SMTP enabled

I just installed Postfix Enabler to be able to send my emails through a SMTP server on my own powerbook. I didn’t want the hassle to configure the postfix server myself, so I went for a software doing it the Macintosh way.

The default configuration was a little too open for my taste. I want others (that is me on the PC nearby) to use the postfix server only if they know a password. Using the Postfix Enabler configuration tab to setup password authentication still lets anybody on the same subnet send mail without a password.

Bernard Teo (the author of Postfix Enabler) was very helpful and immediately answered my request: enter this line in the Custom Postfix Settings field:

smtpd_recipient_restrictions=permit_sasl_authenticated, reject_unauth_destination

There is only one downside using your own SMTP server: depending on where you are linked to the internet, your IP address might raise suspicion with spam filters, thanks to the many worms using any “available” PC as spam relay.

2 Responses to “SMTP enabled”

  1. Beat Bolli Says:

    Of course, the simple solution is to add a line with “relayhost = ” to main.cf which causes all sent mail to be routed to your ISP’s mail server.

  2. Pesche Says:

    @beat: The problem with this approach is that my ISP changes depending on where I use my Powerbook.

    But I found still another easy solution: my home ISP allows now (I’m pretty sure it didn’t three months ago) to send mails from anywhere if I use password authentication over a SSL connection.