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    [SOLVED]Install a Relay Mail Host on pfSense (postfix)

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved pfSense Packages
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    • R
      rkelleyrtp
      last edited by

      Forgot to add, here is a thread that describes what is necessary to lock down postfix to only listen to localhost:

      http://www.unix.com/ip-networking/87068-configuring-postfix-receive-emails-only-localhost.html

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      • jimpJ
        jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
        last edited by

        You do not need a full blown MTA installed to send out e-mail. That is just dangerous and unnecessary.

        Check out the code in 2.0 for sending e-mail notifications, it's a relatively small set of PHP code.

        Remember: Upvote with the šŸ‘ button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

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        • D
          dpcma
          last edited by

          Hello All,

          And first of all many thanks for your answers.

          Just to kill your curiousity, as ever, here is the key: "budget" and as easy as it was for kids… thatĀ“s the reason I have been required to install and configure a pfsense box, who has to be firewall, proxy, relay mail, and DNS forwarding for unknown hosts. Everybody has to point to a unique address for all services (default gateway, dns, relay etc...) No dhcp is permitted

          I know that this is a special case and scared concerning security, and shouldn't be done in a firewall, but customer is customer

          Thanks again, I will post if solution is reached with your help.

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          • jimpJ
            jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
            last edited by

            Why do you need to 'relay' mail for internal clients?

            If you have an external e-mail server to which all mail must be sent, you can use NAT redirects (port forwards) to make that happen no matter what server they are trying to reach.

            If you local postfix install is directly contacting other mail servers to send mail, then it's really not helping anyone. It may eventually end up on a blacklist – especially if it's a dynamic IP.

            Remember: Upvote with the šŸ‘ button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

            Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

            Do not Chat/PM for help!

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            • D
              dpcma
              last edited by

              rkelleyrtp, I checked my postfix file, and is the same as yours. Telneting the 25 port is unsuccessfull

              I found nothing at var/spool/postfix/pid/ , no master.pid file found

              How did you installed it? Did you use pkg_add -r ftp://ftp.freebsd.org….

              Thanks

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              • R
                rkelleyrtp
                last edited by

                Some questions:

                • What does, "ps aux" give you?

                • How are you trying to start postfix?

                • What does your postfix main.cf file have?

                • How are you trying to connect using telnet?Ā  From the local machine or from a machine on your LAN?

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                • R
                  rkelleyrtp
                  last edited by

                  @jimp:

                  You do not need a full blown MTA installed to send out e-mail. That is just dangerous and unnecessary.

                  Check out the code in 2.0 for sending e-mail notifications, it's a relatively small set of PHP code.

                  Hey Jim,

                  I searched high and low for a stripped-down MTA for pfSense 1.2.3-RELEASE and came up empty handed.Ā  A few threads on the forum had some ideas but no one ever came up with a good solution (only suggestions).Ā  This is why I installed Postfix.Ā  Do you have a good suggestion for 1.2.3?

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                  • jimpJ
                    jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                    last edited by

                    My suggestion is that you don't use an MTA on pfSense at all under any circumstances :-)

                    If you want e-mail notifications, there are some PHP modules out there which can just send mail only, not receive.

                    Remember: Upvote with the šŸ‘ button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

                    Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

                    Do not Chat/PM for help!

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                    • R
                      rkelleyrtp
                      last edited by

                      @jimp:

                      My suggestion is that you don't use an MTA on pfSense at all under any circumstances :-)

                      If you want e-mail notifications, there are some PHP modules out there which can just send mail only, not receive.

                      Cool, can you point me to such PHP modules I can install in 1.2.3-RELEASE?Ā  I would be more than happy to install them as I don't need the potential security risks of a full-blown MTA on my firewall.Ā  Essentially, I just need to be able to send email from the monit application installed on my firewall(s) to receive alerts, etc.

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                      • jimpJ
                        jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                        last edited by

                        I don't know if there is a full-blown sendmail work-alike done in PHP, but someone could use the smtp.inc file from pfSense 2.0 and write a small front-end to it that takes the message and sends it where it needs to go:

                        http://redmine.pfsense.org/repositories/entry/pfsense/etc/inc/smtp.inc

                        The whole notification system had a lot of work done in 2.0

                        You see how the SMTP settings are done here:

                        http://redmine.pfsense.org/repositories/entry/pfsense/usr/local/www/system_advanced_notifications.php

                        Not sure how much of that would work on 1.2.3 since it only has PHP 4.x and pfSense 2.0 is on PHP 5.x

                        You may just have to google around for a PHP sendmail drop-in or work-alike and see what turns up.

                        Remember: Upvote with the šŸ‘ button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

                        Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

                        Do not Chat/PM for help!

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                        • S
                          Supermule Banned
                          last edited by

                          Sorry for my arrogant attitude…........:(

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • D
                            dpcma
                            last edited by

                            • What does, "ps aux" give you?

                            ps aux does not show anything relaled to postfix…

                            • How are you trying to start postfix?

                            I made the following from the beginning

                            1.- pkg_add -r postfix.tbz from (ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-7-stable/Latest/postfix.tbz)
                            2.- edited /usr/local/etc/rc.d/postfix, just to change :${postfix_enable="YES"}
                            3.- cp /usr/local/etc/rc.d/postfix /usr/local/etc/rc.d/postfix.sh
                            4.- Added postfix_enable="YES" into /boot/loader.conf
                            5.- Reboot

                            • What does your postfix main.cf file have?

                            I“ve got 2, but i didn“t changed anything yet in those files

                            /usr/local/etc/postfix/main.cf
                            /usr/local/etc/libexec/postfix/main.cf

                            • How are you trying to connect using telnet?Ā  From the local machine or from a machine on your LAN?

                            From both (obviously using localhost from pfsense, and LAN interface ip from LAN)

                            Thanks a lot!!!

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                            • D
                              dpcma
                              last edited by

                              If i try to stop / start postfix, this is the output

                              
                              #postfix stop
                              
                              postfix/postfix-scrcipt: stopping the Postfix mail system
                              sed: pid/master.pid: No such file or directory
                              usage: kill [-s signal_name] pid ...
                              	kill -l [exit_status]
                              	kill -signal_name pid ...
                              	kill -signal_number pid ...
                              
                              /libexec/ld-elf.so.1: /usr/local/libexec/postfix/master: Undefined symbol "close from"
                              postfix/postfix-script: waiting for the Postfix mail system to terminate
                              
                              /libexec/ld-elf.so.1: /usr/local/libexec/postfix/master: Undefined symbol "close from"
                              postfix/postfix-script: waiting for the Postfix mail system to terminate
                              
                              /libexec/ld-elf.so.1: /usr/local/libexec/postfix/master: Undefined symbol "close from"
                              postfix/postfix-script: waiting for the Postfix mail system to terminate
                              
                              /libexec/ld-elf.so.1: /usr/local/libexec/postfix/master: Undefined symbol "close from"
                              postfix/postfix-script: waiting for the Postfix mail system to terminate
                              
                              /libexec/ld-elf.so.1: /usr/local/libexec/postfix/master: Undefined symbol "close from"
                              postfix/postfix-script: waiting for the Postfix mail system to terminate
                              
                              /libexec/ld-elf.so.1: /usr/local/libexec/postfix/master: Undefined symbol "close from"
                              postfix/postfix-script: waiting for the Postfix mail system to terminate
                              postfix/postfix-script: warning: stopping the Postfix mail system with force
                              awk: can“t open file pid/master.pid
                               source line number 1
                              
                              # postfix start
                              postfix/postfix-script: fatal: the Postfix mail system is already running
                              
                              #
                              
                              
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                              • D
                                dpcma
                                last edited by

                                ok. News.

                                I installed a fresh postfix on pfSense Box for FreeBSD 7.2 (postfix-current-2.6.20090212,4.tbz)

                                PostFix is running now (at least 25 port is opened), and ps -aux shows 2 processes running for postfix (pickup and qmgr) but now I got the following message in system log:

                                postfix/smtpd: fatal open database /etc/aliases.db: No such file or directory

                                if I search for aliases i found

                                /etc/aliasesĀ  Ā  (which is a link to mail/aliases) (/etc/mail/ is empty)
                                /usr/local/etc/postfix/dist/aliases
                                /usr/local/etc/postfix/aliases

                                Thanks

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                                • R
                                  rkelleyrtp
                                  last edited by

                                  Great, you are almost there!

                                  To get the /etc/aliases.db file created, edit the /etc/aliases file and make any necessary changes.Ā  For me, I changed the "root:Ā  you"Ā  to "root:Ā  rkelley@abcxyz.com" then ran /usr/local/bin/newaliases to build the /etc/aliases.db file.

                                  Also, getting the /usr/local/postfix/main.cf file tuned properly is very important!Ā  Here is what I have in mine:

                                  
                                  undisclosed_recipients_header = To:rkelley@abcxyz.com
                                  queue_directory = /var/spool/postfix
                                  command_directory = /usr/local/sbin
                                  daemon_directory = /usr/local/libexec/postfix
                                  data_directory = /var/db/postfix
                                  mail_owner = postfix
                                  myorigin = <domain_name>unknown_local_recipient_reject_code = 550
                                  mynetworks_style = host
                                  relayhost = <pfsense_lan_ip>debug_peer_level = 2
                                  debugger_command =
                                  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā   PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin
                                  Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā   ddd $daemon_directory/$process_name $process_id & sleep 5
                                  sendmail_path = /usr/local/sbin/sendmail
                                  newaliases_path = /usr/local/bin/newaliases
                                  mailq_path = /usr/local/bin/mailq
                                  setgid_group = maildrop
                                  html_directory = no
                                  manpage_directory = /usr/local/man
                                  sample_directory = /usr/local/etc/postfix
                                  readme_directory = no</pfsense_lan_ip></domain_name> 
                                  

                                  Make sure to put in the correct information for your relayhost, undisclosed_recipients_header, and myorigin.Ā  Once done, simply restart postfix and send yourself an email.

                                  Let me know how you make out…

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                                  • D
                                    dpcma
                                    last edited by

                                    Ok. Good News again.

                                    Now I“ve got prompt from the mail server

                                    I made the following

                                    cp /usr/local/etc/postfix/aliases /etc/aliases.db

                                    newaliases

                                    postfix reload

                                    I will keep you informed

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                                    • D
                                      dpcma
                                      last edited by

                                      Ok. Finished.

                                      My pfSense box is able to relay mail to another relay host. After a bit tailoring of main.cf

                                      mynetworks_style=subnet
                                      relaydomains = xyz.com
                                      relayhost = ip.add.re.ss of LAN

                                      Apart of your suggestions relayhost, undisclosed_recipients_header, and myorigin

                                      Thank you very much for you help

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                                      • R
                                        rkelleyrtp
                                        last edited by

                                        No problem, glad to help.

                                        Now that you have installed Postfix , please make sure to lock down your firewall as much as possible…

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                                        • D
                                          dpcma
                                          last edited by

                                          Sure! hehe My pfsense cluster is now a Swiss Army Knife hehe

                                          Thanks again!

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