# OpenSMTPD

Related articles

- Dovecot

This article explains how to install and configure a simple OpenSMTPD server.

## Required packages

- opensmtpd

## Installation

    # pacman -S opensmtpd

## Simple OpenSMTPD/mbox configuration

### Create user accounts

- Create a user account on the mail server for each desired mailbox.

    # useradd -m -s /bin/bash roger
    # useradd -m -s /bin/bash shirley

- OpenSMTPD will deliver messages to the user account's mbox file at `/var/spool/mail/<username>`
- Multiple SMTP email addresses can be routed to a given mbox if desired.

### Craft a simple smtpd.conf setup

- A working configuration can be had in as little as five lines! In this example 10.1.1.0/24 is the LAN IP subnet.

    /etc/smtpd/smtpd.conf

    listen on eth0 hostname myemaildomain.com
    table vdoms             "/etc/smtpd/vdoms"
    table vusers            "/etc/smtpd/vusers"
    accept from any for domain <vdoms> virtual <vusers> deliver to mbox
    accept from source { localhost 10.1.1.0/24 } for any relay

### Create virtual domain and user tables

- For the domain table file; simply put one domain per line

    /etc/smtpd/vdoms

    personaldomain.org
    businessname.com

- For the user table file; list one inbound SMTP email addresses per line and then map it to an mbox user account name, SMTP email address, or any combination of the two on the right, separated by commas.

    /etc/smtpd/vusers

    roger@personaldomain.org          roger
    newsletters@personaldomain.org    roger,roger.rulz@gmail.com

    roger@businessname.com            roger
    shirley@businessname.com          shirley
    info@businessname.com             roger,shirley
    contact@businessname.com          info@businessname.com

## Starting the server

Use the standard systemd syntax to control the `smtpd.service` daemon.

    # systemctl start smtpd.service

To have it start on boot

    # systemctl enable smtpd.service

## Watch the spice flow!

    # journalctl -f _SYSTEMD_UNIT=smtpd.service

## See also

- OpenSMTPD pairs well with Dovecot. Combine the two for a nice minimalist mailserver
- OpenSMTPD project page
- Simple SMTP server with OpenSMTPD

Category:

- Mail Server