Setting up a send-only mail server

Question

I'm trying to setup an easy mail server to support my "lost password" function in my website.

I'd like to know if Exim is good or not, or is there any better solution?

I would also like to know that it isn't easy to manage an smtp server (such as blocking junk mail, or being hacked, etc), does setting up a send-only mail server cause any security issues?

Thanks!

Solution 1

Simple example to setup postfix with satellite SMTP

1. install postfix

   sudo aptitude install postfix

2. configure postfix

   sudo vi /etc/postfix/smtp_auth

   add your smtp authentication information in /etc/postfix/smtp_auth:

   smtp.foo.bar user@host:password

   and generate the postfix lookup table file (/etc/postfix/smtp_auth.db) using

   sudo postmap /etc/postfix/smtp_auth

   add the relayhost (outgoing smtp server e.g. smtp.foo.bar on port 587, depending your relay host info) information to /etc/postfix/main.cf:

   relayhost = [smtp.foo.bar]:587

   add the following lines to /etc/postfix/main.cf in order to enable smtp-auth for outgoing mails:

   smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes smtp_sasl_password_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/smtp_auth smtp_sasl_security_options = noanonymous

3. restart postfix

   sudo service postfix restart

Solution 2

I had a similar problem and here is how I did. I created a gmail account for my daemon. I set up filters from gmail.com.

And I send my mail using http://iqjar.com/jar/sending-emails-from-the-raspberry-pi/

The guide is for raspberry pi but it will work as long as you use a debian or alike)

If you protected your server from bruteforce (fail2ban ?), it should be fine.

Comments

[KKyang]

The website I setup is my university's lab website. I don't know if it's ok to use a personal account as an organization account. (If I graduate, I might want to take the account away.))

[Zulakis]

ssmtp does NOT verify the SSL/TLS certificate of the remote server on the current debian, ubuntu and redhat releases and also does NOT verify the hostname of the certificate. This is a major issue, as this effectively renders the encryption useless and your password is being transmitted alike to being plaintext and anyone can sniff it. ssmtp has had no active development since atleast 2009. So, if you care about the security of the email account you use for your servers outgoing emails, do NOT use ssmtp, but postfix (or something else) instead.