[TUTORIAL] Get Postfix to Send Notifications (Email) Externally

Seed

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2019
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I'm not sure I did this in the proxmox way but I couldn't get email to relay to me and some posts were dated or didn't work for me, so I did the following:

Gmail for example:

Change /etc/postfix/main.cf to include/change these lines:
Code:
relayhost = [smtp.gmail.com]:587
smtp_use_tls = yes
smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes
smtp_sasl_security_options = noanonymous
smtp_sasl_password_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
smtp_tls_CAfile = /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

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

Be sure there are no dupes as the main.cf may have smtp_sasl_security_options = {} , and relayhost = {}. Just delete or comment those lines.

Create an /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd file with:
Code:
[smtp.gmail.com]:587    testmehere@gmail.com:PASSWD

run
Code:
chmod 600 /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
postmap /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd

install for passwd support:
Code:
apt-get install libsasl2-modules

Restart service:
Code:
systemctl restart postfix.service

Test:
Code:
echo "Test mail from postfix" | mail -s "Test Postfix" test@test.com

Test from PVE:
Code:
echo "test" | /usr/bin/pvemailforward


Logs:
Code:
/var/log/mail.warn
is helpful as well as
Code:
/var/log/mail.info



Customize From:
This is nice so it's not from "root"

Create smtp_header_checks file, this changes all outgoing mail:
Code:
/^From:.*/ REPLACE From: HOSTNAME-alert <HOSTNAME-alert@something.com>

Add to main.cf:
Code:
smtp_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/smtp_header_checks

Don't forget to run postmap on the header file

#note. For pcre support you'll need to install apt install postfix-pcre and restart postfix service
 
Last edited:
Thanks for sharing this - the config looks quite right!

(You could consider using the 'TUTORIAL' prefix for your thread - that makes the thread stand out visibly)
 
I have tried this and struggle with the problem that my proxmox runs behind a dynamic IP which is on many blacklists. So even though everything is configured right, I get rejected from the mailserver. Is there a way to configure postfix as MUA and not as MTA? So that it would work with dynamic blocked IPs on any mail-server?
 
I have tried this and struggle with the problem that my proxmox runs behind a dynamic IP which is on many blacklists. So even though everything is configured right, I get rejected from the mailserver. Is there a way to configure postfix as MUA and not as MTA? So that it would work with dynamic blocked IPs on any mail-server?

It seems like the described problem does not occur when SSL/TLS is used, so I don't have this problem anymore.
Thanks for this guide!
 
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The custom From: should be
Code:
 # for outgoing changes only "smtp".
smtp_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/smtp_header_checks
 
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This does not work and throws errors in syslog :
Code:
smtp_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/smtp_header_checks . #for outgoing changes only "smtp".

This works without errors :
Code:
# for outgoing changes only "smtp".
smtp_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/smtp_header_checks
 
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The problem is the dot: "smtp_header_checks . #"
Correct will be:

smtp_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/smtp_header_checks # for outgoing changes only "smtp".

Thx. for the tutorial!

Good luck /Bafta
 
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The problem is the dot: "smtp_header_checks . #"
Correct will be:

smtp_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/smtp_header_checks # for outgoing changes only "smtp".

Thx. for the tutorial!

Good luck /Bafta

Ahh thank you for clarifying that. Will change.
 
Awesome guide, thanks! I kept seeing log messages from Postfix complaining about not being able to send mail or whatever, so I finally got around to looking up up how to fix it! q: Who is it going to send email *to*? Will it be the email address I provided during installation? Because I've never seen a field for an email address anywhere in the configuration that I can recall.
 
Will it be the email address I provided during installation? Because I've never seen a field for an email address anywhere in the configuration that I can recall.
yes initially it's the email address you set during installation - you can customize this in an installed PVE system - by setting the email of the user root@pam (GUI->Datacenter->Users)

I hope this helps!
 
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The problem is the dot: "smtp_header_checks . #"
Correct will be:

smtp_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/smtp_header_checks # for outgoing changes only "smtp".

Thx. for the tutorial!

Good luck /Bafta
This was still throwing fatal errors for me. Did what @Tommmii suggested and it works correctly. Thanks!

Great tutorial, and I have tested on my primary node (the one I use to monitor my cluster), but should this be done on every node in the cluster?
I have only done this on my main node as well, but will implement across all nodes as I imagine this has to be done on each one.

@Seed - Thank you for this tut!
 
This was still throwing fatal errors for me. Did what @Tommmii suggested and it works correctly. Thanks!
I'm not sure why this would cause an error. The original guide was updated to not include that typo a long time ago.
 
Last edited:
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I'm not sure why this would cause an error. The original guide was updated to not include that typo a long time ago.

I'm not sure. I moved the comment above the config line, rather than after, restarted postfix, emails started going out. Thanks again.
 
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Thank you for the instructions. I followed step by step but my mail.info shows

connect to smtp.gmail.com[2607:f8b0:4023:c03::6c]:587: Network is unreachable

And mail.warn shows

warning: symlink leaves directory: /etc/postfix/./makedefs.out

Attached is my main.cf - any suggestions?
 

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  • main.cf.zip
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