<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nLog in to your server through SSH as a root user or as a regular user that has sudo privileges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ssh user@hostname<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nTo update the system, you can run this command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo apt update\nsudo apt upgrade<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Set Hostname<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nAssign your server a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). For example, we will create ubuntumail.yourdomain.com, let\u2019s run this command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo hostnamectl set-hostname mail.yourdomain.com<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe above command is just an example, you would need to use your own registered domain name to create a hostname.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Install Apache, MariaDB, and PHP<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nNow, let\u2019s install the web server, database server, and PHP<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo apt install apache2 mariadb-server php-{xml,pear,imap,intl,common,json,curl,mbstring,mysql,pgsql,gd,imagick,zip,opcache,sqlite3} libapache2-mod-php composer<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Create a System User<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nWhen creating the system user be mindful of the available space the users partition is going to be created on. Make sure you have enough space to house the volume of email that will be received by all mail recipients. Personally, I chose \/home as my base. \/home is normally one of the first secondary partitions I create when installing a new system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s run the following commands to create a system user called \u2018vmail\u2019 and create a directory and give the proper permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo useradd -m -r -u 150 -g mail -d \/home\/vmail -s \/sbin\/nologin -c \"Virtual Mail User\" vmail\nsudo chmod -R 770 \/home\/vmail\nsudo chown -R vmail:mail \/home\/vmail<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Create a Database<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nLets first secure your root user database access. Simply install MariaDB does not setup a default password for the root user. Run the following command and follow the prompts given to you to secure your MySQL server installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo su -\nmysql_secure_installation<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nNow, lets login to MySQL, run this command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
mysql -u root -p<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nOnce logged in, let\u2019s run the following commands:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE postfixadmin;\nMariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON postfixadmin.* TO 'pfadmin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'Pa$$W0rd';\nMariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;\nMariaDB [(none)]> \\q<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Install Postfix<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nInstall Postfix mail server with this command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo apt install postfix-mysql<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nDuring the install you should see a prompt <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Choose Internet Site then hit Ok to continue<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this step, you will be asked for the system mail name, make sure the system mail name is the same as your servers hostname. We set the system hostname at the beginning of this tutorial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once completed we need to create several configuration files for Postfix to communicate with the database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo mkdir -p \/etc\/postfix\/sql<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s create the files, make sure to replace the password, database name, database user with the ones you created earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo nano \/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_alias_maps.cf\n\nuser = pfadmin\npassword = Pa$$W0rd\nhosts = localhost\ndbname = postfixadmin\nquery = SELECT goto FROM alias WHERE address='%s' AND active = '1'<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo nano \/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_domains_maps.cf\n\nuser = pfadmin\npassword = Pa$$W0rd\nhosts = localhost\ndbname = postfixadmin\nquery = SELECT domain FROM domain WHERE domain='%s' AND active = '1'<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo nano \/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_mailbox_maps.cf\n\nuser = pfadmin\npassword = Pa$$W0rd\nhosts = localhost\ndbname = postfixadmin\nquery = SELECT maildir FROM mailbox WHERE username='%s' AND active = '1'<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo nano \/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_alias_domain_maps.cf\n\nuser = pfadmin\npassword = Pa$$W0rd\nhosts = localhost\ndbname = postfixadmin\nquery = SELECT goto FROM alias,alias_domain WHERE alias_domain.alias_domain = '%d' and alias.address = CONCAT('%u', '@', alias_domain.target_domain) AND alias.active = 1 AND alias_domain.active='1'<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo nano \/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_alias_domain_mailbox_maps.cf\n\nuser = pfadmin\npassword = Pa$$W0rd\nhosts = localhost\ndbname = postfixadmin\nquery = SELECT maildir FROM mailbox,alias_domain WHERE alias_domain.alias_domain = '%d' and mailbox.username = CONCAT('%u', '@', alias_domain.target_domain) AND mailbox.active = 1 AND alias_domain.active='1'<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo nano \/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_mailbox_limit_maps.cf\n\nuser = pfadmin\npassword = Pa$$W0rd\nhosts = localhost\ndbname = postfixadmin\nquery = SELECT quota FROM mailbox WHERE username='%s' AND active = '1'<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo nano \/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_alias_domain_catchall_maps.cf\n\nuser = pfadmin\npassword = Pa$$W0rd\nhosts = localhost\ndbname = postfixadmin\nquery = SELECT goto FROM alias,alias_domain WHERE alias_domain.alias_domain = '%d' and alias.address = CONCAT('@', alias_domain.target_domain) AND alias.active = 1 AND alias_domain.active='1'<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nLet us now proceed with editing \/etc\/postfix\/main.cf file, we can run the following commands:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo postconf -e \"myhostname = $(hostname -f)\"\nsudo postconf -e \"mydestination = localhost\"\nsudo postconf -e \"mynetworks = 127.0.0.0\/8\"\nsudo postconf -e \"inet_protocols = ipv4\"\nsudo postconf -e \"inet_interfaces = all\"\nsudo postconf -e \"smtpd_tls_cert_file = \/etc\/ssl\/certs\/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem\"\nsudo postconf -e \"smtpd_tls_key_file = \/etc\/ssl\/private\/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key\"\nsudo postconf -e \"smtpd_use_tls = yes\"\nsudo postconf -e \"smtpd_tls_auth_only = yes\"\nsudo postconf -e \"smtpd_sasl_type = dovecot\"\nsudo postconf -e \"smtpd_sasl_path = private\/auth\"\nsudo postconf -e \"smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes\"\nsudo postconf -e \"smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_sasl_authenticated, permit_mynetworks, reject_unauth_destination\"\nsudo postconf -e \"virtual_transport = lmtp:unix:private\/dovecot-lmtp\"\nsudo postconf -e \"virtual_mailbox_domains = proxy:mysql:\/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_domains_maps.cf\"\nsudo postconf -e \"virtual_alias_maps = proxy:mysql:\/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_alias_maps.cf, proxy:mysql:\/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_alias_domain_maps.cf, proxy:mysql:\/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_alias_domain_catchall_maps.cf\"\nsudo postconf -e \"virtual_mailbox_maps = proxy:mysql:\/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_mailbox_maps.cf, proxy:mysql:\/etc\/postfix\/sql\/mysql_virtual_alias_domain_mailbox_maps.cf\"<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nOnce completed, we can continue and edit \/etc\/postfix\/master.cf file:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo nano \/etc\/postfix\/master.cf<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nModify or add the following lines to the file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
smtp inet n - y - - smtpd\n#smtp inet n - y - 1 postscreen\n#smtpd pass - - y - - smtpd\n#dnsblog unix - - y - 0 dnsblog\n#tlsproxy unix - - y - 0 tlsproxy\nsubmission inet n - y - - smtpd\n -o syslog_name=postfix\/submission\n -o smtpd_tls_security_level=encrypt\n -o smtpd_sasl_auth_enable=yes\n# -o smtpd_reject_unlisted_recipient=no\n# -o smtpd_client_restrictions=$mua_client_restrictions\n# -o smtpd_helo_restrictions=$mua_helo_restrictions\n# -o smtpd_sender_restrictions=$mua_sender_restrictions\n# -o smtpd_recipient_restrictions=\n# -o smtpd_relay_restrictions=permit_sasl_authenticated,reject\n -o smtpd_client_restrictions=permit_sasl_authenticated,reject\n -o milter_macro_daemon_name=ORIGINATING\nsmtps inet n - y - - smtpd\n -o syslog_name=postfix\/smtps\n# -o smtpd_tls_wrappermode=yes\n -o smtpd_sasl_auth_enable=yes\n# -o smtpd_reject_unlisted_recipient=no\n -o smtpd_client_restrictions=permit_sasl_authenticated,reject\n# -o smtpd_client_restrictions=$mua_client_restrictions\n# -o smtpd_helo_restrictions=$mua_helo_restrictions\n# -o smtpd_sender_restrictions=$mua_sender_restrictions\n# -o smtpd_recipient_restrictions=\n# -o smtpd_relay_restrictions=permit_sasl_authenticated,reject\n -o milter_macro_daemon_name=ORIGINATING<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nSave the changes then exit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Install Dovecot<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nsudo apt install dovecot-mysql dovecot-imapd dovecot-pop3d dovecot-lmtpd<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nOnce dovecot is installed, we need to edit some configuration files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Open the \/etc\/dovecot\/conf.d\/10-auth.conf file<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$ sudo nano \/etc\/dovecot\/conf.d\/10-auth.conf<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThen find this line<\/p>\n\n\n\n
auth_mechanisms = plain<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nreplace it with this line:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
auth_mechanisms = plain login<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThen, comment !include auth-system.conf.ext and uncomment #!include auth-sql.conf.ext<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It should look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#!include auth-system.conf.ext \n!include auth-sql.conf.ext<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nIn the 10-auth.conf file, we include auth-sql.conf.ext. So, let\u2019s edit the file<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$ sudo nano \/etc\/dovecot\/dovecot-sql.conf.ext<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nthen append these lines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
driver = mysql\nconnect = host=localhost dbname=postfixadmin user=pfadmin password=Pa$$W0rd\ndefault_pass_scheme = MD5-CRYPT\npassword_query = SELECT username as user, password, '\/home\/vmail\/%d\/%n' as userdb_home, 'maildir:\/home\/vmail\/%d\/%n' as userdb_mail, 150 as userdb_uid, 8 as userdb_gid FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%u' AND active = '1'\nuser_query = SELECT '\/home\/vmail\/%d\/%u' as home, 'maildir:\/home\/vmail\/%d\/%u' as mail, 150 AS uid, 8 AS gid, concat('dirsize:storage=', quota) AS quota FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%u' AND active = '1'<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe lines above contain the database credentials, make sure they match the ones you created in the previous step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Save the file and exit<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next, open the \/etc\/dovecot\/conf.d\/10-mail.conf file and modify the following values:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$ sudo nano \/etc\/dovecot\/conf.d\/10-mail.conf\n\nmail_location = maildir:\/home\/vmail\/%d\/%n\nmail_uid = vmail\nmail_gid = mail\nmail_privileged_group = mail\nfirst_valid_uid = 150\nlast_valid_uid = 150<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nBy default, dovecot SSL support in Ubuntu is enabled. You can verify it by checking the file \/etc\/dovecot\/conf.d\/10-ssl.conf, make sure it has this line:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ssl = yes<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nIf you want to edit the postmaster email address, you can edit the file \/etc\/dovecot\/conf.d\/15-lda.conf and find the postmaster_address line. By default, the postmaster email address would be postmaster@yourdomain.com. So, if you want to receive the postmaster email at admin@yourdomain.com, then you need to add this line:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
postmaster_address = admin@yourdomain.com<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nNow, let\u2019s proceed with editing other dovecot configuration files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo nano \/etc\/dovecot\/conf.d\/10-master.conf<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThere are several changes you need to make to this file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Find the service lmtp section and change it to the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
service lmtp {
unix_listener \/var\/spool\/postfix\/private\/dovecot-lmtp {
mode = 0600
user = postfix
group = postfix
}
}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nFind the service auth section and change it to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
service auth {\n unix_listener \/var\/spool\/postfix\/private\/auth {\n mode = 0666\n user = postfix\n group = postfix\n}\n\nunix_listener auth-userdb {\n mode = 0600\n user = vmail\n\n}\n\nuser = dovecot\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nChange the service auth-worker section to the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
service auth-worker {
user = vmail
}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nDo not forget to save the file then exit<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before restarting Dovecot, we need to change the permissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo chown -R vmail:dovecot \/etc\/dovecot\nsudo chmod -R o-rwx \/etc\/dovecot\nsudo systemctl restart postfix dovecot<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Install PostfixAdmin<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nIn this final step, we will download PostfixAdmin from Github and store it in the \/var\/www\/ directory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
cd \/var\/www\/\nsudo wget -O postfixadmin.tgz https:\/\/github.com\/postfixadmin\/postfixadmin\/archive\/refs\/tags\/v4.0.1.tar.gz\nsudo tar zxf postfixadmin.tgz\nsudo mkdir -p postfixadmin-4.0.1\/templates_c\nsudo chown -R www-data:www-data \/var\/www\/postfixadmin-4.0.1\nsudo ln -s postfixadmin-4.0.1 postfixadmin<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nRun composer installer to install PostfixAdmin PHP dependencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
cd \/var\/www\/postfixadmin-4.0.1\/
sudo composer install --no-dev<\/pre>\n\n\n\nWe are not going to use a subdomain to access PostfixAdmin through a web browser, we will use an Apache alias instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo nano \/etc\/apache2\/conf-enabled\/postfixadmin.conf<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nPaste the following into the file then reload apache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alias \/postfixadmin \/var\/www\/postfixadmin\/public\n<Directory \"\/var\/www\/postfixadmin\/public\">\n AllowOverride All\n Options +FollowSymLinks\n Require all granted\n<\/Directory>\n\nsudo systemctl reload apache2<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nCreate config.local.php and insert the following lines<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo nano \/var\/www\/postfixadmin\/config.local.php\n\n<?php\n$CONF['database_type'] = 'mysqli';\n$CONF['database_host'] = 'localhost';\n$CONF['database_user'] = 'pfadmin';\n$CONF['database_password'] = 'Pa$$W0rd';\n$CONF['database_name'] = 'postfixadmin';\n$CONF['configured'] = true;\n\n?><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nGo to http:\/\/YOUR_SERVER_IP_ADDRESS\/postfixadmin\/setup.php and create a setup password. If you already have a website on your server, you can also access PostfixAdmin at http:\/\/yourdomain.com\/postfixadmin\/setup.php<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Type your setup password twice and click on the \u2018Generate setup_password hash\u2019 button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You will see a line containing a setup password like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$CONF['setup_password'] = '$2y$10$xlKkztMcpu6C3\/\/ZqPZM1.pTGjGD5oEn0KtBlbSl9VFDycxPNH1M2';<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nand you need to copy it to config.local.php<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<?php\n$CONF['database_type'] = 'mysqli';\n$CONF['database_host'] = 'localhost';\n$CONF['database_user'] = 'pfadmin';\n$CONF['database_password'] = 'Pa$$W0rd';\n$CONF['database_name'] = 'postfixadmin';\n$CONF['configured'] = true;\n\n$CONF['setup_password'] = '$2y$10$xlKkztMcpu6C3\/\/ZqPZM1.pTGjGD5oEn0KtBlbSl9VFDycxPNH1M2';\n?><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nAfter adding the line to config.local.php file, you can refresh the page to log in and create a superadmin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s it, after successfully adding a superadmin, you can use the credentials to log in to http:\/\/YOUR_SERVER_IP_ADDRESS\/postfixadmin\/login.php to add domains, email accounts, and any other email management tasks there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How to Set Up a Mail Server with Postfix, Dovecot and PostfixAdmin on Ubuntu 24.4 Here I will document building a new mail server to replace my existing server. I will install this in a virtual server on my ProxMox server. My hardware requirements are very minimal. I will create a container with a 100GB drive capacity, 8GB of ram […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-email","category-linux"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmsws.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmsws.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmsws.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmsws.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmsws.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmsws.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":339,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmsws.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions\/339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmsws.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmsws.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmsws.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}