Linux – Postfix: save every outgoing mail in files

linuxpostfix

I am using postfix as a SMTP server on a network that does not have internet connection. I would like to configure every mail client to send mail to the postfix SMTP server. When the server receive a mail, it can't deliver it because it is not connected to internet, so I want it to save the mail in a file. I will then handle this file myself to send it when possible.

Is it possible to use postfix as describe above? Could you give me some advice to acheive this?

Best Answer

Easiest way is to create a local email address on the SMTP server (a fake address obviously) and then configure postfix to redirect all mails to that address and discard them afterwards.

This way, you can manage that address and forward the mails as you please.

But really, this is necessary only if you want to have personal control on which mails to forward and which to discard.

If it's only a matter of connectivity, i.e. Internet goes up and down frequently but you don't need to manage which mails to forward, the postfix queue will automatically take care of that.

You can configure the queue to keep messages for a long time trying to deliver. When Internet goes up, the mails will be automatically forwarded.

Related Solutions

Postfix – Configure to Send and Receive to and from Localhost

You can use a /etc/postfix/main.cf file like this one:

myorigin = localhost
mydestination = $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, localhost
mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8 [::ffff:127.0.0.0]/104 [::1]/128
relayhost =

Short explanation of the parameters:

myorigin: this is the host name that the postfix program will use when sending email.
mydestination: this is the host name(s) that the postfix server considers itself able to receive mail for - you want localhost and any hostname on the machine (look into /etc/hosts) to be listed here.
mynetworks lists the "trusted" IP addresses from which postfix accepts any email
relayhost: if not empty, postfix will forward all emails to this server for delivery; you want this to be empty for local delivery to work.

You might want to have a look at http://www.postfix.org/BASIC_CONFIGURATION_README.html for a more authoritative explanation.

Send mail to SMTP server on same LAN from CLI (confused with Mutt and Postfix)

You don't need postfix on your machine. You can configure mutt to use any SMTP server. This should be minimal mutt config.

set from      = your@emailaddr.tld
set smtp_url  = smtp[s]://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]
set smtp_user = user     # if not specified in the smtp_url
set smtp_pass = password # if not specified in the smtp_url

You can create muttrc in your home directory. Remember the cron you want to send e-mails must be executed by the same user.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Postfix – Configure to Send and Receive to and from Localhost

Send mail to SMTP server on same LAN from CLI (confused with Mutt and Postfix)

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