Setup mail server with Postfix, Dovecot,

Roundcube
Paolo Valsecchi 19/06/2013 21 Comments

A working mail server can be configured using Postfix (MTA) with the addition of some
components like Dovecot (IMAP) and Roundcube (webmail).
Combining these applications we obtain an email system with SMTP, IMAP, POP3 protocols that
can be used in a corporate environment where the budget is pretty limited. This solution is based on
Open Source software where no licenses need to be purchased for its use.

Prerequisites
• CentOS 6: minimal installation
• Postfix: SMTP
• Dovecot: IMAP, POP3
• Roundcube: web-based IMAP client
• Postfix admin: to easily manage Postfix

To work properly, system needs to have selinux disabled.

# vi /etc/selinux/config
Install Postfix
From the console, install Postfix with yum command.
# yum install postfix

Edit configuration file /etc/postfix/main.cf and set the parameters as follow:

myhostname = hostname.domain.com mydomain = domain.com myorigin = $mydomain inet_interfaces = all mydestination =

$myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, localhost, $mydomain mynetworks = 192.168.1.0/24, 127.0.0.0/8 home_mailbox = Maildir/

myhostname = hostname.domain.com
1 mydomain = domain.com
2
myorigin = $mydomain
inet_interfaces = all
3
mydestination = $myhostname,
4
localhost.$mydomain, localhost,
5 $mydomain
6 mynetworks = 192.168.1.0/24,
7 127.0.0.0/8
home_mailbox = Maildir/
# vi /etc/postfix/main.cf

myhostname = hostname.domain.com mydomain = domain.com myorigin = $mydomain

1 myhostname = hostname.domain.com
2 mydomain = domain.com
3 myorigin = $mydomain

inet_interfaces = all

1 inet_interfaces = all

mydestination = $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, localhost, $mydomain

1 mydestination = $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, localhost, $mydomain

mynetworks = 192.168.1.0/24, 127.0.0.0/8

1 mynetworks = 192.168.1.0/24, 127.0.0.0/8

home_mailbox = Maildir/

1 home_mailbox = Maildir/

Once all the parameters have been set, set application to start during system boot and start the
service.
# chkconfig postfix on
# service postfix start

Testing Postfix
To check if everything works as expected, type from console the following commands to send an
email:
# telnet localhost smtp

Trying ::1... Connected to localhost. Escape character is '^]'. 220 server.domain.com ESMTP Postfix ehlo localhost 250-
server.domain.com 250-PIPELINING 250-SIZE 10240000 250-VRFY 250-ETRN 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES 250-
8BITMIME 250 DSN mail from: username@domain.com 250 2.1.0 Ok rcpt to: username@domain.com 250 2.1.5 Ok data 354 End
data with <CR><LF>.<CR><LF> test . 250 2.0.0 Ok: queued as 2C55A94 quit 221 2.0.0 Bye Connection closed by foreign host.
 Trying ::1...
Connected to
localhost.
Escape
character is
'^]'.
220
server.domai
n.com
ESMTP
Postfix
ehlo
localhost
250-
1
server.domai
2
n.com
3 250-
4 PIPELININ
5 G
6 250-SIZE
7 10240000
8 250-VRFY
9 250-ETRN
10
250-
11
ENHANCE
DSTATUSC
12
ODES
13
250-
14 8BITMIME
15 250 DSN
16 mail from:
17 username@d
18 omain.com
19 250 2.1.0 Ok
20 rcpt to:
21 username@d
22
omain.com
250 2.1.5 Ok
23
data
24
354 End data
25
with
<CR><LF>.
<CR><LF>
test
.
250 2.0.0
Ok: queued
as 2C55A94
quit
221 2.0.0
Bye
Connection
closed by
To check if the email has been received, have a look at the /home/username/Maildir/new directory.
# cd /home/username/Maildir/new/
# ll
# cat xxxxx.xxxxx.server.domain.com

The email was received by the system then the mail server is working properly.
Install Dovecot
While Postfix acts as Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) only, in order to retrieve emails using modern
tools we need to enable IMAP/POP3 protocols. Dovecot is an application that acts as a secure
IMAP and POP3 server.
Use the yum command to install Dovecot.
# yum install dovecot

Edit the configuration file /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf to enable the needed protocols.

# vi /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf

protocols = imap pop3 lmtp

1 protocols = imap pop3 lmtp

Then we need to specify the mail location by editing the file /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf.
# vi /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf

mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir

1 mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir

Edit the file /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-auth.conf and set the following parameters:

# vi /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-auth.conf

disable_plaintext_auth = no

1 disable_plaintext_auth = no
auth_mechanisms = plain login

1 auth_mechanisms = plain login

Last file to edit /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-master.conf.

# vi /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-master.conf

unix_listener auth-userdb { #mode = 0600 user = postfix group = postfix }

1 unix_listener auth-userdb {
2 #mode = 0600
3 user = postfix
4 group = postfix
5 }

Set Dovecot to start at system boot and start the service.

# chkconfig dovecot on
# service dovecot start
Testing Dovecot
To check if Dovecot is working, we test the program through the POP3 protocol.
# telnet localhost pop3

Trying ::1... Connected to localhost. Escape character is '^]'. +OK Dovecot ready. user admin +OK pass password +OK Logged in.
list +OK 1 messages: 1 477 . retr 1 +OK 477 octets Return-Path: <username@domain.com> X-Original-To: username@domain.com
Delivered-To: username@domain.com Received: from localhost (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by server.domain.com (Postfix) with ESMTP
id 2C55A94 for username@domain.com; Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:22:00 +0200 (CEST) Message-Id:
<20130207113547.117113FF18@server.domain.com> Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:22:00 +0200 (CEST) From:
username@domain.com To: undisclosed-recipients:; test postfix . quit +OK Logging out. Connection closed by foreign host.
 Trying ::1...
Connected to
localhost.
Escape
character is
'^]'.
+OK
Dovecot
ready.
user admin
+OK
pass
password
+OK Logged
in.
list
+OK 1
messages:
1 477
.
retr 1
+OK 477
octets
Return-Path:
1 <username@
2 domain.com
3 >
4 X-Original-
5 To:
6 username@d
7
omain.com
Delivered-
8
To:
9
username@d
10
omain.com
11 Received:
12 from
13 localhost
14 (localhost
15 [IPv6:::1])
16 by
17 server.domai
18
n.com
(Postfix)
19
with ESMTP
20
id 2C55A94
21
for
22 username@d
23 omain.com;
24 Wed, 12 Jun
25 2013
26 12:22:00
27 +0200
Install Roundcube
Roundcube is a browser-based IMAP client with an application-like user interface.
To configure the application, firstly we need to install MySQL server and Apache in the system.
# yum install mysql-server mysql-devel httpd
Enable both MySQL and Apache to start at system boot and enable services.
# chkconfig mysqld on
# service mysqld start
# chkconfig httpd on
# service httpd start

Install EPEL repository

To install Roundcube with yum command, we need to install the EPEL repository in the system.
# wget http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/x86_64/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
# rpm -ivh epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm

Once EPEL repo has been installed, use yum to install Roundcube.
# yum install roundcubemail
Configure MySQL
To define the database used by the application, we need to access MySQL configuration.
# mysql -u root -p

mysql&gt; create database roundcube; mysql&gt; create user roundcube; mysql&gt; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON roundcube.*
TO roundcube@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'password'; mysql&gt; flush privileges; mysql&gt; use roundcube; mysql&gt; source
/usr/share/doc/roundcubemail-0.8.6/SQL/mysql.initial.sql mysql&gt; quit

mysql&gt; create database roundcube;

mysql&gt; create user roundcube;
1 mysql&gt; GRANT ALL
2
PRIVILEGES ON roundcube.* TO
roundcube@localhost IDENTIFIED
3
BY 'password';
4
mysql&gt; flush privileges;
5 mysql&gt; use roundcube;
6 mysql&gt; source
7 /usr/share/doc/roundcubemail-
0.8.6/SQL/mysql.initial.sql
mysql&gt; quit

Edit configuration file /etc/roundcubemail/db.inc.php to set the parameters to access the database.
# vi /etc/roundcubemail/db.inc.php

$rcmail_config['db_dsnw'] = 'mysql://roundcube:password@localhost/roundcube';

1 $rcmail_config['db_dsnw'] = 'mysql://roundcube:password@localhost/roundcube';
Edit the file /etc/roundcubemail/main.inc.php to set the hostname chosen to perform the login.
# vi /etc/roundcubemail/main.inc.php

$rcmail_config['default_host'] = 'localhost';

1 $rcmail_config['default_host'] = 'localhost';

To make the system accessible outside the server, edit the file /etc/httpd/conf.d/roundcubemail.conf
and set the correct parameter.
# vi /etc/httpd/conf.d/roundcubemail.conf

Allow from all

1 Allow from all

Edit the /etc/php.ini file and set the time zone.

Because the log could report errors related to encryption, set the correct encryption parameter.
# vi /etc/php.d/mcrypt.ini

extension=mcrypt.so

1 extension=mcrypt.so

Restart Apache.
# service httpd restart

Testing Roundcube
Access Roundcube typing from your browser the address:
http://IP_address/roundcubemail

Enter your credential then click Login.

The main screen appears showing the email received when Postfix was previously tested.

Install Postfix Admin

To make Postfix administration easier, the Postfix admin is a web-based tool used to manage
mailboxes, virtual domains and aliases.
If not already present in the system, install the PHP component needed by the application.
# yum install php-imap
Access MySQL and create the database used by Postfix Admin.
# mysql -u root -p

mysql&gt; create database postfixadmin; mysql&gt; grant all privileges on postfixadmin.* to postfixadmin@'localhost' identified by
'password'; mysql&gt; flush privileges; mysql&gt; quit

mysql&gt; create database postfixadmin;

mysql&gt; grant all privileges on
1
postfixadmin.* to
2
postfixadmin@'localhost' identified by
3
'password';
4 mysql&gt; flush privileges;
mysql&gt; quit

Using the wget command, download the latest release of the application.
# wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/postfixadmin/postfixadmin/postfixadmin-
2.3.6/postfixadmin-2.3.6.tar.gz

Extract the content and move the directory to /var/www/html folder.

# tar -vxzf postfixadmin-2.3.6.tar.gz
# mv postfixadmin-2.3.6 /var/www/html/postfixadmin

Edit the configuration file /var/www/html/postfixadmin/config.inc.php to enable the application

and set the password.
# vi /var/www/html/postfixadmin/config.inc.php

$CONF['configured'] = true; $CONF['setup_password'] = 'password';

$CONF['configured'] = true;
1
$CONF['setup_password'] =
2
'password';

Set the correct parameters to access the database previously created.

$CONF['database_type'] = 'mysqli'; $CONF['database_host'] = 'localhost'; $CONF['database_user'] = 'postfixadmin';

$CONF['database_password'] = 'password'; $CONF['database_name'] = 'postfixadmin';

$CONF['database_type'] = 'mysqli';
$CONF['database_host'] =
1 'localhost';
2 $CONF['database_user'] =
3 'postfixadmin';
4 $CONF['database_password'] =
5 'password';
$CONF['database_name'] =
'postfixadmin';

Add the following line to allow the creation of the administration password.

$CONF['setup_password'] = '8abd38580e77ebf7010eb60b95eb4fad:0bd829114d9efc4bc35c7e42cf7d3507dad8b837';
 $CONF['setup_password'] =
1
'8abd38580e77ebf7010eb60b95eb4fad:0bd829114d9efc4bc35c7e42cf7d3507dad8b837';

Restart Apache.
# service httpd restart
To execute the Postfix Admin Setup Checker, type in your browser the address:
http://IP_address/postfixadmin/setup.php
Change the setup password.

Create the Superadmin account by filling the fields at the bottom of the screen. Click Add Admin.

The Superadmin account is then created.

To access the Administration interface, type in your browser the address:
http://IP_address/postfixadmin

The Postfix Admin main screen.

Sending emails through a relay
If the corporate network has an antispam system to check inbound and outbound emails, Postfix
needs to be configured in order to relay the emails to the antispam.
To allow the correct emails flow, set the relayhost field with the address of the antispam system.
# vi /etc/postfix/main.cf

relayhost= lx-antispam02.nolabnoparty.local

1 relayhost= lx-antispam02.nolabnoparty.local

The mail server is now up and running with the basic functions to properly manage email
messages.