Step 1 : Prepare the system

Install postfix, courier-imap, courier-authdaemon and postgresql

The usefull debian command line :

sudo apt-get install postfix courier-imap postgresql courier-authdaemon courier-authlib-postgresql postfix-pgsql

 

During the installation you will be asked for some questions about postfix. Just answer with the common responses, you will be able to change this later.

After install, you can check if the right ports are open on the localhost 127.0.0.1 :

PORT     STATE SERVICE
22/tcp   open  ssh
25/tcp   open  smtp
143/tcp  open  imap
5432/tcp open  postgresql

Create a postfix user

Normally the postfix user is automatically created by the apt-get install, otherwise you can do :

# adduser postfix
# adduser postfix postfix


Step 2 : Postgresql

Configure postgresql for the postfix user :

Login as root in postgres is done with the "postgres" user :

# sudo -s -u postgres
$ psql
postgres# CREATE USER postfix WITH PASSWORD 'postfix';
postgres# CREATE DATABASE postfix;
postgres# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE postfix to postfix;

 

 

 

 

Ok now you'll have a postfix user and an associated database called postfix. In this database we'll put all the informations about our mail configuration.

To prevent permissions problem with postgresql it could be usefull to allow the postfix user to have a history file, so you need to give read/write access to the folder /var/spool/postfix for postfix user :

# chown -R postfix.postfix /var/spool/postfix

Open external ports for postgresql (only if you need to access postgresql from outside)

Configure by opening the access to the database not only for your loopback interface in the file /etc/postgresql/main/8.3/postgresql.conf :

# - Connection Settings -
listen_addresses = '*'				# what IP address(es) to listen on;
									# comma-separated list of addresses;
									# defaults to 'localhost', '*' = all

and now in the file /etc/postgresql/main/8.3/pg_hba.conf we need to allow the used network, here we are using 10.0.2.0.24 (last line):

# "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only
local	all			all								ident sameuser
# IPv4 local connections:
host	all			all			127.0.0.1/32		md5
# IPv6 local connections:
host	all			all			::1/128				md5
# this line add the authorisation for all the subnetwork 10.0.2.* to connect to the
# local postgresql server
host	all			all			10.0.2.0/24			md5

Now your can restart postgresql :

/etc/init.d/postgresql-8.3 restart

To check the accessibility for postgresql, lets test the ports on your external IP (for me 10.0.2.15) and you should have :

PORT     STATE SERVICE
22/tcp   open  ssh
25/tcp   open  smtp
143/tcp  open  imap
5432/tcp open  postgresql

Create the tables for the mail

This is the table which will be used to match the aliases to the existing emails :

CREATE TABLE aliases (
  alias varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  address text NOT NULL,
  domain varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  created time with time zone NOT NULL  default now(),
  modified time with time zone NOT NULL default now(),
  active int NOT NULL default '1',
  PRIMARY KEY  (address)
);

This table content the several domains that are managed by this mail server instance :

CREATE TABLE domain(
  domain varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  description varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  aliases int NOT NULL default '0',
  mailboxes int NOT NULL default '0',
  maxquota int NOT NULL default '0',
  transport varchar(255) default NULL,
  backupmx int NOT NULL default '0',
  created time with time zone NOT NULL default now(),
  modified time with time zone NOT NULL default now(),
  active int NOT NULL default '1',
  PRIMARY KEY  (domain)
) ;

The mailbox table have all the emails of the users with theirs passwords and mail directory :

CREATE TABLE mailbox (
  username varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  password varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  name varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  maildir varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  quota int NOT NULL default '0',
  domain varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  created time with time zone NOT NULL default now(),
  modified time with time zone NOT NULL default now(),
  active int NOT NULL default '1',
  PRIMARY KEY  (username)
) ;

Instantiate the tables of the mail database :

This will allow you to test your system if it is working successfully :

INSERT INTO domain (domain,description) VALUES ('example.lan', 'Example domain');
INSERT INTO mailbox (username,password,name,maildir)  VALUES ('
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 ','$1$zO3SJ$atwB0hrEgp5KWbrJG.zwE0','Mailbox User','
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 /');
INSERT INTO aliases (alias,address) VALUES ('
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 ', '
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 ');
INSERT INTO mailbox (username,password,name,maildir)  VALUES ('
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 ','$1$8evSJ$CC92TOtQQzdull3QNb4AZ0','Mailbox User','
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 /');

Note : the passwords used here are resectively : - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it : secret - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it : test To generate other passwords you can use the command 'authpasswd' :

# authpasswd
Password: 
Reenter password: 
$1$0h8fJ$w4sbGbaoX487cytcGpmqF1

Create the directory for your mails

# mkdir /home/postfix
# mkdir /home/postfix/Maildir
# chown -R postfix.postfix /home/postfix

Now let's create a folder for each user :

# sudo -s -u postfix
$ cd /home/postfix/Maildir
$ maildirmake 
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
$ maildirmake 
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

We are now ready to go ahead to the postfix configuration

Step 3 : Configure the authentication system

Configure authdaemon for the postgresql sessions

Edit the file ‘authdaemonrc‘ in the directory ‘/etc/courier/ ‘. This will configure the database access like where it is, how to connect, which user and password and which tables and fields to use.

authmodulelist="authpgsql" 
daemons=5 
authmodulelistorig="authuserdb authpam authldap authmysql authcustom authpipe" 
DEBUG_LOGIN=2 # this can be usefull to get some debug log
authdaemonvar=/var/run/courier/authdaemon

In the file /etc/courier/authpgsqlrc you will find all the configuration data of your system database :

PGSQL_HOST		localhost
PGSQL_PORT		5432
PGSQL_USERNAME		postfix
PGSQL_PASSWORD		postfix
PGSQL_DATABASE		postfix
PGSQL_USER_TABLE	mailbox
PGSQL_CRYPT_PWFIELD	password
# for the uid and the gid you need to use the right for your installation
# use the command 'id postfix' to find it out
PGSQL_UID_FIELD		111
PGSQL_GID_FIELD		119
PGSQL_LOGIN_FIELD	username
PGSQL_HOME_FIELD	'/home/postfix/Maildir'
PGSQL_MAILDIR_FIELD	maildir

Test authdaemon with authtest

First you need to restart the daemons to reload the configuration files

# /etc/init.d/courier-authdaemon restart

To test if the authentication works with the database you can use authtest :

$ authtest 
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  secret
Authentication succeeded.

     Authenticated: 
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
   (uid 109, gid 117)
    Home Directory: /var/spool/postfix
           Maildir: 
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 /
             Quota: (none)
Encrypted Password: $1$zO3SJ$atwB0hrEgp5KWbrJG.zwE0
Cleartext Password: secret
           Options: (none)

If it don't work you can find a lot of informations in the file /var/log/mail.log :

$ tail -n 10 /var/log/mail.log
Dec 18 15:25:25 ubuntu authdaemond: modules="authpgsql", daemons=5
Dec 18 15:25:25 ubuntu authdaemond: Installing libauthpgsql
Dec 18 15:25:25 ubuntu authdaemond: Installation complete: authpgsql
Dec 18 15:25:40 ubuntu authdaemond: received auth request, service=login, authtype=login
Dec 18 15:25:40 ubuntu authdaemond: authpgsql: trying this module
Dec 18 15:25:41 ubuntu authdaemond: SQL query: SELECT username, '', password, 109, 117, '/var/spool/postfix', Maildir, '', '', '' FROM mailbox WHERE username = '
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 '
Dec 18 15:25:41 ubuntu authdaemond: authpgsql: sysusername=<null>, sysuserid=109, sysgroupid=117, homedir=/var/spool/postfix, address=
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 , fullname=<null>, maildir=
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 /, quota=<null>, options=<null>
Dec 18 15:25:41 ubuntu authdaemond: authpgsql: clearpasswd=secret, passwd=<null>
Dec 18 15:25:41 ubuntu authdaemond: Authenticated: sysusername=<null>, sysuserid=109, sysgroupid=117, homedir=/var/spool/postfix, address=
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 , fullname=<null>, maildir=
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 /, quota=<null>, options=<null>
Dec 18 15:25:41 ubuntu authdaemond: Authenticated: clearpasswd=secret, passwd=<null>

Here, as you can see everything is working fine for me :) cool

Step 4 : Postfix

Configure postfix + postgresql

First we'll need the user id and the group id of postfix :

# id postfix

here are the lines you'll need to append to the /etc/postfix/main.cf file (don't forget to adapt the gid and the uid for your own user, otherwise you'll expect some permissions problems)

home_mailbox = mail/
smtpd_banner = $myhostname ESMTP $mail_name (Ubuntu/GNU)

# my additions for the virtual domain administration
# to use the Postgresql database.
virtual_gid_maps = static:117
virtual_uid_maps = static:109
virtual_transport = virtual
virtual_mailbox_limit = 51200000
virtual_mailbox_base = /home/postfix/Maildir
virtual_alias_maps = pgsql:/etc/postfix/pgsql_virtual_aliases_maps.cf
virtual_mailbox_domains = pgsql:/etc/postfix/pgsql_virtual_domains_maps.cf
virtual_mailbox_maps = pgsql:/etc/postfix/pgsql_virtual_mailbox_maps.cf

Now let's create the several maps databases for the aliases, domains and mailbox in the correct files :

/etc/postfix/pgsql_virtual_aliases_maps.cf :

# The hosts that Postfix will try to connect to
hosts = localhost
# The user name and password to log into the pgsql server.
user = postfix
password = postfix
# The database name on the servers.
dbname = postfix
query = SELECT address FROM aliases WHERE alias='%s'

/etc/postfix/pgsql_virtual_domains_maps.cf :

user = postfix
password = postfix
hosts = localhost
dbname = postfix
query = SELECT domain FROM domain WHERE domain='%s'

/etc/postfix/pgsql_virtual_mailbox_maps.cf :

user = postfix
password = postfix
hosts = localhost
dbname = postfix
query = SELECT maildir FROM mailbox WHERE username='%s' AND active = 1

Test postfix with postmap

Let's check if the configuration we used before is correct and is working :

# postmap -q 
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
   pgsql:/etc/postfix/pgsql_virtual_aliases_maps.cf
# postmap -q 
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
   pgsql:/etc/postfix/pgsql_virtual_domains_maps.cf
# postmap -q 
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
   pgsql:/etc/postfix/pgsql_virtual_mailbox_maps.cf

 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 /

Here as you can see I have no errors prompted so it's working fine :)-

Note : be sure this works before going further in this tutorial.

Configure the SMTP authentication with SASL

Create a directory in the chrooted directory of postfix to enable access to the authdaemon app :

cd /var/spool/postfix
mkdir courier-authdaemon-socket

first check where is installed the socket of the authdaemon. Usually on debian systems it's installed into the /var/run/courier/authdaemon directory. Adapt the tutorial if it's different for you.

Modify your /etc/fstab file so you can mount the right directory in the right place to access to the authdaemon socket from the chrooted directory. Add this line into /etc/fstab :

/var/run/courier/authdaemon /var/spool/postfix/courier-authdaemon-socket none bind 0 0

Now let's mount the directory into the right place and test if it works :

mount /var/spool/postfix/courier-authdaemon-socket
chown -R postfix.postfix /var/spool/postfix/courier-authdaemon-socket

Now we need to configure postfix to authenticate the SMTP requests on the same way as for the IMAP requests. Therefore we will ask to postfix to use authdaemon to authenticate. The authentication system for postfix is called SASL. Let's install it.

apt-get install sasl2-bin libsasl2-modules

Activate SASL in the postfix configuration file /etc/postfix/sasl/smtpd.conf (be sure the directory to the authdaemon socket is right in a chrooted perspective):

pwcheck_method: authdaemond
mech_list: PLAIN LOGIN
authdaemond_path: /courier-authdaemon-socket/socket
log_level: 4

Append the following lines at the end the postfix configuration file /etc/postfix/main.cf :

#
# The settings for the SASL authentication using the autdaemon.
smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes
smtpd_sasl2_auth_enable = yes
smtpd_sasl_security_options = noanonymous
broken_sasl_auth_clients = no
smtpd_client_restrictions = permit_mynetworks
                            permit_sasl_authenticated
Step 5: Courier Imap and the rest

Configure courier-imap

Configuration is done into the file /etc/courier/imapd. We need to modify this line with the right directory :

MAILDIRPATH=/home/postfix/Maildir

The default configuration is ok for the rest.

Now let's reboot all your daemons in use to be sure every configuration is considered:

# /etc/init.d/postfix restart && /etc/init.d/courier-imap restart && /etc/init.d/courier-authdaemon restart

Configure thunderbird

You can just try to add an account. The data you'll need is :

  • IMAP server : your mail server IP
  • SMTP server : same IP
  • Username : This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  • Password : secret
  • Use TLS/SSL : no
  • Port : 143

Known errors

Note : if you get the following error in /var/log/mail.log :

postfix/trivial-rewrite[19109]: warning: do not list domain example.lan in BOTH mydestination and virtual_mailbox_domain

then it means you configured the "mydestination" variable in /etc/postfix/main.cf to the same domain name as your email server. Please remove "example.lan" from it and it should work now :)