Install and Configure Postfix on Oracle Linux

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Learn to Install and Configure Postfix on Oracle Linux

Introduction

This tutorial shows you how to install and set up the Postfix email server software on an Oracle Linux system to enable you to send messages within your network. This tutorial is targeted at users of Oracle Linux 8 or later.

Postfix is a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) server that was developed as a replacement for sendmail, which is the default MTA server on many older Linux systems. Because of its modular pipeline-based architecture, Postfix is versatile and integrates easily with many other services, such as spam and anti-virus processing, as well as with message store software, such as the Dovecot IMAP and POP server.

This tutorial describes how to set up and configure Postfix to function primarily as a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server.

Objectives

Upon completion of this Lab you will be able to:

  • Set the server host name
  • Install Postfix with appropriate firewall rules
  • Configure Postfix to send unencrypted email
  • Send test emails by using mailx
  • Review the Postfix mail queue

Prerequisites

  • Any system with Oracle Linux 8

Install Postfix

Note: When using the free lab environment, see Oracle Linux Lab Basics for connection and other usage instructions.

  1. Install the postfix package on your instance by using the package manager, as follows:

    sudo dnf install -y postfix
  2. Allow SMTP traffic through the server firewall:

    sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=smtp --permanent
    sudo firewall-cmd --reload
  3. Remove the sendmail package, if it is present:

    sudo dnf remove -y sendmail
  4. Set Postfix as the default Mail Transfer Agent:

    sudo alternatives --set mta /usr/sbin/sendmail.postfix
  5. Enable and start the Postfix service:

    sudo systemctl enable --now postfix

Configure Postfix

  1. Create a backup for the default Postfix configuration:

    sudo mv /etc/postfix/main.cf /etc/postfix/main.cf.bak
  2. Edit the configuration file, /etc/postfix/main.cf, to contain lines similar to the following:

    sudo tee -a /etc/postfix/main.cf > /dev/null <<EOF
    myhostname = $(hostname -f)
    myorigin = \$myhostname
    inet_interfaces = all
    inet_protocols = all
    mydestination = \$myhostname, localhost
    mynetworks = 192.168.1.0/24, 127.0.0.0/8, 10.0.0.0/24
    EOF

    Note: Sending emails from a single host is sufficient for the purpose of this lab. In a production environment, you should set mydomain as the registered domain name from which you intend to send email. For more information, read the Postfix manual pages.

  3. Restart the Postfix service:

    sudo systemctl restart postfix

Send Test Emails

  1. Install the mailx email client:

    sudo dnf install -y mailx
  2. Send a test email to your own external email address. Update the hostname in the mailx command to match the instance from which you are sending email:

    hostname=$(hostname -f)
    echo "External email" | mailx -r root@$hostname -s "Test email subject" admin@example.com

    Note: Using mailx to send test emails from a single host is sufficient for the purpose of this lab. In a production environment, you should use the registered domain that you configured in /etc/postfix/main.cf within the sender email address instead, for example root@example.com.

  3. Check your own email account for a new message. You may need to check your spam folder.

  4. If the email does not appear, you can check the Postfix mail queue:

    sudo mailq
  5. You can also check the Postfix log. Press Ctrl + C to exit:

    sudo tail -f /var/log/maillog
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