfix, after mysqld and after postfix, yet before httpd.
Step 8: Fam and rpcbind
Courier-imap for arch comes compiled with FAM. This means portmap is also required. What used to be portmap is nowadays called rpcbind. If rpcbind is not already installed:
pacman -S rpcbind
Now edit /etc/fam/fam.conf
local_only = true idle_timeout = 0
Make sure the two above values are set.
Now add rpcbind and fam to the daemons list in /etc/rc.conf
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng hotplug !pcmcia iptables network netfs crond sshd mysqld postfix rpcbind fam courier-imap httpd)
Make sure that rpcbind starts after network, but before fam, and fam starts before courier. Now start them.
/etc/rc.d/rpcbind start /etc/rc.d/fam start
Step 9: Start courier imap
/etc/rc.d/courier-imap start
check /var/log/mail.log for any errors.
Step 10: Test courier..
Lets see if courier is working:
telnet localhost imap Trying 127.0.0.1... Connected to localhost.localdomain. Escape character is '^]'. * OK [[CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 ... ]] Courier-IMAP ready. A LOGIN "cactus@virtualdomain.tld" "password" A OK LOGIN Ok. B SELECT "Inbox" * FLAGS (\Draft \Answered ... \Recent) * OK [[PERMANENTFLAGS (\Draft \Answered ... \Seen)]] Limited * 8 EXISTS * 5 RECENT * OK [[UIDVALIDITY 1026858715]] Ok B OK [[READ-WRITE]] Ok Z LOGOUT * BYE Courier-IMAP server shutting down Z OK LOGOUT completed Connection closed by foreign host.
Squirrelmail Installation
Step 1: Install Squirrelmail
Install the squirrelmail package which is found in the official repositories.
Configure Squirrelmail
Step 1: Create secure http site (https)
We are going to create a secure http site. This is so that people can login with plain text passwords, and not have to worry about the passwords getting sniffed (or worry less).
Step 1.1: Edit /etc/httpd/conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf
Add appropriate information. Here is an example section:
<VirtualHost _default_:443> # General setup for the virtual host DocumentRoot "/home/httpd/site.virtual/virtualdomain.tld/html" ServerName virtualdomain.tld:443 ServerAdmin noemailonthisbox@localhost <Directory "/home/httpd/site.virtual/virtualdomain.tld/html"> Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks AllowOverride Options Indexes AuthConfig Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory>
Step 1.15 Include httpd-ssl.conf in httpd.conf
Simply uncomment this line in your httpd.conf:
#Include conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf
Step 1.2: Create the directory structure
Now, create the directory you specified in the ssl.conf file.
mkdir -p /home/httpd/site.virtual/virtualdomain.tld/html
Step 1.3: Generate a certificate
Follow the instructions here: LAMP#SSL
Step 1.4: Restart apache and test
Make sure that https is now working, and that you can get to the secure site.
Step 2: Put squirrelmail in the directory you created
Either extract squirrelmail, or move it from where the arch package puts it, into the directory you created for the secure http site.
Step 3: Run squirrelmail config utility
cd 'squirrelmaildir'/config
perl conf.pl
Make sure you select 'D', then type in courier and hit enter. Make sure your other options are correct as well. Note: If you use php with safe mode on, make sure that the data dir is owned by the same owner as all the files in the squirrelmail directory. With safe mode off, simply follow the squirrelmail setup directions.
Step 4: Test the squirrelmail setup
Point your browser to squirrelmail/src/configtest.php. Should you get an error on directory location, make sure php.ini has been set to allow access to them (open_basedir directive).
Step 5: Test squirrelmail
Log in with the test account. You will need to login with the form of: username: cactus@virtualdomain.tld password: secret
Try sending email to non-existent local accounts. You should get an immediate bounce back. Try sending email to external good email accounts, as well as non-existent ones. Just general testing stuff. If everything works fine, then you can add other accounts to the mysql database, and away you go!
Troubleshooting
If you received an error similar to
Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/var/lib/squirrelmail/data) is not within the allowed path(s): \ (/srv/http/:/home/:/tmp/:/usr/share/pear/) in /home/httpd/site.virtual/virtualdomain.tld/html/squirrelmail/src/configtest.php on line 303
then edit /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
, and in the section <Directory "/home/httpd/site.virtual/virtualdomain.tld/html">
, add php_admin_value open_basedir /home/httpd/site.virtual/virtualdomain.tld/html:/var/lib/squirrelmail/
See also
External links
- Out of Office for squirrelmail
- Postfix Ubuntu documentation
- A Simple Mailserver on Arch Linux