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Catalogue / Infrastructure & systems

Mail Server: Postfix, Dovecot and Rspamd

Build and run a real company mail server on Linux, from the first SMTP session to deliverability at Gmail and Outlook, including the incidents you meet in production.

  • Intermediate to advanced
  • 12 lessons
  • 11 h 15 min
  • Versions Debian 12, Debian 13, Ubuntu 24.04, Rocky 9, Debian 12 (Dovecot 2.3), Debian 13 (Dovecot 2.4), Ubuntu 24.04 (2.3), Rocky 9 (2.3), Postfix 3.5 à 3.10, Dovecot 2.3 / 2.4, Rspamd 3.x, Debian 12/13, Rocky 9 (dépôt Rspamd)

A MasterLinux course · Original text

What you will learn

  • Follow an email end to end: MX, SMTP, submission, delivery, IMAP, envelope and headers
  • Configure Postfix (main.cf, master.cf), its relays and restrictions without ever opening a relay
  • Read the queues and the logs, purge or retry messages with postqueue and postsuper
  • Host several domains and virtual mailboxes in Maildir, with aliases and lists
  • Put Dovecot to work for IMAP, LMTP, authentication, Sieve and quotas
  • Encrypt with TLS (certificates, STARTTLS, ports 25/465/587/993) and authenticate submissions with SASL
  • Filter spam with Rspamd (scores, actions, greylisting) and sign with DKIM and ARC
  • Publish SPF, DKIM, DMARC and PTR and meet the requirements of Gmail and Outlook
  • Back up, restore and migrate mailboxes without losing a message
  • Solve the classic incidents: open relay, stuck queue, blocklisted IP, expired certificate, compromised account

Course content

12 lessons · 11 h 15 min
Section 1 — SMTP fundamentals3 lessons · 2 h 15 min
  1. The journey of an email: SMTP, submission and IMAP Preview40 min
  2. Postfix: main.cf, master.cf and relaying 50 min
  3. Queues and logs: tracking a message 45 min
Section 2 — Mailboxes2 lessons · 1 h 45 min
  1. Virtual domains and mailboxes 45 min
  2. Dovecot: IMAP, LMTP, accounts, Sieve and quotas 1 h
Section 3 — Secure transport2 lessons · 1 h 40 min
  1. TLS: certificates, STARTTLS and ports 50 min
  2. SASL authentication and submission 50 min
Section 4 — Anti-spam and deliverability2 lessons · 1 h 50 min
  1. Rspamd: scores, greylisting, DKIM and ARC 55 min
  2. Deliverability: DMARC alignment, reputation and Gmail and Outlook requirements 55 min
Section 5 — Operations and project3 lessons · 3 h 45 min
  1. Backing up, restoring and migrating mailboxes 45 min
  2. Real incidents: open relay, compromised account, blocklist, expired certificate 1 h
  3. Final project: the masterlinux.lab mail server 2 h

Requirements

  • The “Fundamentals” course (included) or solid hands-on experience with the Linux command line
  • DNS basics (A, MX, PTR, TXT records), for example from the “Networks and VPN” course
  • A Debian 12/13 or Ubuntu 24.04 virtual machine to reproduce the configurations outside the labs

Who is this course for?

  • System administrators who must take over or build a company's email
  • Hosting and managed-services technicians facing deliverability problems
  • Students preparing for an operations job or a Linux certification (LPIC-2, RHCE)