Installing Postfix with MySql backend and SASL for

SMTP authentication
Postfix is a free and open source mail transfer agent (MTA). It is intended as a fast,
easy-to-administer, and secure alternative to the widely-used Sendmail MTA.

Install and configure Postfix

1. Install Postfix and SASL

apt-get install postfix postfix-mysql libsasl2-modules-sql sasl2-bin

libsasl2-2 postfix-tls libpam-mysql
> Internet Site
> host.domain.com

2. Create database and tables (mysql -u root -p)

# Create the database

CREATE DATABASE mail;

# Create user and allow him to read from the mail database
GRANT SELECT ON mail.* TO '{username}'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY
'{password}';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

# Select the mail database

USE mail;

# Create table containing domains handled by this mail server

CREATE TABLE domains (
domain varchar(255) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (domain)
) TYPE=MyISAM;

# Create table for e-mail address forwardings

CREATE TABLE forwardings (
source varchar(255) NOT NULL,
destination varchar(255) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (source)
) TYPE=MyISAM;

# Create table for e-mail accounts / users

CREATE TABLE users (
email varchar(255) NOT NULL,
password varchar(255) NOT NULL,
quota int(10) DEFAULT '104857600',
PRIMARY KEY (email)
) TYPE=MyISAM;

# Create table for transports

CREATE TABLE transport (
domain varchar(255) NOT NULL,
transport varchar(255) NOT NULL,
UNIQUE KEY domain (domain)
) TYPE=MyISAM;
{username} = A new MySql user used by Postfix to access the MySql data
{password} = A password for the new MySql user

3. Create Postfix to MySql mappings

Domains (pico /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_domains.cf)

user = {username}
password = {password}
dbname = mail
table = domains
select_field = 'virtual'
where_field = domain
hosts = 127.0.0.1

Forwards (pico /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_forwardings.cf)

user = {username}
password = {password}
dbname = mail
table = forwardings
select_field = destination
where_field = source
hosts = 127.0.0.1

Mailboxes / Users (pico /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_mailboxes.cf)

user = {username}
password = {password}
dbname = mail
table = users
select_field = CONCAT(SUBSTRING_INDEX(email,'@',-
1),'/',SUBSTRING_INDEX(email,'@',1),'/')
where_field = email
hosts = 127.0.0.1

E-mail to E-mail (pico /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_email2email.cf)

user = {username}
password = {password}
dbname = mail
table = users
select_field = email
where_field = email
hosts = 127.0.0.1

Transports (pico /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_transports.cf)

user = {username}
password = {password}
dbname = mail
table = transport
select_field = transport
where_field = domain
hosts = 127.0.0.1

Quota (pico /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_mailbox_limit_maps.cf)

user = {username}
password = {password}
dbname = mail
table = users
select_field = quota
where_field = email
hosts = 127.0.0.1

Destinations (pico /etc/postfix/mysql-mydestination.cf)

user = {username}
password = {password}
dbname = mail
table = transport
select_field = domain
where_field = domain
hosts = 127.0.0.1

{username} = The username you selected for the new MySql user
{password} = The password you selected for the new MySql user

4. Change permissions on the new files

chmod 640 /etc/postfix/mysql-*.cf

chgrp postfix /etc/postfix/mysql-*.cf

Make sure they aren't readable by any user because the password is included

5. Create a local user and group for the virtual users

groupadd -g 5000 vmail

useradd -g vmail -u 5000 vmail -d /home/vmail -m

6. Create certificates for TLS

openssl req -new -outform PEM -out /etc/postfix/smtpd.cert -newkey

rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout /etc/postfix/smtpd.key -keyform PEM -days 3650
-x509
chmod 640 /etc/postfix/smtpd.key

7. Configure Postfix

postconf -e 'mydestination = localhost,

proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-mydestination.cf'
postconf -e 'virtual_alias_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-
virtual_forwardings.cf, mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-
virtual_email2email.cf'
postconf -e 'virtual_mailbox_domains = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-
virtual_domains.cf'
postconf -e 'virtual_mailbox_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-
virtual_mailboxes.cf'
postconf -e 'virtual_mailbox_base = /home/vmail'
postconf -e 'virtual_uid_maps = static:5000'
postconf -e 'virtual_gid_maps = static:5000'
postconf -e 'smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes'
postconf -e 'smtpd_helo_required = yes'
postconf -e 'broken_sasl_auth_clients = yes'
postconf -e 'smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_mynetworks,
permit_sasl_authenticated, reject_unauth_destination'
postconf -e 'smtpd_use_tls = yes'
postconf -e 'smtpd_tls_cert_file = /etc/postfix/smtpd.cert'
postconf -e 'smtpd_tls_key_file = /etc/postfix/smtpd.key'
postconf -e 'strict_rfc821_envelopes = yes'
postconf -e 'disable_vrfy_command = yes'
postconf -e 'transport_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-
virtual_transports.cf'
postconf -e 'virtual_create_maildirsize = yes'
postconf -e 'virtual_mailbox_extended = yes'
postconf -e 'virtual_mailbox_limit_maps =
proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_mailbox_limit_maps.cf'
postconf -e 'virtual_mailbox_limit_override = yes'
postconf -e 'virtual_maildir_limit_message = "Account is over quota"'
postconf -e 'virtual_overquota_bounce = yes'
postconf -e 'proxy_read_maps = $local_recipient_maps $mydestination
$virtual_alias_maps $virtual_alias_domains $virtual_mailbox_maps
$virtual_mailbox_domains $relay_recipient_maps $relay_domains
$canonical_maps $sender_canonical_maps $recipient_canonical_maps
$relocated_maps $transport_maps $mynetworks
$virtual_mailbox_limit_maps'

8. Enable secure ports: 465 and 587 (pico /etc/postfix/master.cf)

smtps inet n - - - - smtpd

-o smtpd_tls_wrappermode=yes
-o smtpd_sasl_auth_enable=yes
-o smtpd_client_restrictions=permit_sasl_authenticated,reject
-o milter_macro_daemon_name=ORIGINATING

587 inet n - - - - smtpd

Configure SASL for SMTP authentication

9. Create a folder for the SASL PID file

mkdir -p /var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd

10. Enable SASL (pico /etc/default/saslauthd)

START=yes
OPTIONS="-c -m /var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd -r"

11. Configure SASL to use the new PID file location (pico /etc/init.d/saslauthd)

PIDFILE="/var/spool/postfix/var/run/${NAME}/saslauthd.pid"

Make sure you replace all PIDFILE definations in the file. This is set on a few places.

12. Configure PAM to use MySql backend for authentication (pico /etc/pam.d/smtp)

auth required pam_mysql.so user={username} passwd={password}

host=127.0.0.1 db=mail table=users usercolumn=email
passwdcolumn=password crypt=1
account sufficient pam_mysql.so user={username} passwd={password}
host=127.0.0.1 db=mail table=users usercolumn=email
passwdcolumn=password crypt=1

{username} = The username you selected for the new MySql user
{password} = The password you selected for the new MySql user

13. Configure Postfix to use SASl for SMTP authentication (pico

/etc/postfix/sasl/smtpd.conf)

pwcheck_method: saslauthd
mech_list: plain login
allow_plaintext: true
auxprop_plugin: mysql
sql_hostnames: 127.0.0.1
sql_user: {username}
sql_passwd: {password}
sql_database: mail
sql_select: select password from users where email = '%u'

{username} = The username you selected for the new MySql user
{password} = The password you selected for the new MySql user

14. Restart Postfix and SASL

/etc/init.d/saslauthd restart
/etc/init.d/postfix restart

Test MySql data

1. Handle mail for a domain. This must be done if you will create mailboxes or
forwards handled on this server.

INSERT INTO domains VALUES ('domain.com');

2. Create user/mailbox. Users will be able to receive mail and send mails using this
server

INSERT INTO users VALUES ('[email protected]', ENCRYPT('password'),

104857600);

3. Create forward. A e-mail address used to forward to another e-mail address or

multiple e-mail addresses

INSERT INTO forwardings VALUES ('[email protected]',

'[email protected]');

Forward to multiple e-mail addresses using a comma to seperate

INSERT INTO forwardings VALUES ('[email protected]',

'[email protected],[email protected]');

4. Forward all mails for a domain to another mail server

INSERT INTO transport VALUES ('domain.com',
'smtp:server2.domain.com');

Installing Courier POP3 and IMAP daemon with

MySql backend
The Courier mail transfer agent (MTA) is an integrated mail/groupware server based on
open commodity protocols, such as ESMTP, IMAP, POP3, LDAP, SSL, and HTTP.
Courier provides ESMTP, IMAP, POP3, webmail, and mailing list services within a
single, consistent, framework. In this tutorial we'll only use the Courier POP3 and
IMAP services.

It's assumed that you have already installed and configured Postfix according to this
tutorial: Installing Postfix with MySql backend and SASL for SMTP authentication

1. Install required packages

apt-get install courier-authdaemon courier-authlib-mysql courier-pop

courier-pop-ssl courier-imap courier-imap-ssl

2. Make Courier use MySql backend (pico /etc/courier/authdaemonrc)

authmodulelist="authmysql"

3. Configure the MySql connector (pico /etc/courier/authmysqlrc)

MYSQL_SERVER 127.0.0.1
MYSQL_USERNAME {username}
MYSQL_PASSWORD {password}
MYSQL_PORT 0
MYSQL_DATABASE {database}
MYSQL_USER_TABLE users
MYSQL_CRYPT_PWFIELD password
MYSQL_UID_FIELD 5000
MYSQL_GID_FIELD 5000
MYSQL_LOGIN_FIELD email
MYSQL_HOME_FIELD "/home/vmail"
MYSQL_MAILDIR_FIELD CONCAT(SUBSTRING_INDEX(email,'@',-
1),'/',SUBSTRING_INDEX(email,'@',1),'/')
MYSQL_QUOTA_FIELD quota

{database} = MySql database name

MySql username
MySql password

4. Restart Courier daemons

/etc/init.d/courier-authdaemon restart
/etc/init.d/courier-imap restart
/etc/init.d/courier-imap-ssl restart
/etc/init.d/courier-pop restart
/etc/init.d/courier-pop-ssl restart