Setup mailaccount

[mike]

Hi,

I have followed the SuSE 9.2 server "The Perfect Setup".

Now how do I create a mailaccount using courier imap?

Michael

[falko]

First you have to tell Postfix to deliver emails to a user's Maildir:

postconf -e 'home_mailbox = Maildir/'
postconf -e 'mailbox_command ='
/etc/init.d/postfix restart

Then you have to create a system user and a password:

useradd -d /home/sample_user -g users sample_user
passwd sample_user

Then run

postconf -e 'virtual_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/virtusertable'
postconf -e 'mydestination = /etc/postfix/local-host-names'

/etc/postfix/local-host-names should contain all domains that you want to accept emails for, e.g.:

localhost
your.server.name
localhost.your.server.name
example.com
yourdomain.com

/etc/postfix/virtusertable looks like this:

info@yourdomain.com sample_user
thomas@example.com sample_user
webmaster@yourdomain.com sample_user

Emails for info@yourdomain.com, thomas@example.com and webmaster@yourdomain.com will now arrive in the mailbox of sample_user.

Everytime you change /etc/postfix/virtusertable you have to run the following command:

postmap /etc/postfix/virtusertable

Now restart Postfix:

/etc/init.d/postfix restart

and you're done! :)

[mike]

Thanks Falko! It is working... :)

Michael

[johnnynine]

What's the difference between using /etc/postfix/virtusertable and /etc/aliases?

[falko]

/etc/aliases maps the mails for existing system users to another system user. virtusertable defines the email addresses that belong to a system user.

[johnnynine]

/etc/aliases maps the mails for existing system users to another system user. virtusertable defines the email addresses that belong to a system user.

I have my /etc/aliases file mapping non-existing system users to a system user and it works fine, so I don't quite understand?

[Happy]

etc/postfix/local-host-names

the above file contains no info and when I try and open it says new file. So do I create files that do not exist. as I ran the command prior to the above. I used webmin to add users. Again I am using just local or system users no virtual users

Thanks
Happy

[falko]

etc/postfix/local-host-names

the above file contains no info and when I try and open it says new file. So do I create files that do not exist.
Yes, you must create that file.

[johnnynine]

/etc/aliases maps the mails for existing system users to another system user. virtusertable defines the email addresses that belong to a system user.
Ok, I reread this and it makes sense... too many late night linux installs.

[Happy]

info@yourdomain.com sample_user
thomas@example.com sample_user
webmaster@yourdomain.com sample_user

Since my users are accepting mail for only one domain-WOuld it look like this
thomas@example.com jthomas
thad@example.com sthad
thompson@example.com jthompson

So what I am saying is if I have only one domain and the user is accepting mail for that single domain, does each user need to be put in like above?

Thanks
Happy

[falko]

Since my users are accepting mail for only one domain-WOuld it look like this
thomas@example.com jthomas
thad@example.com sthad
thompson@example.com jthompson

Yes, that's right. :)

[Happy]

I am trying to create the folloing file

vi /etc/postfix/local-host-names
localhost
your.server.name
localhost.your.server.name
your.domain

after entering the info above

I go to write the info and get the following error

"etc/postfix/local-host-names"
"etc/postfix/local-host-names" E212: Can't open file for writing
Hit ENTER or type command to continue
Get a 127 Shell error as well
Any ideas on why I can not create this file

Thanks
Happy

[falko]

Make sure you use /etc/postfix/local-host-names and not etc/postfix/local-host-names.

[Happy]

Make sure you use /etc/postfix/local-host-names and not etc/postfix/local-host-names.

The . was the problem-not sure how it got in there

Thanks
Happy

[Happy]

First you have to tell Postfix to deliver emails to a user's Maildir:

postconf -e 'home_mailbox = Maildir/'
postconf -e 'mailbox_command ='
/etc/init.d/postfix restart

Then you have to create a system user and a password:

useradd -d /home/sample_user -g users sample_user
passwd sample_user

Then run

postconf -e 'virtual_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/virtusertable'
postconf -e 'mydestination = /etc/postfix/local-host-names'

/etc/postfix/local-host-names should contain all domains that you want to accept emails for, e.g.:

localhost
your.server.name
localhost.your.server.name
example.com
yourdomain.com

/etc/postfix/virtusertable looks like this:

info@yourdomain.com sample_user
thomas@example.com sample_user
webmaster@yourdomain.com sample_user

Emails for info@yourdomain.com, thomas@example.com and webmaster@yourdomain.com will now arrive in the mailbox of sample_user.

Everytime you change /etc/postfix/virtusertable you have to run the following command:

postmap /etc/postfix/virtusertable

Now restart Postfix:

/etc/init.d/postfix restart

and you're done! :)

Ok I orginally created the users mailboxes in webmin

and then created them in
/etc/postfix/virtusertable
when I ran /etc/init.d/postfix restart
I got a error/warning saying duplicate -
however the users remained in
/etc/postfix/virtusertable

Should I expect any issue
If not then I will begin testing as I am done except for doing some Spam catching/filtering

Happy

[falko]

What's the exact error message? What's in /etc/postfix/main.cf?

[Happy]

Again the users were created in webmin
Here is the error message I got

root@mail:~# postmap /etc/postfix/virtusertable
postmap: warning: /etc/postfix/virtusertable.db: duplicate entry: "sample.net"
postmap: warning: /etc/postfix/virtusertable.db: duplicate entry: "sample.net"
postmap: warning: /etc/postfix/virtusertable.db: duplicate entry: "sample.net"
is this not needed since I created the users in webmin or should I delete all users out of webmin and then create them manually?

I got the above waring/error when I added another user (I created the user in webmin first) and then added to the virtusertable
The following file exist but nothing is in it
/etc/postfix/main.cf

Thanks
Happy

[falko]

What's in /etc/postfix/virtusertable? What's the output of cat /etc/postfix/main.cf?

[Happy]

What's in /etc/postfix/virtusertable?
all my users email addresses are in the file

sample.com jsmith






What's the output of cat /etc/postfix/main.cf?

root@mail:~# vi /etc/postfix/main.cf
# See /usr/share/postfix/main.cf.dist for a commented, more complete version


# Debian specific: Specifying a file name will cause the first
# line of that file to be used as the name. The Debian default
# is /etc/mailname.
#myorigin = /etc/mailname

smtpd_banner = $myhostname ESMTP $mail_name (Ubuntu)
biff = no

# appending .domain is the MUA's job.
append_dot_mydomain = no

# Uncomment the next line to generate "delayed mail" warnings
#delay_warning_time = 4h

# TLS parameters
smtpd_tls_cert_file = /etc/postfix/ssl/smtpd.crt
smtpd_tls_key_file = /etc/postfix/ssl/smtpd.key
smtpd_use_tls = yes
smtpd_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${queue_directory}/smtpd_scache
smtp_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${queue_directory}/smtp_scache

# See /usr/share/doc/postfix/TLS_README.gz in the postfix-doc package for
# information on enabling SSL in the smtp client.

myhostname = mail.sample.com
alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases
alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases
myorigin = /etc/mailname
mydestination = /etc/postfix/local-host-names
relayhost =

mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8
mailbox_command =
mailbox_size_limit = 0
recipient_delimiter = +
inet_interfaces = all
inet_protocols = all
smtpd_sasl_local_domain =
smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes
smtpd_sasl_security_options = noanonymous
broken_sasl_auth_clients = yes
smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_sasl_authenticated,permit_mynetworks,reject _unauth_destination
smtpd_tls_auth_only = no
smtp_use_tls = yes
smtp_tls_note_starttls_offer = yes
smtpd_tls_CAfile = /etc/postfix/ssl/cacert.pem
smtpd_tls_loglevel = 1
smtpd_tls_received_header = yes
smtpd_tls_session_cache_timeout = 3600s
tls_random_source = dev:/dev/urandom
home_mailbox = Maildir/
virtual_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/virtusertable

Happy

[falko]

Do you have duplicates in /etc/postfix/virtusertable?

[Happy]

Do you have duplicates in /etc/postfix/virtusertable?
There are no duplicates in the virtusertable. However, I entered them in webmin first so I am not sure why I got the warning

[falko]

I think the problem is that you use Webmin AND configure email addresses manually. Webmin has a different way to set up email addresses in Postfix than the method described here.

[Happy]

So do I need to remove all users from the virtualuserstable or leave it as is?

[falko]

I don't know what Webmin has done, so I think it's best to reinstall the system and then opt for just one way of managing your system (either by hand or with a control panel like Webmin).

[Happy]

I just removed all users from virtualuserstable via webmin (no more duplicate warnings)and all is good, the mail server is up and running like a champ now. I want to thankyou for all your help. Another question ? I want to diasble root from telnet and also from acessing via webmin (https). I know I can turn root account to //bin/false to prevent this account from logging in via SSH on port 22. Now I need to figure out how to disable it in webmin (so it can not ;log in via the web interface). To me this is an open door as I have created another account that I use to administer the mail server with-any help would be great


Thanks

Happy

[v2k]

Is it necessary to create the user:

useradd -d /home/sample_user -g users sample_user
passwd sample_user

I skipped that step, and tried to use an already existing user?

No matter who I send mail to, mail returns no mail.

thanks,
Vince.

[Happy]

I would just use webmin to admin users add/remove/reset passwords check their mailbox etc

If you like to install and update Webmin via APT, edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file on your system and add the line : deb http://download.webmin.com/download/repository sarge contrib You will now be able to install with the commands : apt-get update
apt-get install webmin All dependencies should be resolved automatically.

:o

[v2k]

Sounds scary. I've been doing everything manually so far, so I might as well keep it that way.

[falko]

Is it necessary to create the user:

useradd -d /home/sample_user -g users sample_user
passwd sample_user

I skipped that step, and tried to use an already existing user?No, you don'T have to do that if the user's already existing.

No matter who I send mail to, mail returns no mail.

Any errors in your mail log?

[v2k]

right, I had a domain error in postconf, but that didn't fix it:

I ran some DNS tests on the mail server, and it seems to pass all the standard mail tests.

(i replaced my actual domain with MYDOMAIN)

Sep 14 11:30:41 MYDOMAIN sendmail[27225]: l8EIUfT1027225: from=root, size=41, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<200709141830.l8EIUfT1027225@MYDOMAIN.com>, relay=root@localhost
Sep 14 11:30:41 MYDOMAIN postfix/smtpd[27226]: connect from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Sep 14 11:30:41 MYDOMAIN postfix/smtpd[27226]: setting up TLS connection from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
Sep 14 11:30:41 MYDOMAIN postfix/smtpd[27226]: TLS connection established from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]: TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)
Sep 14 11:30:41 MYDOMAIN sendmail[27225]: STARTTLS=client, relay=[127.0.0.1], version=TLSv1/SSLv3, verify=FAIL, cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA, bits=256/256
Sep 14 11:30:41 MYDOMAIN postfix/smtpd[27226]: 7E3EA31B02E3: client=localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1], sasl_sender=root@MYDOMAIN.com
Sep 14 11:30:41 MYDOMAIN postfix/cleanup[27229]: 7E3EA31B02E3: message-id=<200709141830.l8EIUfT1027225@MYDOMAIN.com>
Sep 14 11:30:41 MYDOMAIN postfix/qmgr[28376]: 7E3EA31B02E3: from=<root@MYDOMAIN.com>, size=609, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Sep 14 11:30:41 MYDOMAIN sendmail[27225]: l8EIUfT1027225: to=v2k@MYDOMAIN.com, ctladdr=root (0/0), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=30041, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (Ok: queued as 7E3EA31B02E3)
Sep 14 11:30:41 MYDOMAIN postfix/local[27230]: 7E3EA31B02E3: to=<v2k@MYDOMAIN.com>, relay=local, delay=0.43, delays=0.2/0.01/0/0.23, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (delivered to maildir)
Sep 14 11:30:41 MYDOMAIN postfix/qmgr[28376]: 7E3EA31B02E3: removed
Sep 14 11:30:42 MYDOMAIN postfix/smtpd[27226]: disconnect from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]

Note, there are files in Maildir/new, but "mail" says I have no mail.

[v2k]

Upon inspection, these files do contain my actual mail. So it's just that mail thinks I have none....

pop3 works, so I guess it's not a big deal.

[falko]

What POP3 server do you use? What's the output of netstat -tap? You must use a POP3 daemon that uses Maildir.