Postfix configuration YaST module setup

ed_v · June 3, 2011, 2:48am

openSUSE 11.4 32 gnome

I am trying to use YaST module to configure postfix.

I guess I put localhost in the field for Outgoing mail server.
and “no” to server using &TLS, because I am only interested in receiving mail at this time and that configuration seems appropriate.

then on the next screen…
Accept Remote SMTP connections is true
Open Port in Firewall is true

and this is where I am unsure what to put in the field for the Downloading portion…

Server is ??www.myserver.com??
Protocol is auto

Remote user name ??valid_login_ID_for_www.myserver.com??
Password ??vaild_password??

Start Fetchmail is daemon
Forward root’s mail to ??valid_login_ID_for_www.myserver.com??
Delivery mode is Directly.

at one point I had Postfix recieving emails but it was a trial install.
I am unsure which settings to configure.
All the required port forwarding is working for the ftp and www servers.

ed_v · June 3, 2011, 3:13am

I didn’t setup the firewall through the firewall yast module.
I assumed that the firewall would be opened through the Postfix module.
I am able to receive emails.

ken_yap · June 3, 2011, 3:22am

If you are using fetchmail to get your mail and deliver it to a local postfix, you don’t need postfix to listen on addresses other than localhost or open the firewall. Fetchmail only requires outgoing access to pull the mail in, and delivers to postfix via localhost.

For a single machine I don’t see what you gain from this compared to fetching the mail directly in kmail, thunderbird, and other mail programs.

ed_v · June 3, 2011, 3:35am

I am new to email server setup, but I have used sendmail before.
I figured I would try Postfix as the server, maybe I am going about this the wrong way.
after I get a static ip I will try to setup outgoing mail.
I need to setup IMAP so that I can grab the email from the server to my workstation.
basically I wanted the server to have ftp www and email server setup.

ken_yap · June 3, 2011, 4:00am

You’ll need more than postfix to host your mail locally. You’ll need dovecot (or some other IMAP server). Postfix is only SMTP.

And you don’t need a static IP for outgoing mail. But you usually need to relay it through your ISP’s SMTP server because usually SMTP from home broadband is blacklisted.

ed_v · June 3, 2011, 4:07am

yes I am blacklisted because of the dynamic ip.
I didn’t know where to look for documentation on setting up an email server, so I am just plodding along slowly.
I have to learn what dovecot is and how to set it up.
one thing is for sure though I don’t understand LDAP encryption or anything else email related really.
maybe a trip to a online book store is in order?

ken_yap · June 3, 2011, 4:17am

LDAP is not for encryption, it’s for account management. (Among other things.)

ed_v · June 3, 2011, 4:20am

see, I have only a limited understanding of the big picture.
can you suggest any documentation that would help me?
a textbook or otherwise?

ken_yap · June 3, 2011, 4:27am

I don’t know of any comprehensive guide, I learnt it piecemeal and by practice. You could try a search on “postfix dovecot” and read through various tutes. Bear in mind that details will differ depending on what distro is used, but the principles are common.

ed_v · June 3, 2011, 4:47am

sounds like a good start.
thank you.

robin_listas · June 3, 2011, 9:03pm

On 2011-06-03 03:36, ken yap wrote:
> For a single machine I don’t see what you gain from this compared to
> fetching the mail directly in kmail, thunderbird, and other mail
> programs.

You can have amavis and spamassassin filtering. You can feed the emails to
dovecot (imap) and then read the email from any client: kmail, thunderbird,
evolution, mutt, pine… simultaneously if you want, from that machine or
any other in the network.

As to documentation, there is a howto, traditionally stored in openSUSE in
/usr/share/doc/howto/en. Mail something.

But the howtos have disappeared in 11.4 :-/

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

ken_yap · June 4, 2011, 12:31am

Sure, that’s how I’ve done it for paying customers, including advanced features like virtual domains and LDAP authentication, but does the OP understand all that? Still, must not discourage learners I suppose.

ed_v · June 20, 2011, 1:34pm

well I had typed out a coherent reply but my browser took a dump…
anyways long story short:

no I really don’t understand the details of the setup for an email server.
I was able to receive emails at one point before I changed…well… re-installed OpenSuSE
now that I have a fresh installation without using the YaST module to configure the mail server I am able to send emails but not able to receive emails.
I don’t know why I am able to send emails now nor why I am unable to receive email now
the email goes somewhere because I don’t get an error on the sending side
I am going to backup my configuration which is only a pattern install of “mail server” without running the YaST module to configure the mail server
I have time to figure out how to recieve emails, I guess…
thanks for all the suggestions and inquiries

robin_listas · June 20, 2011, 11:03pm

On 2011-06-20 13:36, ed v wrote:
>
> well I had typed out a coherent reply but my browser took a dump…
> anyways long story short:
> 1) no I really don’t understand the details of the setup for an email
> server.
> 2) I was able to receive emails at one point before I changed…well…
> re-installed OpenSuSE
> 3) now that I have a fresh installation without using the YaST module
> to configure the mail server I am able to send emails but not able to
> receive emails.

The default suse postfix configuration can send, or appears to send, if the
other side is not very strict.

> 4) I don’t know why I am able to send emails now nor why I am unable to
> receive email now
> 5) the email goes somewhere because I don’t get an error on the sending
> side

You have to look in the mail log to make sure that it is really sending.
For receiving, it will receive only if you have a proper fixed DNS with MX
field.

Otherwise, for receiving you have to as all of us do: fetch the email from
a REAL server out there

> 8) thanks for all the suggestions and inquiries

You need reading on it all first.

http://tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/howtos.html

Search the word “mail”, there are several docs.

I suggest you start with sending between two local user accounts.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

ed_v · June 20, 2011, 11:54pm

as a regular user I am able to send email to other regular users.
I can send email from my OpenSuSE box to gmail as root, but it appears that regular users cannot.
I am still unable to receive emails on my OpenSuSE box, although I haven’t used the Yast mail server module to set anything up yet on this attempt…
will check out the howto.

robin_listas · June 21, 2011, 1:20am

On 2011-06-21 00:06, ed v wrote:
> I can send email from my OpenSuSE box to gmail as root, but it appears
> that regular users cannot.

Check the logs.
You can not do anything with linux services if you don’t learn to examine
the logs. The rest is just blah blah.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

ed_v · June 24, 2011, 12:37am

I looked in /var/log/ at the various mail logs…
there isn’t anything there to help me.
at this current time:

I am able to receive mail when it is sent locally.
I am able to send mail from my openSuSE box to gmail from root and regular user.
when I send email from gmail I am not able to receive it on my openSuSE box either to root or regular users AND the email doesn’t return back to gmail.

ed_v · June 24, 2011, 2:41am

I have received an email after so many hours on my gmail account from the mailer that says “the recipient server did not accept our requests to connect” in the email that was a failure…

ed_v · June 24, 2011, 5:50pm

ok I finally got postfix working to recieve emails and send…
I enabled “Accept remote SMTP connections”… in the YaST module for mail server.