4 Configure Postfix

Now we have to tell Postfix where it can find all the information in the database. Therefore we have to create six text files. You will notice that I tell Postfix to connect to MySQL on the IP address 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost. This is because Postfix is running in a chroot jail and does not have access to the MySQL socket which it would try to connect if I told Postfix to use localhost. If I use 127.0.0.1 Postfix uses TCP networking to connect to MySQL which is no problem even in a chroot jail (the alternative would be to move the MySQL socket into the chroot jail which causes some other problems).

Please make sure that /etc/mysql/my.cnf contains the following line:

bind-address            = 127.0.0.1

so that MySQL allows connections on 127.0.0.1 (restart MySQL if you have to make changes to /etc/mysql/my.cnf).

Now let's create our six text files.

/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_domains.cf:

user = mail_admin
password = mail_admin_password
dbname = mail
table = domains
select_field = 'virtual'
where_field = domain
hosts = 127.0.0.1

/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_forwardings.cf:

user = mail_admin
password = mail_admin_password
dbname = mail
table = forwardings
select_field = destination
where_field = source
hosts = 127.0.0.1

/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_mailboxes.cf:

user = mail_admin
password = mail_admin_password
dbname = mail
table = users
select_field = CONCAT(SUBSTRING_INDEX(email,'@',-1),'/',SUBSTRING_INDEX(email,'@',1),'/')
where_field = email
hosts = 127.0.0.1

/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_email2email.cf:

user = mail_admin
password = mail_admin_password
dbname = mail
table = users
select_field = email
where_field = email
hosts = 127.0.0.1

/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_transports.cf:

user = mail_admin
password = mail_admin_password
dbname = mail
table = transport
select_field = transport
where_field = domain
hosts = 127.0.0.1

/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_mailbox_limit_maps.cf:

user = mail_admin
password = mail_admin_password
dbname = mail
table = users
select_field = quota
where_field = email
hosts = 127.0.0.1

chmod o= /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_*.cf
chgrp postfix /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_*.cf

Now we create a user and group called vmail with the home directory /home/vmail. This is where all mail boxes will be stored.

groupadd -g 5000 vmail
useradd -g vmail -u 5000 vmail -d /home/vmail -m

Next we do some Postfix configuration. Go sure that you replace server1.example.com with a valid FQDN, otherwise your Postfix might not work properly!

postconf -e 'myhostname = server1.example.com'
postconf -e 'mydestination = server1.example.com, localhost, localhost.localdomain'
postconf -e 'mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8'
postconf -e 'virtual_alias_domains ='
postconf -e ' virtual_alias_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_forwardings.cf, mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_email2email.cf'
postconf -e 'virtual_mailbox_domains = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_domains.cf'
postconf -e 'virtual_mailbox_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_mailboxes.cf'
postconf -e 'virtual_mailbox_base = /home/vmail'
postconf -e 'virtual_uid_maps = static:5000'
postconf -e 'virtual_gid_maps = static:5000'
postconf -e 'smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes'
postconf -e 'broken_sasl_auth_clients = yes'
postconf -e 'smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_mynetworks, permit_sasl_authenticated, reject_unauth_destination'
postconf -e 'smtpd_use_tls = yes'
postconf -e 'smtpd_tls_cert_file = /etc/postfix/smtpd.cert'
postconf -e 'smtpd_tls_key_file = /etc/postfix/smtpd.key'
postconf -e 'transport_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_transports.cf'
postconf -e 'virtual_create_maildirsize = yes'
postconf -e 'virtual_maildir_extended = yes'
postconf -e 'virtual_mailbox_limit_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_mailbox_limit_maps.cf'
postconf -e 'virtual_mailbox_limit_override = yes'
postconf -e 'virtual_maildir_limit_message = "The user you are trying to reach is over quota."'
postconf -e 'virtual_overquota_bounce = yes'
postconf -e 'proxy_read_maps = $local_recipient_maps $mydestination $virtual_alias_maps $virtual_alias_domains $virtual_mailbox_maps $virtual_mailbox_domains $relay_recipient_maps $relay_domains $canonical_maps $sender_canonical_maps $recipient_canonical_maps $relocated_maps $transport_maps $mynetworks $virtual_mailbox_limit_maps'

Afterwards we create the SSL certificate that is needed for TLS:

cd /etc/postfix
openssl req -new -outform PEM -out smtpd.cert -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout smtpd.key -keyform PEM -days 365 -x509

<-- Enter your Country Name (e.g., "DE").
<-- Enter your State or Province Name.
<-- Enter your City.
<-- Enter your Organization Name (e.g., the name of your company).
<-- Enter your Organizational Unit Name (e.g. "IT Department").
<-- Enter the Fully Qualified Domain Name of the system (e.g. "server1.example.com").
<-- Enter your Email Address.

chmod o= /etc/postfix/smtpd.key

5 Configure Saslauthd

mkdir -p /var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd

Edit /etc/default/saslauthd. Remove the # in front of START=yes and add the line PARAMS="-m /var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd -r". The file should then look like this:

# This needs to be uncommented before saslauthd will be run automatically
START=yes

# You must specify the authentication mechanisms you wish to use.
# This defaults to "pam" for PAM support, but may also include
# "shadow" or "sasldb", like this:
# MECHANISMS="pam shadow"

MECHANISMS="pam"
PARAMS="-m /var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd -r"

We must also edit /etc/init.d/saslauthd and change the location of saslauthd's PID file. Change the value of PIDFILE to /var/spool/postfix/var/run/${NAME}/saslauthd.pid:

PIDFILE="/var/spool/postfix/var/run/${NAME}/saslauthd.pid"

Then create the file /etc/pam.d/smtp. It should contain only the following two lines (go sure to fill in your correct database details):

auth    required   pam_mysql.so user=mail_admin passwd=mail_admin_password host=127.0.0.1 db=mail table=users usercolumn=email passwdcolumn=password crypt=1
account sufficient pam_mysql.so user=mail_admin passwd=mail_admin_password host=127.0.0.1 db=mail table=users usercolumn=email passwdcolumn=password crypt=1

Next create the file /etc/postfix/sasl/smtpd.conf. It should look like this:

pwcheck_method: saslauthd
mech_list: plain login
allow_plaintext: true
auxprop_plugin: mysql
sql_hostnames: 127.0.0.1
sql_user: mail_admin
sql_passwd: mail_admin_password
sql_database: mail
sql_select: select password from users where email = '%u'

Then restart Postfix and Saslauthd:

/etc/init.d/postfix restart
postfix check
/etc/init.d/saslauthd restart

6 Configure Courier

Now we have to tell Courier that it should authenticate against our MySQL database. First, edit /etc/courier/authdaemonrc and change the value of authmodulelist so that it reads

authmodulelist="authmysql"

Then edit /etc/courier/authmysqlrc. It should look like this (again, make sure to fill in the correct database details):

MYSQL_SERVER localhost
MYSQL_USERNAME mail_admin
MYSQL_PASSWORD mail_admin_password
MYSQL_PORT 0
MYSQL_DATABASE mail
MYSQL_USER_TABLE users
MYSQL_CRYPT_PWFIELD password
#MYSQL_CLEAR_PWFIELD password
MYSQL_UID_FIELD 5000
MYSQL_GID_FIELD 5000
MYSQL_LOGIN_FIELD email
MYSQL_HOME_FIELD "/home/vmail"
MYSQL_MAILDIR_FIELD CONCAT(SUBSTRING_INDEX(email,'@',-1),'/',SUBSTRING_INDEX(email,'@',1),'/')
#MYSQL_NAME_FIELD
MYSQL_QUOTA_FIELD quota

Then restart Courier:

/etc/init.d/courier-authdaemon restart
/etc/init.d/courier-imap restart
/etc/init.d/courier-imap-ssl restart
/etc/init.d/courier-pop restart
/etc/init.d/courier-pop-ssl restart

By running

telnet localhost pop3

you can see if your POP3 server is working correctly. It should give back +OK Hello there. (Type quit to get back to the Linux shell.)

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