This is an old revision of the document!
- mailserver
- Jonathan Haack
- Haack's Networking
- webmaster@haacksnetworking.org
mailserver
This tutorial is for users of Debian GNU/Linux who want to set up a proper email server.. This tutorial assumes you know how to set up A, AAAA, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX, and PTR records. Set an A record for example.org and mail.example.org. If you don't know how, then learn up, and do not proceed. Thanks to LinuxBabe for a great jumping off point. Let's begin by editing our hosts file sudo nano /etc/hosts as follows:
127.0.1.1 example.org example 127.0.0.1 mail.example.org localhost
Install postfix and mailutils sudo apt-get install mailutils postfix -y picking Internet Site and set your domain to example.org.
Install firewall, open common ports for front facing website, and for imap/smtp:
sudo apt install ufw sudo ufw allow 22/tcp sudo ufw allow 25/tcp sudo ufw allow 587/tcp sudo ufw allow 143/tcp sudo ufw allow 465/tcp sudo ufw allow 993/tcp sudo ufw allow 80 sudo ufw allow 443
Increase quota / message size:
sudo postconf -e message_size_limit=52428800
Set hostname and aliases in sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf and make sure that the hostname, origin, destination, mailbox size, and quota are set. Also, in my case, I only have ipv4 support, so I explicitly set that as well.
myhostname = mail.example.com myorigin = /etc/mailname mydestination = example.com, $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, localhost mailbox_size_limit = 0 inet_protocols = ipv4 message_size_limit = 52428800
Let's also make sure that system emails are sent to the user we created above instead of root by sudo nano /etc/aliases and then:
postmaster: root root: user
Now, set up the server block for your mail server's website:
sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/mail.example.com.conf sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/nginx/html/
The contents looking something like:
server {
listen 80;
#listen [::]:80;
server_name mail.example.com;
root /usr/share/nginx/html/;
location ~ /.well-known/acme-challenge {
allow all;
}
}
Once that is done, restart the service sudo systemctl reload nginx and then let's generate a cert:
sudo apt install certbot sudo apt install python3-certbot-nginx sudo certbot certonly -a nginx --agree-tos --no-eff-email --staple-ocsp --email email@email.com -d mail.example.com
Now, let's configure postfix to work together with Dovecot/submission on 587 and 465 and to use TLS by editing sudo nano /etc/postfix/master.cf as follows:
submission inet n - y - - smtpd -o syslog_name=postfix/submission -o smtpd_tls_security_level=encrypt -o smtpd_tls_wrappermode=no -o smtpd_sasl_auth_enable=yes -o smtpd_relay_restrictions=permit_sasl_authenticated,reject -o smtpd_recipient_restrictions=permit_mynetworks,permit_sasl_authenticated,reject -o smtpd_sasl_type=dovecot -o smtpd_sasl_path=private/auth smtps inet n - y - - smtpd -o syslog_name=postfix/smtps -o smtpd_tls_wrappermode=yes -o smtpd_sasl_auth_enable=yes -o smtpd_relay_restrictions=permit_sasl_authenticated,reject -o smtpd_recipient_restrictions=permit_mynetworks,permit_sasl_authenticated,reject -o smtpd_sasl_type=dovecot -o smtpd_sasl_path=private/auth
It's now time to configure postfix sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf to use TLS:
#Enable TLS Encryption when Postfix receives incoming emails
smtpd_tls_cert_file=/etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.example.com/fullchain.pem
smtpd_tls_key_file=/etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.example.com/privkey.pem
smtpd_tls_security_level=may
smtpd_tls_loglevel = 1
smtpd_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${data_directory}/smtpd_scache
#Enable TLS Encryption when Postfix sends outgoing emails
smtp_tls_security_level = may
smtp_tls_loglevel = 1
smtp_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${data_directory}/smtp_scache
#Enforce TLSv1.3 or TLSv1.2
smtpd_tls_mandatory_protocols = !SSLv2, !SSLv3, !TLSv1, !TLSv1.1
smtpd_tls_protocols = !SSLv2, !SSLv3, !TLSv1, !TLSv1.1
smtp_tls_mandatory_protocols = !SSLv2, !SSLv3, !TLSv1, !TLSv1.1
smtp_tls_protocols = !SSLv2, !SSLv3, !TLSv1, !TLSv1.1
Now, let's configure and enable SASL support. Open /etc/postfix/main.cf and enter:
# SASL Authentication with Dovecot smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes smtpd_sasl_type = dovecot smtpd_sasl_path = private/auth smtpd_sasl_security_options = noanonymous
Now, we can install dovecot and configure it to use IMAP and lmtp. Install the packages with sudo apt install dovecot-core dovecot-imapd dovecot-lmtpd and then edit sudo nano /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf:
<protocols = imap lmtp>
After that, open sudo nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf and change the default mail director location as follows:
<mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir>
Let's make sure dovecot is part of the mail group, including any users you intend to use email:
sudo adduser dovecot mail sudo adduser username mail
Now we can configure dovecot over at sudo nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-master.conf in order to be able to leverage lmtp:
service lmtp {
unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/dovecot-lmtp {
mode = 0600
user = postfix
group = postfix
}
}
Similarly, we need to edit postfix for lmtp as well with sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf and then specifying:
mailbox_transport = lmtp:unix:private/dovecot-lmtp smtputf8_enable = no
Next, let's configure dovecot authorization with sudo nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-auth.conf plain login as follows:
disable_plaintext_auth = yes auth_username_format = %n auth_mechanisms = plain login
Now, configure SSL/TLS encryption in dovecot using your website/domain certs from earlier with sudo nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-ssl.conf:
ssl = required ssl_cert = </etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.example.com/fullchain.pem ssl_key = </etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.example.com/privkey.pem ssl_prefer_server_ciphers = yes ssl_min_protocol = TLSv1.2
Set up the SASL listener by editing sudo nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-master.conf and adding this block:
service auth {
unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth {
mode = 0660
user = postfix
group = postfix
}
}
If you have errors or can't connect your email client at this point, you can test your handshakes as follows:
openssl s_client -connect mail.example.com:465 openssl s_client -starttls smtp -connect mail.example.com:25
Now it is time to setup an spf policy agent so that the incoming email that is received checks for validity of spf records. Do not confuse this with creating an spf TXT record for your outgoing email. Let's install spf policy with sudo apt install postfix-policyd-spf-pythonand then edit sudo nano /etc/postfix/master.cf as follows:
policyd-spf unix - n n - 0 spawn user=policyd-spf argv=/usr/bin/policyd-spf
After that, let's set up sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf as follows:
policyd-spf_time_limit = 3600 smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_mynetworks, permit_sasl_authenticated, reject_unauth_destination, check_policy_service unix:private/policyd-spf
Now, it is time to set up DKIM on your server. After creating the DKIM record/key on your server, you will need to create a corresponding TXT record for it to establish that anything over smtp with that signature is, in fact, you/your server. Let's install opendkim with sudo apt install opendkim opendkim-tools and add postfix to its group with sudo adduser postfix opendkim and then adjust the configuration in sudo nano /etc/opendkim.conf as follows:
Canonicalization relaxed/simple Mode sv SubDomains no Nameservers 8.8.8.8,1.1.1.1 KeyTable refile:/etc/opendkim/key.table SigningTable refile:/etc/opendkim/signing.table ExternalIgnoreList /etc/opendkim/trusted.hosts InternalHosts /etc/opendkim/trusted.hosts
Now that the configuration for DKIM is ready, let's create the keys and content for the locations specified above:
sudo mkdir -p /etc/opendkim/keys sudo chown -R opendkim:opendkim /etc/opendkim sudo chmod 711 /etc/opendkim/keys
Once all the directories and key locations are created, let's open the signing table with sudo nano /etc/opendkim/signing.table and enter the following (without the single quotes required here due to markdown conflict):
'*@example.com default._domainkey.example.com' '*@*.example.com default._domainkey.example.com'
Now that the signing table is setup, we need to edit the key table with sudo nano /etc/opendkim/key.table and enter the following:
default._domainkey.example.com example.com:default:/etc/opendkim/keys/example.com/default.private
The trusted hosts is next, over in sudo nano /etc/opendkim/trusted.hosts which we simply enter:
127.0.0.1 localhost .domain.com
We now need to cut the DKIM keys (and make sure to add TXT records on your DNS host later) as follows:
sudo mkdir /etc/opendkim/keys/example.com sudo opendkim-genkey -b 2048 -d example.com -D /etc/opendkim/keys/example.com -s default -v sudo chown opendkim:opendkim /etc/opendkim/keys/example.com/default.private sudo chmod 600 /etc/opendkim/keys/example.com/default.private
To get the information you need for the DNS record, you can run sudo cat /etc/opendkim/keys/example.com/default.txt and then copy everything between the parentheses into your TXT record with default._domainkey as the host. After the DKIM TXT record caches, test it as follows:
sudo opendkim-testkey -d example.com -s default -vvv
Note that that output will display “key not secure” unless you configure DNSSEC, which this tutorial has not done. It's now time to configure postfix to leverage this DKIM key. Let's make a directory for the socket and set up the configuration:
sudo mkdir /var/spool/postfix/opendkim sudo chown opendkim:postfix /var/spool/postfix/opendkim sudo nano /etc/opendkim.conf
In the dkim config file, enter:
Socket local:/var/spool/postfix/opendkim/opendkim.sock
After establishing the socket directory and location, let's configure our dkim defaults in sudo nano /etc/default/opendkim and editing:
SOCKET="local:/var/spool/postfix/opendkim/opendkim.sock"
Lastly, we need to configure postfix to be able to use opendkim in sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf by editing:
milter_default_action = accept milter_protocol = 6 smtpd_milters = local:opendkim/opendkim.sock non_smtpd_milters = $smtpd_milters
In addition to spf and dkim policies, it's also best practice to have a dmarc policy. Let's install opendmarc with sudo apt install opendmarc and make sure to say no to db configure in the ncurses prompt, after which you should open sudo nano /etc/opendmarc.conf and enter something like:
AuthservID OpenDMARC TrustedAuthservIDs mail.yourdomain.com RejectFailures true IgnoreAuthenticatedClients true RequireHeaders true SPFSelfValidate true Socket local:/var/spool/postfix/opendmarc/opendmarc.sock
The opendmarc socket also needs its directory created, similar to dkim. So let's create a directory for it sudo mkdir -p /var/spool/postfix/opendmarc and then set permissions and restart the service:
sudo chown opendmarc:opendmarc /var/spool/postfix/opendmarc -R sudo chmod 750 /var/spool/postfix/opendmarc/ -R sudo adduser postfix opendmarc sudo systemctl restart opendmarc
Now, we need to configure postfix to work with openDMARC. Expand the milter to include openDMARC's socket by opening sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf and adjusting the following block:
milter_default_action = accept milter_protocol = 6 smtpd_milters = local:opendkim/opendkim.sock,local:opendmarc/opendmarc.sock non_smtpd_milters = $smtpd_milters
It's about time to setup spam controls, but before we do that, we need to make sure mission critical IMAP folders populate on clients. Let's open sudo nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/15-mailboxes.conf and enter the auto-create line on folders that you need:
mailbox Drafts {
**auto = create**
special_use = \Drafts
}
Since I use lmtp, which is case-sensitive, and sends incoming mail to dovecot, which is also case-sensitive, I created virtual aliases in order to avoid emails being rejected when auto-mailers capitalize or otherwise punctuate the email user name. Let's open sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf and add another block:
virtual_alias_maps = regexp:/etc/postfix/virtual_alias
After you enter that block, let's open the file sudo nano /etc/postfix/virtual_alias and edit it with every spelling combination. Here's an example:
/^[Jj][Oo][Nn][Aa][Tt][Hh][Aa][Nn]@haacksnetworking.org/ jonathan /^[Ww][Ee][Bb][Mm][Aa][Ss][Tt][Ee][Rr]@haacksnetworking.org/ webmaster
It's super important to include the domain above after the regex or all emails you send to that begin with your user name will wind up in that user's inbox. When finished configuring, run postmap /etc/postfix/virtual_alias to honor the changes. So long as everything is working, we can now setup a very reasonable and appropriate way to manage spam, without playing wack-a-mole and without rejecting or discarding emails. Let's first discuss what we can do with postfix itself. It can be configured to reject or discard very poor health emails, such as but not exclusive to setting PTR rules or other fundamentals in sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf as follows:
smtpd_sender_restrictions =
permit_mynetworks,
permit_sasl_authenticated,
#reject_unknown_reverse_client_hostname,
#reject_unknown_client_hostname,
#reject_unknown_sender_domain,
#reject_unauthenticated_sender_login_mismatch,
reject_sender_login_mismatch
permit
Personally, I disable most of the above rejects by design. I include them here more for others' reference. Just remember, there's nothing worse than never getting an email. You can also have postfix do expression checking with sudo apt install postfix-pcre and then edit sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf with expression checking, for example:
header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/header_checks body_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/body_checks
In these locations, sudo nano /etc/postfix/header_checks and sudo nano /etc/postfix/body_checks, setup expression checks as follows:
/free mortgage quote/ REJECT /free mortgage quote/ DISCARD
Once they are to your liking, make sure to compile them with sudo postmap /etc/postfix/body_checks and sudo postmap /etc/postfix/header_checks. Again, in my personal setup, I keep postfix out of the spam-management game. Instead, I prefer to accept ALL email and let spam assassin do the lifting. Let's install spamassasin and integrate it with dovecot's managesieve plugin. Let's do sudo apt install dovecot-sieve dovecot-managesieved spamassassin spamc spamass-milter and then edit sudo nano /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf as follows:
protocols = imap lmtp sieve
In sudo nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/15-lda.conf please adjust the local delivery agent as follows:
protocol lda {
mail_plugins = $mail_plugins sieve
}
Let's also adjust the lmtp agent in sudo nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/20-lmtp.conf as follows:
protocol lmtp {
mail_plugins = quota sieve
}
Now it's time to setup spamassassin in postfix with the other milters. Let's open sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf and adjust the milter block once again:
milter_default_action = accept milter_protocol = 6 smtpd_milters = local:opendkim/opendkim.sock,local:opendmarc/opendmarc.sock,local:spamass/spamass.sock non_smtpd_milters = $smtpd_milters
It's now time to edit spam assassin's default configuration file in sudo nano /etc/default/spamass-milter. As with elsewhere, I make sure the REJECT line is commented out, in order to ensure that false positives won't happen. If you understand the risks and want to reject emails at the gate, go ahead and edit sudo nano /etc/default/spamass-milter and uncomment these lines:
#optional custom message
#OPTIONS="-u spamass-milter -i 127.0.0.1 -R SPAM_ARE_NOT_ALLOWED_HERE"
OPTIONS="-u spamass-milter -i 127.0.0.1"
#Reject emails with spamassassin scores > 15 [or desired score]
OPTIONS="${OPTIONS} -r 15"
Again, I do not use the reject or discard options but rather leverage spam assassin's scoring and header assessing together with dovecot, which can move emails to locations fitting their scores. There are two fundamental ways to configure the scoring and sieve rules, either with the CLI or with Roundcube. When I first began, I used the CLI and created a simple rule in sudo nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-sieve.conf and entered this block:
sieve_before = /var/mail/SpamToJunk.sieve
The sieve_before rule ensures spam assassin assesses the email right after they arrive and before sending them to dovecot and its configured delivery agents. Let's open sudo nano /var/mail/SpamToJunk.sieve and enter the following:
require "fileinto";
if header :contains "X-Spam-Flag" "YES"
{
fileinto "Junk";
stop;
}
After creating the sieve rule, compile it.
sudo sievec /var/mail/SpamToJunk.sieve
This rule does one thing. It checks whether spam assassin identified the message as spam, and if so, it uses dovecot to file it in Junk. This means your spam assassin scores and config are what drive the success rate of this sieve rule. It's also important to note that this rule is global, and impacts all user names on the mail server. It's a good approach for the most heinous spam, leaving more customized rules to roundcube's sieve implementation, later in this tutorial. Let's open sudo nano /etc/spamassassin/local.cf and adjust it as follows.
report_contact webmaster@domain.com #adjust score below to your use-case required_score 5.0 #rewrite_header Subject **Possible Spam** report_safe 0 add_header all Spam-Flag _YESNO_ add_header all Score _SCORE_ add_header all Report _REPORT_ add_header all Level _STARS_ #legacy header config #always_add_headers = 1 #add_header all Flag _YESNO_ #add_header all Status "_YESNO_, score=_SCORE_ required=_REQD_ tests=_TESTS_ autolearn=_AUTOLEARN_ version=_VERSION_" #add_header all Checker-Version "SpamAssassin _VERSION_ (_DATE_) on _HOSTNAME_"
I included some header options, which can help with debugging. Also, I disable safe reporting and Subject rewriting because they alter the original email, which I think is overkill. In order to activate all that spam assassin can do, we need to have our own recursive DNS resolver, required by RBL services. Let's use the DNS server unbound and install it as follows sudo apt install unbound. It works out of the box, but you can also tweak it by looking at my tutorial here: Unbound DNS. Okay, let's now insruct spamassassin to use our dns server by opening sudo nano /etc/spamassassin/local.cf and entering the DNS server. We will also add some common scores and white and black lists while at it.
dns_server 127.0.0.1 score MISSING_FROM 5.0 score MISSING_DATE 5.0 score MISSING_HEADERS 3.0 score PDS_FROM_2_EMAILS 3.0 score FREEMAIL_FORGED_REPLYTO 3.5 score DKIM_ADSP_NXDOMAIN 5.0 score FORGED_GMAIL_RCVD 2.5 score FREEMAIL_FORGED_FROMDOMAIN 3.0 score HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS 3.0 score FREEMAIL_FROM 3.0 score ACCT_PHISHING 3.0 score AD_PREFS 3.0 score ADMAIL 3.0 score ADMITS_SPAM 3.0 score CONFIRMED_FORGED 3.0 score FROM_PAYPAL_SPOOF 3.0 score SPF_SOFTFAIL 2.0 score SPF_FAIL 5.0 whitelist_from *@statefarm.com blacklist_from *@email.freethinkerdaily.com
Additionally, if you check the full headers, you will see that the RBLs can now be queried without issue. Note that whitelisting adds a -100 score and that blacklisting adds a +100 score. To understand how to tweak the symbolic headers better, one should review their spam and headers periodically and update rules based on the headers you see in the full message source. Make sure to compile the sieve file with sievec each time you adjust the config, and restart postfix and dovecot. This approach above is good to do for egregiously bad email, but individual users will likely need their own controls. So, for larger servers, you can alternately use Roundcube instead. Remember, you must pick one or the other because the sieve_before rules above will bypass Roundcube's sieve logic. Bearing this in mind, if you want to use Roundcube for sieve rules, let's navigate to roundcube > settings > filters > edit filter set. To replicate similar functionality as above, I created the following:
require ["fileinto"];
# rule:[whitelist]
if anyof (
header :contains "from" [
"noreply@dmarc.yahoo.com",
"noreply@dmarc.google.com",
"Friend@protonmail.com"
]
) {
keep;
stop;
}
# rule:[blacklist]
if anyof (
header :contains "from" [
"awakening-minds.com",
"porn@yahoo.com",
"bounce-1.public.govdelivery.com"
]
) {
fileinto "Junk";
stop;
}
# rule:[spamcheck]
if anyof (
header :contains "x-spam-status" "Yes",
header :contains "x-spam-flag" "YES",
header :contains "x-spam-level" "*****"
) {
fileinto "Junk";
stop;
}
These rules are processed sequentially. Monitor the Junk folder periodically and refine whitelists as needed. If something escapes, like a full health dirty marketing scam, adjust your blacklist. That's all there is to it. Now that spam controls are setup, we need to setup some auditing tools to monitor how well our server is doing these tasks. For postfix, that tool is pflogsumm. Let's install it with sudo apt install pflogsumm and let's use rsyslog and log rotate to manage the logs, requiring us to also install rsyslog with sudo apt install rsyslog
Disable the /var/log/mail.log entries that are in the rsyslog logrotate rule in /etc/logrotate.d/. This is because we are going to make our own logrotate rule that works nicely with pflogsumm. Create the file sudo nano postfix-log inside /etc/logrotate.d/ and enter the following:
/var/log/mail.log {
missingok
daily
rotate 7
create
compress
start 0
}
Once that's done, let's create script and cronjob to send us daily reports by creating a file sudo nano /usr/local/bin/pflog-run.sh and entering something like:
#!/bin/sh #/usr/sbin/logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/postfix-log [helpful for manual testing] gunzip /var/log/mail.log.0.gz /usr/sbin/pflogsumm /var/log/mail.log.0 --problems-first --rej-add-from --verbose-msg-detail -q | mail -s "[pflog-lastlog]-$(hostname -f)-$(date)" email@email.com gzip /var/log/mail.log.0 sleep 2s systemctl restart rsyslog systemctl restart postfix systemctl restart dovecot exit 0
The key here is that your script and zip and unzipping rules match the retention and naming conventions specified in logrotate. Since I floored the rotation at 0, the script always unzips the 0.gz log. This is why it is preferable and easier to remove the mail.log stanza from the other rotations. This allows one to easily customize it for email logs without messing with other rotations and settings. Once that's done, set up a cronjob and you are all set.
30 12 * * * /bin/bash /usr/local/bin/pflog-run.sh >> /home/logs/pflog-run.log
You can also use the -d yesterday flag in pflogsumm and wildcard your domains, which I later found out. But, this works too and I retain its use in my production servers. This ends our primary configuration. If you don't have Roundcube setup, look here: Roundcube Tutorial. The rest of this tutorial is miscellaneous information that has come up along the way.
The SASL module packages should be brought in as dependencies of postfix and/or dovecot. However, on upgrades, etc., they might be removed during dependency resolution. If you get “no sasl” report on your logs suddenly, despite everything working prior, use:
sudo apt-get install libsasl2-modules
If/when things are going wrong, turn on your detailed debugging logs and study them:
nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-logging.conf <mail_debug yes>
To check record health after you set your DNS records, you can do the following:
dig txt +short _dmarc.jonathanhaack.com dig txt +short _dmarc.haacksnetworking.org dig default._domainkey.jonathanhaack.com txt dig default._domainkey.haacksnetworking.org txt dig txt +short jonathanhaack.com dig txt +short haacksnetworking.org dig -x 8.28.86.130 +short dig -x 8.28.86.125 +short sudo opendkim-testkey -d jonathanhaack.com -s default -vvv sudo opendkim-testkey -d haacksnetworking.org -s default -vvv
You should test email health with the CLI and/or use a service like Mail Tester. I recommend using both CLI to send email and a common client. Both domain.com and mail.domain.com should work if you set everything right. Here's how to send a simple email at the CLI:
echo "Hi, I am testing the subdomain email health." | mail -s "CLI Email Test" oemb1905@jonathanhaack.com
Postfix has its own CLI control tools, such as but not exclusive to viewing email, deleting email, etc.:
mailq postcat -q E900C4780073 postsuper -d E900C4780073 postsuper -d ALL
These tools prove helpful if/when emails get stuck, etc.
— oemb1905 2025/04/19 02:15
