Configuring the local email system

Without mail forwarding, emails intended for root are delivered to root@fi.muni.cz (and, generally speaking, emails for the user login will arrive at login@fi.muni.cz). To set up forwarding, you need to create an alias and correctly configure an email system that supports aliases (e.g. Postfix, Exim).

Configuring the email system (Postfix)

Install the package postfix. If you have any installation queries (Debian/Ubuntu/...) select ‘Internet with smarthost’, enter the FQDN of your machine as the smarthost [relay.fi.muni.cz] (including the brackets) and leave the other items at their default values. Alternatively, you can then edit the Postfix configuration manually:

# vim /etc/postfix/main.cf

and add the line

relayhost = [relay.fi.muni.cz]

and then run the command

# postfix reload

Ensure Postfix starts at system boot:

# systemctl enable postfix

Mail forwarding

Aliases are stored in the file /etc/aliases (or /etc/mail/aliases):

# vim /etc/aliases

To redirect mail for the user root, add the line

root: login@fi.muni.cz

Similarly, redirect mail for your regular account. The change will take effect and the alias database will be updated

# newaliases

For more information on aliases, see man 5 aliases.

Hostname settings

Check that you have set the correct hostname, including the domain:

$ hostname
yourfimachine.fi.muni.cz

Typically, you can set the hostname using the command

# hostnamectl set-hostname yourfimachine.fi.muni.cz

Functionality test

Install the ` mail ` command (not included in the Postfix package). You can obtain it from mailutils or s-nail. It is generally useful: some other services (e.g. the [SMART daemon](installation.html#smart)) rely on it.

Then check that a test email arrives in your faculty mailbox (for both root and your local login), e.g.:

$ echo A very short body | mail root -s Subject
$

Redirecting emails generated by the command sudo

To redirect emails of the form *** SECURITY information for XY.fi.muni.cz *** to a non-default address, use the command visudo to add the following line to the new file /etc/sudoers.d/mailto

Defaults mailto = login@fi.muni.cz

However, please check that /etc/sudoers contains the line #includedir /etc/sudoers.d. Alternatively, edit /etc/sudoers directly.

Redirecting emails from cron

To forward emails from cron, you need to add the following line to the file from which the tasks are run, just before the task definitions:

MAILTO=login@fi.muni.cz

Troubleshooting

If you encounter problems during configuration, the mail system logs may be useful; these are usually located at /var/log/mail*, /var/log/postfix or /var/log/exim*/. You can view the contents of the local mail queue using the command mailq. If you are unsure what to do, we can advise you at .