While doing preliminary work to retiring a legacy proprietary email system, my own, looking at maybe setting up an IMAP server, just for the fun of it. On a fresh openSuse 15.4 I see none installed by default and when I go sniffing about in YAST, i find several flavors available for install: dovecot dovecot23 imap (and sundry) Funny I was just ready about 3 body problems . . .
On 6/28/2023 5:24 PM, joe a wrote:
While doing preliminary work to retiring a legacy proprietary email system, my own, looking at maybe setting up an IMAP server, just for the fun of it.
On a fresh openSuse 15.4 I see none installed by default and when I go sniffing about in YAST, i find several flavors available for install:
dovecot dovecot23 imap (and sundry)
Funny I was just ready about 3 body problems . . .
I think the choice is between dovecot and dovecot23, give what I have recently read, but find nothing that speaks to the difference between these versions. I'm kicking hard but this swing is not moving, I may need a push.
On 6/28/2023 5:47 PM, joe a wrote:
On 6/28/2023 5:24 PM, joe a wrote:
While doing preliminary work to retiring a legacy proprietary email system, my own, looking at maybe setting up an IMAP server, just for the fun of it.
On a fresh openSuse 15.4 I see none installed by default and when I go sniffing about in YAST, i find several flavors available for install:
dovecot dovecot23 imap (and sundry)
Funny I was just ready about 3 body problems . . .
I think the choice is between dovecot and dovecot23, give what I have recently read, but find nothing that speaks to the difference between these versions.
I'm kicking hard but this swing is not moving, I may need a push.
Well, the votes are in. Selecting dovecot23 auto selects all the items with dove in the name. Isn't that special.
Op woensdag 28 juni 2023 23:53:21 CEST schreef joe a:
On 6/28/2023 5:47 PM, joe a wrote:
On 6/28/2023 5:24 PM, joe a wrote:
While doing preliminary work to retiring a legacy proprietary email system, my own, looking at maybe setting up an IMAP server, just for the fun of it.
On a fresh openSuse 15.4 I see none installed by default and when I go sniffing about in YAST, i find several flavors available for install:
dovecot dovecot23 imap (and sundry)
Funny I was just ready about 3 body problems . . .
I think the choice is between dovecot and dovecot23, give what I have recently read, but find nothing that speaks to the difference between these versions.
I'm kicking hard but this swing is not moving, I may need a push.
Well, the votes are in. Selecting dovecot23 auto selects all the items with dove in the name. Isn't that special.
Hi Joe, you may read https://en.opensuse.org/Mail_server_HOWTO to implement an e-mail system with all the modern protections. It covers postfix, dovecot, amavis- new, with malware scanning with clamav and spamassassin, SPL checking, DKIM checking and support for DMARC. I am working on a script to automate what has been written there and also to improve the mail module in YaST to be able to do the same as has been written in this openSUSE wiki page. It is meant for a server with only a few users, so a hobbyist or a small company. However you may use it as the basis for a larger server with all these security measures. BTW, dovecot and dovecot23 are the same, but it is better to install dovecot using "zypper install --no-recommends dovecot", because you most like will not use a database to register the users, only the users registered in your computer. -- fr.gr. member openSUSE Freek de Kruijf
On 6/29/2023 4:08 AM, Freek de Kruijf wrote:
Op woensdag 28 juni 2023 23:53:21 CEST schreef joe a:
On 6/28/2023 5:47 PM, joe a wrote:
On 6/28/2023 5:24 PM, joe a wrote:
While doing preliminary work to retiring a legacy proprietary email system, my own, looking at maybe setting up an IMAP server, just for the fun of it.
On a fresh openSuse 15.4 I see none installed by default and when I go sniffing about in YAST, i find several flavors available for install:
dovecot dovecot23 imap (and sundry)
Funny I was just ready about 3 body problems . . .
I think the choice is between dovecot and dovecot23, give what I have recently read, but find nothing that speaks to the difference between these versions.
I'm kicking hard but this swing is not moving, I may need a push.
Well, the votes are in. Selecting dovecot23 auto selects all the items with dove in the name. Isn't that special.
Hi Joe,
you may read https://en.opensuse.org/Mail_server_HOWTO to implement an e-mail system with all the modern protections. It covers postfix, dovecot, amavis- new, with malware scanning with clamav and spamassassin, SPL checking, DKIM checking and support for DMARC. I am working on a script to automate what has been written there and also to improve the mail module in YaST to be able to do the same as has been written in this openSUSE wiki page. It is meant for a server with only a few users, so a hobbyist or a small company. However you may use it as the basis for a larger server with all these security measures.
BTW, dovecot and dovecot23 are the same, but it is better to install dovecot using "zypper install --no-recommends dovecot", because you most like will not use a database to register the users, only the users registered in your computer.
Thanks very much. How far along are you with your efforts? Just curious as I hope to get this up and running within a week or so, allowing for the fact that as an "old one" the gears turn a bit more slowly. I already installed dovecot via yast, on a test 15.4 system and quickly became bogged down by a couple of config and (enail) user/authentication matters. But I will check out the link you provided, sure it will be enlightening. Regardless of that, do you think I should start over and install as you suggested?
Op donderdag 29 juni 2023 17:15:19 CEST schreef joe a:
On 6/29/2023 4:08 AM, Freek de Kruijf wrote:
Op woensdag 28 juni 2023 23:53:21 CEST schreef joe a:
On 6/28/2023 5:47 PM, joe a wrote:
On 6/28/2023 5:24 PM, joe a wrote:
While doing preliminary work to retiring a legacy proprietary email system, my own, looking at maybe setting up an IMAP server, just for the fun of it.
On a fresh openSuse 15.4 I see none installed by default and when I go sniffing about in YAST, i find several flavors available for install:
dovecot dovecot23 imap (and sundry)
Funny I was just ready about 3 body problems . . .
I think the choice is between dovecot and dovecot23, give what I have recently read, but find nothing that speaks to the difference between these versions.
I'm kicking hard but this swing is not moving, I may need a push.
Well, the votes are in. Selecting dovecot23 auto selects all the items with dove in the name. Isn't that special.
Hi Joe,
you may read https://en.opensuse.org/Mail_server_HOWTO to implement an e-mail system with all the modern protections. It covers postfix, dovecot, amavis- new, with malware scanning with clamav and spamassassin, SPL checking, DKIM checking and support for DMARC. I am working on a script to automate what has been written there and also to improve the mail module in YaST to be able to do the same as has been written in this openSUSE wiki page. It is meant for a server with only a few users, so a hobbyist or a small company. However you may use it as the basis for a larger server with all these security measures.
BTW, dovecot and dovecot23 are the same, but it is better to install dovecot using "zypper install --no-recommends dovecot", because you most like will not use a database to register the users, only the users registered in your computer.
Thanks very much. How far along are you with your efforts? Just curious as I hope to get this up and running within a week or so, allowing for the fact that as an "old one" the gears turn a bit more slowly.
I already installed dovecot via yast, on a test 15.4 system and quickly became bogged down by a couple of config and (enail) user/authentication matters. But I will check out the link you provided, sure it will be enlightening.
Regardless of that, do you think I should start over and install as you suggested?
I did send you personally what I currently have. It needs some fine tuning, especially the documentation. The script is meant to have a virgin system, at least in connection with postfix, dovecot, amavis, SPL, DKIM and DMARC to start with. But removing these packages will provide this virgin system. -- fr.gr. member openSUSE Freek de Kruijf
On 6/29/2023 4:08 AM, Freek de Kruijf wrote:
Op woensdag 28 juni 2023 23:53:21 CEST schreef joe a:
On 6/28/2023 5:47 PM, joe a wrote:
On 6/28/2023 5:24 PM, joe a wrote:
While doing preliminary work to retiring a legacy proprietary email system, my own, looking at maybe setting up an IMAP server, just for the fun of it.
On a fresh openSuse 15.4 I see none installed by default and when I go sniffing about in YAST, i find several flavors available for install:
dovecot dovecot23 imap (and sundry)
Funny I was just ready about 3 body problems . . .
I think the choice is between dovecot and dovecot23, give what I have recently read, but find nothing that speaks to the difference between these versions.
I'm kicking hard but this swing is not moving, I may need a push.
Well, the votes are in. Selecting dovecot23 auto selects all the items with dove in the name. Isn't that special.
Hi Joe,
you may read https://en.opensuse.org/Mail_server_HOWTO to implement an e-mail system with all the modern protections. It covers postfix, dovecot, amavis- new, with malware scanning with clamav and spamassassin, SPL checking, DKIM checking and support for DMARC. I am working on a script to automate what has been written there and also to improve the mail module in YaST to be able to do the same as has been written in this openSUSE wiki page. It is meant for a server with only a few users, so a hobbyist or a small company. However you may use it as the basis for a larger server with all these security measures.
BTW, dovecot and dovecot23 are the same, but it is better to install dovecot using "zypper install --no-recommends dovecot", because you most like will not use a database to register the users, only the users registered in your computer.
In regard to the linked "how to" and "users registered in your system", which I expect to amount to only a few, I am unclear on how to create those users as "local" to that machine (the email server) where the mailboxes will exist for authentication purposes. In past lives, the user authentication always happened via other means, such as some LDAP directory or other "lookup table", accessible on some remote device, so never had to deal with native users for email purposes. In any case never before with dovecot. I'll keep plodding along, but someone may have quick insight. So far I get the equivalent of "go away, nasty person" when attempting to authenticate IMAP-ese via telnet.
On 2023-06-30 22:16, joe a wrote:
On 6/29/2023 4:08 AM, Freek de Kruijf wrote:
Op woensdag 28 juni 2023 23:53:21 CEST schreef joe a:
In regard to the linked "how to" and "users registered in your system", which I expect to amount to only a few, I am unclear on how to create those users as "local" to that machine (the email server) where the mailboxes will exist for authentication purposes.
Local user: means a user created with YaST, that has a /home/name directory and which can login, and exists in /etc/passwd. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 15.4 x86_64 at Telcontar)
On 2023-06-30 15:28:05 Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 2023-06-30 22:16, joe a wrote:
On 6/29/2023 4:08 AM, Freek de Kruijf wrote:
Op woensdag 28 juni 2023 23:53:21 CEST schreef joe a:
In regard to the linked "how to" and "users registered in your system", which I expect to amount to only a few, I am unclear on how to create those users as "local" to that machine (the email server) where the mailboxes will exist for authentication purposes.
Local user: means a user created with YaST, that has a /home/name directory and which can login, and exists in /etc/passwd.
And a local mail account is stored in /var/spool/mail/name. I use that to collect messages from cron, smart, etc. (If your mail service runs on a separate machine this might not be applicable to your purpose.) Leslie -- Platform: Linux Distribution: openSUSE Leap 15.4 (x86_64)
On 2023-06-30 15:28:05 Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 2023-06-30 22:16, joe a wrote:
On 6/29/2023 4:08 AM, Freek de Kruijf wrote:
Op woensdag 28 juni 2023 23:53:21 CEST schreef joe a: In regard to the linked "how to" and "users registered in your system", which I expect to amount to only a few, I am unclear on how to create those users as "local" to that machine (the email server) where the mailboxes will exist for authentication purposes.
Local user: means a user created with YaST, that has a /home/name directory and which can login, and exists in /etc/passwd.
And a local mail account is stored in /var/spool/mail/name. I use
Op zaterdag 1 juli 2023 04:05:49 CEST schreef J Leslie Turriff: that to
collect messages from cron, smart, etc. (If your mail service runs on a separate machine this might not be applicable to your purpose.)
Leslie -- Platform: Linux Distribution: openSUSE Leap 15.4 (x86_64)
But for that the default for openSUSE is that postfix is installed and only listens on port 25 on localhost (127.0.01). This basic setup of postfix delivers messages indeed in the folder /var/spool/mail/<username>. This folder is created when creating a local user in YaST, but underneath useradd will be used. This is a mbox type of storage of email messages, which is in fact one file and with many messages a big file. However you can redirect the delivery of these message to a maildir type of storage by changing the parameter home_mailbox in /etc/postfix/main.cf in: home_mailbox = Maildir/ You can do that just by editing that file or giving the command, as root or sudo: postconf -e "home_mailbox = Maildir/" In that case postfix will create in the home folder, /home/<username>/, a folder Maildir and subfolders new, tmp and cur. Each message is a separate file. This gives you the opportunity to also have folders in your email storage. Access to this storage is available in all kinds of email clients, like Thunderbird, KMail, etc. and of course dovecot. With dovecot you can access this email storage from remote locations using imap or even pop and secured over an encrypted connection. -- fr.gr. member openSUSE Freek de Kruijf
On 2023-07-01 10:17, Freek de Kruijf wrote:
Op zaterdag 1 juli 2023 04:05:49 CEST schreef J Leslie Turriff:
On 2023-06-30 15:28:05 Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 2023-06-30 22:16, joe a wrote:
On 6/29/2023 4:08 AM, Freek de Kruijf wrote:
Op woensdag 28 juni 2023 23:53:21 CEST schreef joe a: In regard to the linked "how to" and "users registered in your system", which I expect to amount to only a few, I am unclear on how to create those users as "local" to that machine (the email server) where the mailboxes will exist for authentication purposes.
Local user: means a user created with YaST, that has a /home/name directory and which can login, and exists in /etc/passwd.
And a local mail account is stored in /var/spool/mail/name. I use that to collect messages from cron, smart, etc. (If your mail service runs on a separate machine this might not be applicable to your purpose.)
But for that the default for openSUSE is that postfix is installed and only listens on port 25 on localhost (127.0.01). This basic setup of postfix delivers messages indeed in the folder /var/spool/mail/<username>. This folder is created when creating a local user in YaST, but underneath useradd will be used. This is a mbox type of storage of email messages, which is in fact one file and with many messages a big file.
However you can redirect the delivery of these message to a maildir type of storage by changing the parameter home_mailbox in /etc/postfix/main.cf in: home_mailbox = Maildir/ You can do that just by editing that file or giving the command, as root or sudo: postconf -e "home_mailbox = Maildir/" In that case postfix will create in the home folder, /home/<username>/, a folder Maildir and subfolders new, tmp and cur. Each message is a separate file. This gives you the opportunity to also have folders in your email storage. Access to this storage is available in all kinds of email clients, like Thunderbird, KMail, etc. and of course dovecot. With dovecot you can access this email storage from remote locations using imap or even pop and secured over an encrypted connection.
Notice that with dovecot you can have folders while keeping mbox storage. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 15.4 x86_64 at Telcontar)
Op donderdag 29 juni 2023 10:08:35 CEST schreef Freek de Kruijf:
Op woensdag 28 juni 2023 23:53:21 CEST schreef joe a:
On 6/28/2023 5:47 PM, joe a wrote:
On 6/28/2023 5:24 PM, joe a wrote:
While doing preliminary work to retiring a legacy proprietary email system, my own, looking at maybe setting up an IMAP server, just for the fun of it.
On a fresh openSuse 15.4 I see none installed by default and when I go sniffing about in YAST, i find several flavors available for install:
dovecot dovecot23 imap (and sundry)
Funny I was just ready about 3 body problems . . .
I think the choice is between dovecot and dovecot23, give what I have recently read, but find nothing that speaks to the difference between these versions.
I'm kicking hard but this swing is not moving, I may need a push.
Well, the votes are in. Selecting dovecot23 auto selects all the items with dove in the name. Isn't that special.
Hi Joe,
you may read https://en.opensuse.org/Mail_server_HOWTO to implement an e-mail system with all the modern protections. It covers postfix, dovecot, amavis- new, with malware scanning with clamav and spamassassin, SPL checking, DKIM checking and support for DMARC. I am working on a script to automate what has been written there and also to improve the mail module in YaST to be able to do the same as has been written in this openSUSE wiki page. It is meant for a server with only a few users, so a hobbyist or a small company. However you may use it as the basis for a larger server with all these security measures.
BTW, dovecot and dovecot23 are the same, but it is better to install dovecot using "zypper install --no-recommends dovecot", because you most like will not use a database to register the users, only the users registered in your computer.
The wiki page mentioned above now contains a link to the script and documentation I designed to implement what has been written there. I am working on another implementation using the Yast mail module, which does some initialization of files used by postfix, but mainly produces parameter settings in /etc/sysconfig/{postfix,mail,amavis}, which are used by /usr/sbin/ config.postfix, which does the real configuration for these services. -- fr.gr. member openSUSE Freek de Kruijf
On Sat, 01 Jul 2023 13:07:07 +0200, Freek de Kruijf <freek@opensuse.org> wrote:
Op donderdag 29 juni 2023 10:08:35 CEST schreef Freek de Kruijf:
[...] you may read https://en.opensuse.org/Mail_server_HOWTO to implement an e-mail system with all the modern protections. [...]
The wiki page mentioned above now contains a link to the script and documentation I designed to implement what has been written there.
Freek, the script (GenPDSDM/genpdsdm.sh) does not have any executable code. It just consists of the shebang line and an introductory comment. On page 3 of genpdsdm.pdf, the script name is missing the '.sh' suffix. To clarify, when you mention executing the script in genpdsdm.pdf, you do mean while remotely logged into the server-to-be system, right? It is not to be executed on the local system, correct? Is genpdsdm.odt the same as genpdsdm.pdf? -- Robert Webb
On 6/28/23 16:24, joe a wrote:
While doing preliminary work to retiring a legacy proprietary email system, my own, looking at maybe setting up an IMAP server, just for the fun of it.
On a fresh openSuse 15.4 I see none installed by default and when I go sniffing about in YAST, i find several flavors available for install:
dovecot dovecot23 imap (and sundry)
Funny I was just ready about 3 body problems . . .
Checking 15.4 repos and dovecot and dovecot23 are both dovecot 2.3. The only difference is dovecot -> 2.3-3.3.1 dovecot23 -> 2.3.15-58.3 As far as your imap server goes, all you need is postfix and dovecot, it is a combination that is hard to beat. It will do everything you need (and much more) If your new to the config of both and handling server certificates, there is a bit of learning to do. Anymore, you basically need a registered domain to reliably be able to send mail and not have it rejected. For almost 2-decades a self-signed cert would do -- no longer. You also need reverse-lookup on your domain functioning for remote mail hosts to accept your mail (in about 80% of the cases). Free certs from "Let's Encrypt" work wonderfully. The certbot program makes requesting and renewing certificates a breeze. (you need a functioning web-server, as the mail and web-server will use the same cert for TLS/SSL, etc..) Once setup, renewing a cert every 90 days is as simple as "certbot renew". (which can be automated) You must have both ports 80 and 443 (http and https) functioning for certbot to do it's confirmation and cert update. The rest is just plain old postfix and dovecot config. The postfix config in main.cf and master.cf can be a bit daunting -- but the postfix docs and site are quite good. Your dovecot.conf will be about 15 lines, and is painless by comparison. Your web-server config is about equal to postfix in the size of the bump that will develop on your forehead after beating your head into the wall until the information all makes sense -- don't worry it will once you make friends with all the jargon used describing mail hosts, transports and delivery agents... :) I've run postfix/dovecot for about 20 years, UW imap before that. No comparison, dovecot is the better of the two. Lots of good howtos out there, but always refer to the postfix and dovecot sites for final authority on any setting. As far as the web-server goes, I've always used Apache. Though I have several boxes running nginx -- which is quite capable -- supposedly simpler config (don't buy it) For complex setups with virtual domains, etc.., the nginx config is on-par with the Apache config in level of detail required. But, I've got nothing bad to say about nginx -- I kind of like it, but I'm not nearly as fluent with the config and handing its equivalent of BASIC and DIGEST authentications. Apache is just like a comfortable old-coat, it's the one you reach for each time you are in need... Good luck! Drop back if you have openSUSE specific config issues (SSL setup on Apache used to be a bit unique -- due to historical YAST approach, but lately it's pretty much plain-Jane: See https://doc.opensuse.org/documentation/leap/reference/html/book-reference/ch... ) -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
On 7/2/2023 3:53 AM, David C. Rankin wrote:
On 6/28/23 16:24, joe a wrote:
While doing preliminary work to retiring a legacy proprietary email system, my own, looking at maybe setting up an IMAP server, just for the fun of it.
On a fresh openSuse 15.4 I see none installed by default and when I go sniffing about in YAST, i find several flavors available for install:
dovecot dovecot23 imap (and sundry)
Funny I was just ready about 3 body problems . . .
Checking 15.4 repos and dovecot and dovecot23 are both dovecot 2.3. The only difference is
dovecot -> 2.3-3.3.1
dovecot23 -> 2.3.15-58.3
As far as your imap server goes, all you need is postfix and dovecot, it is a combination that is hard to beat. It will do everything you need (and much more)
If your new to the config of both and handling server certificates, there is a bit of learning to do.
Anymore, you basically need a registered domain to reliably be able to send mail and not have it rejected. For almost 2-decades a self-signed cert would do -- no longer. You also need reverse-lookup on your domain functioning for remote mail hosts to accept your mail (in about 80% of the cases).
Free certs from "Let's Encrypt" work wonderfully. The certbot program makes requesting and renewing certificates a breeze.
(you need a functioning web-server, as the mail and web-server will use the same cert for TLS/SSL, etc..)
Once setup, renewing a cert every 90 days is as simple as "certbot renew". (which can be automated) You must have both ports 80 and 443 (http and https) functioning for certbot to do it's confirmation and cert update.
The rest is just plain old postfix and dovecot config. The postfix config in main.cf and master.cf can be a bit daunting -- but the postfix docs and site are quite good.
Your dovecot.conf will be about 15 lines, and is painless by comparison.
Your web-server config is about equal to postfix in the size of the bump that will develop on your forehead after beating your head into the wall until the information all makes sense -- don't worry it will once you make friends with all the jargon used describing mail hosts, transports and delivery agents... :)
I've run postfix/dovecot for about 20 years, UW imap before that. No comparison, dovecot is the better of the two.
Lots of good howtos out there, but always refer to the postfix and dovecot sites for final authority on any setting. As far as the web-server goes, I've always used Apache. Though I have several boxes running nginx -- which is quite capable -- supposedly simpler config (don't buy it) For complex setups with virtual domains, etc.., the nginx config is on-par with the Apache config in level of detail required. But, I've got nothing bad to say about nginx -- I kind of like it, but I'm not nearly as fluent with the config and handing its equivalent of BASIC and DIGEST authentications. Apache is just like a comfortable old-coat, it's the one you reach for each time you are in need...
Good luck! Drop back if you have openSUSE specific config issues (SSL setup on Apache used to be a bit unique -- due to historical YAST approach, but lately it's pretty much plain-Jane: See https://doc.opensuse.org/documentation/leap/reference/html/book-reference/ch... )
Thanks. I have a legacy "in house" system that interfaces to the internet via a working postfix/spamassassin/clamav/fetchmail, on openSuse 15.4. Short story, setting up a simple postfix/dovecot system on openSuse that I can "drop in" so to speak as a replacement for the legacy system, seems to be the path of fewest pitfalls at this point. The comments and offers here have been most helpful.
On 7/2/2023 3:53 AM, David C. Rankin wrote:
On 6/28/23 16:24, joe a wrote:
While doing preliminary work to retiring a legacy proprietary email system, my own, looking at maybe setting up an IMAP server, just for the fun of it.
On a fresh openSuse 15.4 I see none installed by default and when I go sniffing about in YAST, i find several flavors available for install:
dovecot dovecot23 imap (and sundry)
Funny I was just ready about 3 body problems . . .
Checking 15.4 repos and dovecot and dovecot23 are both dovecot 2.3. The only difference is
dovecot -> 2.3-3.3.1
dovecot23 -> 2.3.15-58.3
Curiously, after updating the 15.4 testing platform, via YAST, now there is an additional dovecot22 selection. Selecting it also selected dovecot for me. Sigh. Choosing just dovecot still adds dovecot23 "to resolve dependencies".
participants (6)
-
Carlos E. R. -
David C. Rankin -
Freek de Kruijf -
J Leslie Turriff -
joe a -
Robert Webb