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diff --git a/doc/administration/reply_by_email_postfix_setup.md b/doc/administration/reply_by_email_postfix_setup.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..22f10489a6c --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/administration/reply_by_email_postfix_setup.md @@ -0,0 +1,324 @@ +# Set up Postfix for Reply by email + +This document will take you through the steps of setting up a basic Postfix mail +server with IMAP authentication on Ubuntu, to be used with [Reply by email]. + +The instructions make the assumption that you will be using the email address `incoming@gitlab.example.com`, that is, username `incoming` on host `gitlab.example.com`. Don't forget to change it to your actual host when executing the example code snippets. + +## Configure your server firewall + +1. Open up port 25 on your server so that people can send email into the server over SMTP. +2. If the mail server is different from the server running GitLab, open up port 143 on your server so that GitLab can read email from the server over IMAP. + +## Install packages + +1. Install the `postfix` package if it is not installed already: + + ```sh + sudo apt-get install postfix + ``` + + When asked about the environment, select 'Internet Site'. When asked to confirm the hostname, make sure it matches `gitlab.example.com`. + +1. Install the `mailutils` package. + + ```sh + sudo apt-get install mailutils + ``` + +## Create user + +1. Create a user for incoming email. + + ```sh + sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash incoming + ``` + +1. Set a password for this user. + + ```sh + sudo passwd incoming + ``` + + Be sure not to forget this, you'll need it later. + +## Test the out-of-the-box setup + +1. Connect to the local SMTP server: + + ```sh + telnet localhost 25 + ``` + + You should see a prompt like this: + + ```sh + Trying 127.0.0.1... + Connected to localhost. + Escape character is '^]'. + 220 gitlab.example.com ESMTP Postfix (Ubuntu) + ``` + + If you get a `Connection refused` error instead, verify that `postfix` is running: + + ```sh + sudo postfix status + ``` + + If it is not, start it: + + ```sh + sudo postfix start + ``` + +1. Send the new `incoming` user a dummy email to test SMTP, by entering the following into the SMTP prompt: + + ``` + ehlo localhost + mail from: root@localhost + rcpt to: incoming@localhost + data + Subject: Re: Some issue + + Sounds good! + . + quit + ``` + + _**Note:** The `.` is a literal period on its own line._ + + _**Note:** If you receive an error after entering `rcpt to: incoming@localhost` + then your Postfix `my_network` configuration is not correct. The error will + say 'Temporary lookup failure'. See + [Configure Postfix to receive email from the Internet](#configure-postfix-to-receive-email-from-the-internet)._ + +1. Check if the `incoming` user received the email: + + ```sh + su - incoming + mail + ``` + + You should see output like this: + + ``` + "/var/mail/incoming": 1 message 1 unread + >U 1 root@localhost 59/2842 Re: Some issue + ``` + + Quit the mail app: + + ```sh + q + ``` + +1. Log out of the `incoming` account and go back to being `root`: + + ```sh + logout + ``` + +## Configure Postfix to use Maildir-style mailboxes + +Courier, which we will install later to add IMAP authentication, requires mailboxes to have the Maildir format, rather than mbox. + +1. Configure Postfix to use Maildir-style mailboxes: + + ```sh + sudo postconf -e "home_mailbox = Maildir/" + ``` + +1. Restart Postfix: + + ```sh + sudo /etc/init.d/postfix restart + ``` + +1. Test the new setup: + + 1. Follow steps 1 and 2 of _[Test the out-of-the-box setup](#test-the-out-of-the-box-setup)_. + 1. Check if the `incoming` user received the email: + + ```sh + su - incoming + MAIL=/home/incoming/Maildir + mail + ``` + + You should see output like this: + + ``` + "/home/incoming/Maildir": 1 message 1 unread + >U 1 root@localhost 59/2842 Re: Some issue + ``` + + Quit the mail app: + + ```sh + q + ``` + + _**Note:** If `mail` returns an error `Maildir: Is a directory` then your + version of `mail` doesn't support Maildir style mailboxes. Install + `heirloom-mailx` by running `sudo apt-get install heirloom-mailx`. Then, + try the above steps again, substituting `heirloom-mailx` for the `mail` + command._ + +1. Log out of the `incoming` account and go back to being `root`: + + ```sh + logout + ``` + +## Install the Courier IMAP server + +1. Install the `courier-imap` package: + + ```sh + sudo apt-get install courier-imap + ``` + +## Configure Postfix to receive email from the internet + +1. Let Postfix know about the domains that it should consider local: + + ```sh + sudo postconf -e "mydestination = gitlab.example.com, localhost.localdomain, localhost" + ``` + +1. Let Postfix know about the IPs that it should consider part of the LAN: + + We'll assume `192.168.1.0/24` is your local LAN. You can safely skip this step if you don't have other machines in the same local network. + + ```sh + sudo postconf -e "mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8, 192.168.1.0/24" + ``` + +1. Configure Postfix to receive mail on all interfaces, which includes the internet: + + ```sh + sudo postconf -e "inet_interfaces = all" + ``` + +1. Configure Postfix to use the `+` delimiter for sub-addressing: + + ```sh + sudo postconf -e "recipient_delimiter = +" + ``` + +1. Restart Postfix: + + ```sh + sudo service postfix restart + ``` + +## Test the final setup + +1. Test SMTP under the new setup: + + 1. Connect to the SMTP server: + + ```sh + telnet gitlab.example.com 25 + ``` + + You should see a prompt like this: + + ```sh + Trying 123.123.123.123... + Connected to gitlab.example.com. + Escape character is '^]'. + 220 gitlab.example.com ESMTP Postfix (Ubuntu) + ``` + + If you get a `Connection refused` error instead, make sure your firewall is setup to allow inbound traffic on port 25. + + 1. Send the `incoming` user a dummy email to test SMTP, by entering the following into the SMTP prompt: + + ``` + ehlo gitlab.example.com + mail from: root@gitlab.example.com + rcpt to: incoming@gitlab.example.com + data + Subject: Re: Some issue + + Sounds good! + . + quit + ``` + + (Note: The `.` is a literal period on its own line) + + 1. Check if the `incoming` user received the email: + + ```sh + su - incoming + MAIL=/home/incoming/Maildir + mail + ``` + + You should see output like this: + + ``` + "/home/incoming/Maildir": 1 message 1 unread + >U 1 root@gitlab.example.com 59/2842 Re: Some issue + ``` + + Quit the mail app: + + ```sh + q + ``` + + 1. Log out of the `incoming` account and go back to being `root`: + + ```sh + logout + ``` + +1. Test IMAP under the new setup: + + 1. Connect to the IMAP server: + + ```sh + telnet gitlab.example.com 143 + ``` + + You should see a prompt like this: + + ```sh + Trying 123.123.123.123... + Connected to mail.example.gitlab.com. + Escape character is '^]'. + - OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 UIDPLUS CHILDREN NAMESPACE THREAD=ORDEREDSUBJECT THREAD=REFERENCES SORT QUOTA IDLE ACL ACL2=UNION] Courier-IMAP ready. Copyright 1998-2011 Double Precision, Inc. See COPYING for distribution information. + ``` + + 1. Sign in as the `incoming` user to test IMAP, by entering the following into the IMAP prompt: + + ``` + a login incoming PASSWORD + ``` + + Replace PASSWORD with the password you set on the `incoming` user earlier. + + You should see output like this: + + ``` + a OK LOGIN Ok. + ``` + + 1. Disconnect from the IMAP server: + + ```sh + a logout + ``` + +## Done! + +If all the tests were successful, Postfix is all set up and ready to receive email! Continue with the [Reply by email](./README.md) guide to configure GitLab. + +--- + +_This document was adapted from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PostfixBasicSetupHowto, by contributors to the Ubuntu documentation wiki._ + +[reply by email]: reply_by_email.md |