Postfix: The Definitive Guide: A Secure and Easy-to-Use MTA for UNIX

by Kyle D. Dent, Wietse Venema (Foreword by), Andy Oram (Editor)

Overview

Postfix is a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA): software that mail servers use to route email. Postfix is highly respected by experts for its secure design and tremendous reliability. And new users like it because it's so simple to configure. In fact, Postfix has been adopted as the default MTA on Mac OS X. It is also compatible with sendmail, so that existing scripts and programs continue to work seamlessly after it is installed. Postfix was written by well-known security expert Wietse Venema, who reviewed this book intensively during its entire development. Author Kyle Dent covers a wide range of Postfix tasks, from virtual hosting to controls for unsolicited commercial email. While basic configuration of Postfix is easy, every site has unique needs that call for a certain amount of study. This book, with careful background explanations and generous examples, eases readers from the basic configuration to the full power of Postfix. It discusses the Postfix interfaces to various tools that round out a fully scalable and highly secure email system. These tools include POP, IMAP, LDAP, MySQL, Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL), and Transport Layer Security (TLS, an upgrade of SSL). A reference section for Postfix configuration parameters and an installation guide are included. Topics include:

Basic installation and configuration

DNS configuration for email

Working with POP/IMAP servers

Hosting multiple domains (virtual hosting)

Mailing lists

Handling unsolicited email (spam blocking)

Security through SASL and TLS

From compiling and installing Postfix to troubleshooting, Postfix: The Definitive Guide offers system administrators and anyone who deals with Postfix an all-in-one, comprehensive tutorial and reference to this MTA.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596002121
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	12/01/2003
Pages:	278
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.19(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Kyle D. Dent works as an independent consultant and software developer in the New York metropolitan area. He has designed and implemented various security, network, and web-based applications for technology and financial firms. He has been working with Postfix in various settings since it was released by IBM in 1998. Kyle grew up with computers in an IBM family, but originally started working in publishing and as a teacher of English as a Second Language. He is an avid supporter of public libraries serving as a trustee at his local library and on his regional library system board. He has recently started to learn the classical guitar.

Table of Contents

• Foreword
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Prerequisites
• Chapter 3: Postfix Architecture
• Chapter 4: General Configuration and Administration
• Chapter 5: Queue Management
• Chapter 6: Email and DNS
• Chapter 7: Local Delivery and POP/IMAP
• Chapter 8: Hosting Multiple Domains
• Chapter 9: Mail Relaying
• Chapter 10: Mailing Lists
• Chapter 11: Blocking Unsolicited Bulk Email
• Chapter 12: SASL Authentication
• Chapter 13: Transport Layer Security
• Chapter 14: Content Filtering
• Chapter 15: External Databases
• Appendix A: Configuration Parameters
• Appendix B: Postfix Commands
• Appendix C: Compiling and Installing Postfix
• Appendix D: Frequently Asked Questions
• Colophon

Editorial Reviews

Slashdot.org
This is an excellent book, Dent has explained the underlying methodology and use of Postfix well, taken the reader through all aspects of this MTA system and explained both the why and the how. I would recommend this book (and, as a result Postfix) to anyone looking for an MTA and a guide to configuring and running it.