I have an OpenSUSE Tumbleweed server that has been running sendmail for years, and given the changes in other packages (such as mailman) and slow degradation of sendmail support, I’d like to start the conversion to Postfix.
However, I’m stuck on step #0: I can’t install any of the postfix* packages at all, because the packages are set up to conflict with sendmail. This means that I’d either have to ignore the error (and possibly destroy the existing in-use system at that time), or remove sendmail first (and destroy the system), or manually build Postfix from source and do my initial configuration there and just “hope” that this configuration works when I eventually install the distribution version. All of these sound like big (and unacceptable) risks to me.
It looks like /usr/lib/sendmail is a symlink so I ought to be able to switch it over from one MTA to another (provided that I am able to configure and test Postfix reasonably on an alternate port), but, as I said I’m stuck at the install phase.
I assume that others have made this journey before. Care to share your first steps?
The ideal solution is to set up a second server and migrate your current sendmail configuration to a new Postfix configuration running on the alternate server.
Not really – if you have a system which is executing as it should do then, « never touch a running system … » …
You have to migrate to a newer application which will take over the traffic being served successfully, by the existing server –
*=2]The proven method to do this is, to setup on a new system – prove that the new configuration is functioning as it should do – cutover to the new system …
[INDENT=3]The English meaning of “cutover” is here: <Cambridge English Dictionary: Meanings & Definitions.
The term originates from telephony – used when the telephone service is “cutover” to a new (automatic) telephone exchange, with no discernable break in service …
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The methodology is proven, it works, it requires resources, some effort is needed …
It shouldn’t be that difficult,
Particularly if you implement using a virtual machine which can be a life changer managing postfix/sendmail and other mail solutions.
Not only can you “pop up” a small, single dedicated server that shouldn’t require new hardware, it can be a way to maximize the utilization and balance the load on your existing hardware.
You can even use this opportunity to design some redundancy which might make you a hero some time in the future for your foresight.
Everything depends on the features your system uses and on the extent you tinkered with defaults:
Sendmail, the standard UNIX/Linux Mail Transport Agent, is responsible for delivering a majority of today’s email on the Internet and the world’s corporate intranets. So why would anyone suggest replacing an industry favorite with a program very few have heard of (Postfix)? This first article of a two-part series describes the advantages of using Postfix over the “Internet standard” mail transport agent (Sendmail): https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=24688
Postfix, as installed from source or distribution package, requires little if any changes to work on a computer that has a direct Internet connection. The Postfix development team has chosen a good set of defaults for all its parameters to help you through the process of installing and sending email securely and responsibly. Out of the proverbial box, it just works: https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=24672
But, the “How-To” is 19 years old – December 2001 …
Last sentence of the “How-To
” –
Unfortunately, SSL/TLS is not yet part of the default Postfix distribution.
Currently, 19 years later, no longer true – <http://www.postfix.org/TLS_README.html> …
[HR][/HR]The last e-Mail I received without “with ESMTPS” in the header is more than a few years ago …
