Need help setting up postfix/dovecot

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1

I have searched google, tried looking at the documentation and the default config files and I simply get lost :frowning:
I am no idiot but I have been spoiled with windows’ rich idiot-proof programs and Linux makes me feel like one :frowning:

ok, could someone either show me a minimal config or give me a few examples for the options I need to change?

postfix:
my linux box is a workstation behind a nat so the hostname has nothing to do with the domains I want to accept mail for

I don’t have a preference on authentication as long as I can manage users from another workstation on the same network

I eventually want to install squirrelmail

I want to allow any wan connection to send mail to any address at my domain without authentication and anyone on the lan to send mail anywhere without authentication but disable any wan connections from sending mail to any other domains

also, I want to configure a catch-all address for any users that do not exist already

Outlook/OE are going to be the primary programs accessing this IMAP and I want to require authentication for LAN or WAN connections

I suppose that is all the information needed
TIA for any help or direction on this :smiley:

2

open up a konsole then type as root:
zypper in postfix
zypper in dovecot
zypper in squirrelmail
This 3 commands will install postfix, dovecot and squirrelmail.
After that edit /etc/postfix/main.cf according to your needs.
Also edit /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
After editing those files just type:
rcpostfix restart
rcdovecot restart
Also to configure squirrelmail:
cd /srv/www/htdocs/squirrelmail
then type:
./configure
Have a lot of fun !!!

3

I appreciate the attempt but that didnt answer any of my questions

honestly, I hate asking for help on any forums but when I can’t seem to figure out things on my own, usually someone nice will either do most of the work for me or link me to where someone else had the same questions and I simply could not get the search terms right to return what I really wanted

4

One tutorial I can recommend is Howto: ISP-style Email Server with Debian-Etch and Postfix 2.3 Even though it’s for Debian and it does far more than you need but it explains how it all fits together. Sorry I cannot give you minimal configs, because you really have to understand what the options mean. So

After that edit /etc/postfix/main.cf according to your needs.
Also edit /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf

wasn’t too far off.

No problem, as long as you can port forward through the firewall and make the external IP the MX for those domains.

I don’t have a preference on authentication as long as I can manage users from another workstation on the same network

No problem, passwd file is the easiest but you may not wish to give everybody an account so the MySQL method in the tutorial might be better.

I eventually want to install squirrelmail

No problem, OpenSUSE has that package and it will talk to dovecot.

I want to allow any wan connection to send mail to any address at my domain without authentication and anyone on the lan to send mail anywhere without authentication but disable any wan connections from sending mail to any other domains

Pretty much mandatory and the way the default setups work for a long time now, otherwise you will get exploited as an open relay for spam.

also, I want to configure a catch-all address for any users that do not exist already

Sure this is a good idea? You will get lots of probe spam.

Outlook/OE are going to be the primary programs accessing this IMAP and I want to require authentication for LAN or WAN connections

Dovecot can do authenticated IMAPS.

Again I recommend that tutorial.

If it all gets too much for you, there is a tutorial for a setup that dedicates a entire box and puts a Debian distro with a web managed mail server on it which unfortunately I cannot find right now. I think it’s on howtoforge.

5

well, hummm…
I’m going to have to go at this at a different angle

my problem is not installing or configuring, but troubleshooting

I edited the config for both apps as I saw fit but some explanations just don’t make any sense to me

e.g. I figured the best option for auth for me would be a combination of the system passwd file + another passwd file for virtual users (I will probably never serve more than 10 users) but I couldn’t figure out how to create a custom passdb

another problem: in dovecot, I have mechanisms = plain but Outlook gave me an error saying something like it didn’t support any authentication methods that the server supported

I just tried enabling ntlm but dovecot errored: NTLM mechanism can’t be supported with given passdbs

I suppose this means I can’t use a passdb text file and support Outlook?

If I accept mail at my TLD and no subdomains, do I set both myhostname and mydomain to my TLD?

About the catch-all address, I use hundreds of email addresses and I put the ones that receive spam on a deny list

e.g. when I register at myspace, I use myspace@selyb.com, for this forum, I would use opensuse@selyb.com
this way I can determine who (if anyone) sells/spams my email and I can disable just that address

6

Log files are your friends for troubleshooting. Also you can simulate email by telnetting to port 25 and typing in the mail exchange.

It would simplify things if you made users all virtual and gave users the means to change their password. This means MySQL or LDAP. It also allows you to decouple the mail password from the login password.

The key variable is actually mydestination. You probably want $mydomain, as this will accept mail sent to someone@example.com. You might want $myhostname if some locally generated mail is addressed to someone@mailserver.example.com. You might want localhost.$mydomain so that you can accept locally generated mail for someone@localhost.example.com. Remember that variables like $myhostname and $mydomain default to values generated by postfix from lookups if they are not explicitly set.

7

“variables like $myhostname and $mydomain default to values generated by postfix from lookups if they are not explicitly set”

is there any way for me to determine what postfix has set these variables to?

8 
/usr/sbin/postconf

myhostname is normally taken from gethostname(), and mydomain by beheading the host part. Since your hostname has probably nothing to do with your mail domains, you probably need to append those mail domains to mydestinations anyway.

9

“and mydomain by beheading the host part.”

LMAO

I don’t understand this part of the tutorial you linked me to
At the end of the SSL cert creation section it says “There’s just one thing left to do to make all this nice and clean, we want to extract the private key from the certificate request and into its own file. So edit newreq.pem, delete the certificate (all the lines between “Begin Certificate Request” and “End Certificate Request” inclusive, and save with a meaningful name”

my newreq.pem has nothing else in it so if I delete the certificate info and save as a new file, it will be a blank txt file

10

omg, this is aggravating having to ask a question at every step >:(

for LDAP conf, what am I supposed to put for suffix and rootdn?

I mean, I guess I need my fully qualified DN but I should also need the local hostname of the machine because, I know some routers do not redirect internal connections the same way they forward external ones

does this mean I need to create two cert configs?

11

yeah, I figgered this post wouldn’t get me far. I guess I’ll go back to windows and pray my kids don’t install any more viruses.