Re: Postfix/Network config out of the box - was: Re: Please participate in the Ubuntu Popularity Contest !

On Sunday 16 July 2006 19:14, Christofer C. Bell wrote:
On Sun, 16 Jul 2006 14:01 -0700, Scott Kitterman <ubuntu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I'm not sure which Ubuntu version you are using, but I've built two
Postfix servers recently using the Ubuntu Dapper server install and I
don't recall having to edit those files. I don't have access to SSH
where I am now, but I'll look at those files tomorrow when I do.

I'm using a stock installation of Ubuntu 6.06 Desktop. When I install
mutt, it installs postfix as a dependancy. Using the HELO command
immediately afterwards tells me that postfix is returning 'localhost'
improperly.

I didn't notice the issue until I started getting bounces from
linuxcounter.org that my machine was in the CBL blacklist for being
out of compliance with RFCs (I run machine-update from
linuxcounter.org out of cron). The instructions I gave were those on
the CBL website, and may not be appropriate for folks for whom the
system works out of the box.

What does perturb me about Ubuntu's behavior is that the Networking
control panel will silently add either your hostname (if your system
has not been altered after installation) or your FQDN (if you've
gotten your hostname set properly) to the 127.0.0.1 entry. If you
delete it inside the control panel, it will be there when you exit.
If you manually edit /etc/hosts, then use the control panel again, it
will be reinserted there. I'd consider this behavior (which I am sure
is a 'feature') a bug.

Since my system was being blacklisted as configured out of the box, I
can't explain the discrepancy in our experiences.

First, I installed the server version of Ubuntu, so that may be part of the
difference, but now that I have access to the config files, here is what I
found:

You said (and I think this is not correct):
postfix is not properly configured out of the box because Ubuntu is
not properly configured out of the box. You need to make the
following changes to your system:

* In /etc/hosts:

+ Remove the line that references IP address 127.0.1.1.
+ Remove the hostname from the line that references IP address 127.0.0.1.
+ Create a correct entry for your machine with IP address, FQDN, and
hostname.

This is not required. In my hosts file the IPv4 entries I have are:

127.0.0.1 localhost
70.91.79.101 mailout00

It should be (and defaults to) the name of the box you give during the install
routine.

* In /etc/hostname

+ Set the name to your FQDN.

Here I have:

mailout00

* In /etc/postfix/main.cf

+ Set the variable 'myname' to your FQDN.

myname doesn't show up in a default main.cf. I expect you meant myhostname.
That is where I find my FQDN:

myhostname = mailout00.controlledmail.com

The other significant main.cf parameter where you find the FQDN
is /etc/mailname found in the standard main.cf as:

myorigin = /etc/mailname

In my case, mailname contains the FQDN. That one I may have had to edit
manually.

So, I don't think that the changes you recommended to the hosts or hostname
file are necessary. I don't know that they hurt anything.

In general, most people are not on internet connections that will be suitable
for using an MTA for general delivery. I think for most people, if they are
going to install an MTA, using their ISPs MTA as a relayhost, see:

http://www.postfix.org/postconf.5.html#relayhost

is more suitable. With that kind setup issues like the CBL, correctly setting
FQDN, and getting reverse DNS set up aren't a concern.

Scott K

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