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VMailMgr HOWTO

Bruce Guenter <bruceg@em.ca>, Dan Kuykendall <dan@kuykendall.org>

v1.1, 23 April 2000

This document explains how to setup VMailMgr support pop3 virtual domain services in conjunction with Qmail.

1. Introduction

2. Installation

3. Setup

1. Introduction

VMailMgr (short for Virtual MAIL ManaGeR) is a package of programs designed to manage multiple domains of mail addresses and mailboxes on a single host. It co-operates with qmail for mail delivery and program control.

1.1 What is VMailMgr and why should I use it?

VMailMgr is:

A series of utilities for managing virtual domains which include a password checking interface for qmail which replaces the usual checkpassword, and an authentication module for Courier IMAP, that provide access to the virtual mailboxes by one of three methods:

  • IP-based virtual server access (invisible to the POP3 user)
  • username-based access (username-virtualuser)
  • hostname-based access (virtualuser@virtual.host or virtualuser:virtual.host)

You should use it if:

You prefer to have each domain controlled by a seperate username, allowing the use of system quotas and better security

1.2 New versions

The newest version of this can be found on my homepage http://www.clearrivertech.com/linux/HOWTO as SGML source, as HTML and as TEXT. Other versions may be found in different formats at the LDP homepage http://www.linuxdoc.org/. A copy can also be found on the VMailMgr homepage http://em.ca/~bruceg/vmailmgr/ in its HTML version as well as in the VMailMgr source package as both SGML source and as HTML.

1.3 Comments

Comments on this HOWTO should be directed to the VMailMgr mailing list. To subscribe, send an email to vmailmgr@lists.em.ca.

1.4 History

This document was started by Bruce Guenter and reworked by Dan Kuykendall.

1.5 Version History

Old Version

  • Created by Bruce, wasn't in SGML HOWTO format.

v1.0 (April 20, 2000)

  • Built proper SGML version.
  • Included the FAQ.
  • Other minor additions.

v1.1 (April 23, 2000)

  • Split the FAQ to a seperate file, but included some important info from the FAQ.
  • Updated the Courier-IMAP support section.
  • Switched the license to the GNU FDL.
  • Other minor additions.

1.6 Copyrights and Trademarks

Copyright (c) Dan Kuykendall. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation

A copy of the license is available at GNU Free Documentation License.

1.7 Acknowledgements and Thanks

Thanks to Bruce Guenter for VMailMgr and the core of this HOWTO. Thanks to Mike Bell, who always seems to have the answers to my questions. Finally, thanks to all those on the vmailmgr@lists.em.ca mailing list who have helped me, or asked the same stuff so many times that I had to write this to stop the repeat questions.

2. Installation

http://em.ca/~bruceg/vmailmgr/ to get the package.

If you get the binary RPMS you will need at least the vmailmgr and vmailmgr-daemon packages.

2.2 Install with RPMS

Compiling SRC.RPM's

Simply compile the src.rpm file with the `rpm --rebuild` command. -Example- 

  rpm -ivh vmailmgr-0.96.6-1.src.rpm

Installing RPM's

After compiling the source rpms, the binaries will be located in `/usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/` or something similar.

Simply run the following command for each package 

  rpm -ivh <location>/<package.i386.rpm>
-Example- 
  rpm -ivh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/vmailmgr-0.96.6-1.i386.rpm
  rpm -ivh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/VMailMgr-daemon-0.96.6-1.i386.rpm

2.3 Install with source

If you dont ue RPMS you can install from source.

Run the following command 

  (As non-root user)
  tar zxf <package.tar.gz>
  cd <newly created dir>
  ./configure
  make
  (As root)
  make install
-Example- 
  (As non-root user)
  tar zxf vmailmgr-0.96.6.tar.gz
  cd vmailmgr-0.96.6
  ./configure
  make
  (As root)
  make install
That should do it.

3. Setup

3.1 Setting Up a Virtual Domain

The following steps are necessary to set up a virtual domain with vmailmgr (assuming vmailmgr has been compiled and installed). As an example, we'll set up a virtual user `me@mydomain.org`, with aliases of `myself@mydomain.org` and `myname@mydomain.org`.

  1. Set up a DNS entry for the domain. I won't cover this here, as it is dependant on far too many other things. I will mention that to make IP based virtual domains work a PTR record which matches an entry in virtualdomains is nessesary, for example, if nslookup 10.56.33.122 returns mail.mydomain.com, `virtualdomains` needs an entry like `mail.mydomain.com:myuser`

    For the example, we'll assume that the mail exchanger for mydomain.org is already set up to point to your computer.

  2. Set up a base user for the domain. Create a user, with a name of your choosing. Since the maildirs for all the users in the virtual domain will be stored under this user's home directory, make sure you set the user up in a partition or disk that is appropriate for such storage. The tools that you should use to accomplish this step vary greatly between different systems. For our example, I'll add a user `myuser`.
  3. Configure qmail to recognize the domain. To do this, you need to modify two of qmail's configuration files in `/var/qmail/control` `rcpthosts` and `virtualdomains`.
    • To `rcpthosts` : add the line `mydomain.org`.
    • To `virtualdomains` : add the line `mydomain.org:myuser`.
    If you wish to have mail to `anything.mydomain.org` be delivered in the same way, add the following
    • To `rcpthosts` : add the line `.mydomain.org`.
    • To `virtualdomains` : add the line `.mydomain.org:myuser`.
  4. Configure qmail-popup/qmail-pop3d to use `checkvpw` as the password checker. This step is dependant on how you have installed qmail.
    • Replace `checkpassword` in the command you use to invoke qmail-popup/qmail-pop3d (either in `/etc/inet.conf` or in a `tcpserver` command) with `checkvpw`.
    • And/Or at the prompt type: `echo checkvpw > /var/qmail/control/checkpassword`
  5. Add users or aliases to the domain. Either change user to the user you just created (for example, type `su - myuser`) or log in (with either telnet or at the console) as the new user, and use the included programs to add users and aliases.

    For our example, we would

    • type: `vadduser me` (which prompts for a password)
    • type: `vaddalias me myself`
    • and type: `vaddalias me myname`
After you have completed all these steps, you will need to kill and restart `qmail-send` to make it read the new `virtualdomains` table.

If you are using `inetd` to launch `qmail-popup`, `kill -HUP` the `inetd` process as well.

3.2 Using one IP address for mutiple domains

Logging in as a virtual user?

There are two ways to log in without using multiple IP addresses.

  1. The first way is to log in as `userSEPvirtual.domain.org`, where `user` is the mailbox name of the virtual user, SEP is one of `@` or `:` (by default, this is configurable in the `/etc/vmailmgr/' directory), and `virtual.domain.org' is the virtual domain's name, as listed in `/var/qmail/control/virtualdomains'.
  2. The second way is to use the internal form of the mailbox name -- that is, `baseuser-user', where `user' is the same as above, and `baseuser' is the username of the managing user.
Example: `/var/qmail/control/virtualdomains' contains 
  testdomain.org:testuser
User `myuser' exists, and has set up a virtual mailbox with the name `me'. The `separators' variable in `/etc/vmailmgr/' contains `@:'. This virtual user could log in as `me@mydomain.com', `me:mydomain.cm', or `myuser-me'.

3.3 Catch all misdirected mail?

In the `vmailmgr/' configuration directory, there is an entry called `default-username'. If mail to a virtual domain does not match any users or aliases in that domain, it is delivered to the name listed in this configuration item if it exists (which defaults to `+'). To make this deliver to you, simply type: 

  vaddalias me +

3.4 Setup VMailMgr IMAP support?

VMailMgr supports Courier-IMAP, but Courier-IMAP does not auto detect VMailMgr. This means that some minor work is required for making the two work together.

  • You must copy `/usr/local/bin/authvmailmgr` to `/usr/lib/courier-imap/libexec/authlib/authvmailmgr`.
  • Then modify the `AUTHMODULES` statement in `/usr/lib/courier-imap/etc/imapd.config` and add `authvmailmgr` as the first authentication module.