SUNScholar/Prepare Ubuntu/S07

From Libopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search 
 NEXT - STEP 8

Step 7. Install the Postfix mail server

DSpace needs to send emails in order to facilitate submission workflows etc.

Ideally before setting this up, you should speak to your campus email administrator.

Local Postfix Email Sending Server Installation

Step 7.1: First we purge old software

Type the following; 

sudo dpkg --purge exim4

Step 7.2: Then we install the Postfix software

Install the Postfix mail server by typing as follows;

When asked for type of setup, select "Internet with Smarthost".

The "Smarthost" is your campus email sending server, read the wiki page below for alternatives, if you do not have a campus email sending server.

See links below for more detail before continuing. 

sudo apt-get install postfix

Step 7.3: Finally we setup a default mailname

Now we edit the servers "mailname" by typing as follows: 

sudo nano /etc/mailname

Add one line only which should be the hostname (URL) of your server, for example: scholar.sun.ac.za.

Alternative Sender Email Gateway Choices

Advanced Postfix Configuration

If you are satisfied with the installation of Postfix using the steps above, you may skip this step. Otherwise continue below.

To review the Postfix main.cf file, type as follows: 

sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf

Tip: It is always a good idea to maximise the open nano window so that the copy and paste of long lines does not wrap around.

See below for an example of the config file: 

# 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

readme_directory = no

# TLS parameters
smtpd_tls_cert_file=/etc/ssl/certs/%hostname%.pem
smtpd_tls_key_file=/etc/ssl/certs/%hostname%.key
smtpd_use_tls=yes
smtpd_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${data_directory}/smtpd_scache
smtp_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${data_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 = %hostname%
alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases
alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases
myorigin = /etc/mailname
mydestination = %hostname% localhost
relayhost = %relay-hostname%
mynetworks = %my-subnet% 127.0.0.0/8 [::ffff:127.0.0.0]/104 [::1]/128
mailbox_size_limit = 0
recipient_delimiter = +
inet_interfaces = all
  1. Change the %hostname% to the hostname of your server.
  2. Change the %relay-hostname% to the hostname of your campus email server which sends and delivers email.
  3. Add the subnet of your campus TCP/IP network %my-subnet% to the mynetworks parameter.
  4. Ensure mydestination = %hostname% localhost to prevent your mail server becoming a spam email relay.

Talk to the campus system administrator about these settings.

Also see: http://www.postfix.org/SMTPD_ACCESS_README.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subnet_Mask.

The postfix server can be re-configured by typing the following: 

sudo dpkg-reconfigure postfix

Optional

The following are not required and are optional.

Setup the email aliases

Now we need to forward any email sent to local accounts on the server to email accounts of persons responsible for the repository.

The "root" and "dspace user" email address forwarding are setup as follows.

Type the following. 

sudo nano /etc/aliases

Add aliases as per example below: 

# Added by installer for initial user
root:   me@my.edu.ac.za
dspace: me@my.edu.ac.za

Change the me@my.edu.ac.za to your email address.

To activate the new aliases type the following: 

sudo newaliases

Send a test email to root

Install the command line mailer program as follows: 

sudo apt-get install mailutils

Now we can send a test email to the root user by typing as follows: 

mail -s "Test Email from root" root

Press the "Enter" key and type some message content. Press CTL+D twice and then Enter to send the mail.

Check the following log for any delivery errors as follows: 

sudo tail -n 20 /var/log/mail.log

If there are no delivery errors then your mail server is setup.

References

Below is a screenshot of the yearly postifx mail queue

Sunscholar-postfix mailqueue-year.png 

 PREVIOUS - STEP 6
Retrieved from "http://wiki.lib.sun.ac.za/index.php?title=SUNScholar/Prepare_Ubuntu/S07&oldid=42815"