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General Deployment

General Deployments​

info

Please complete the following two prerequisite setups before preceding

  1. general setup (without SSL setup)
  2. DNS setup

Defining Packer Variables​

Create a HashiCorp Packer variable values file named aws-docker-mailserver.pkrvars.hcl under hashicorp-aws/hashicorp/docker-mailserver/images with the following contents:

hashicorp-aws/hashicorp/docker-mailserver/images/aws-docker-mailserver.auto.pkrvars.hcl
ami_region          = "us-east-1"
ami_name            = "my-docker-mailserver-ami"
base_domain         = "mycompany.com"
ssl_cert_base64     = "YXNkZnNnaHRkeWhyZXJ3ZGZydGV3ZHNmZ3RoeTY0cmV3ZGZyZWd0cmV3d2ZyZw=="
ssl_cert_key_base64 = "MzI0NXRnZjk4dmJoIGNsO2VbNDM1MHRdzszNDM1b2l0cmo="

  • ami_region is the region where docker-mailserver AMI will be published to. The published image will be private

  • ami_name is the published AMI name; it can be arbitrary

  • base_domain is the base domain name of the MX record. For example, if base domain is 'mycompany.com', the generated MX record will be 'mail.mycompany.com'

  • ssl_cert_base64 is a base64 encoded string of the content of SSL certificate file for the MX record domain, i.e. 'mail.mycompany.com' given the base_domain is 'mycompany.com'

  • ssl_cert_key_base64 is a base64 encoded string of the content of SSL certificate key file for the MX record domain, i.e. 'mail.mycompany.com' given the base_domain is 'mycompany.com'

    info

    hashicorp-aws supports SSL with the Bring Your Own Certificates (certbot) option

  • (Optional) instance_type: is the AWS EC2 instance type building this image. hashicorp-aws uses "t2.micro" as default value if this value is unspecified

Defining Terraform Variables​

Create a HashiCorp Terraform variable values file named aws-docker-mailserver.tfvars under hashicorp-aws/hashicorp/docker-mailserver/instances with the following contents:

hashicorp-aws/hashicorp/docker-mailserver/instances/aws-docker-mailserver.auto.tfvars
aws_ec2_region       = "us-east-1"
ami_name             = "my-docker-mailserver-ami"
instance_name        = "My docker-mailserver instance"
key_pair_name        = "My SSH keypair name"
security_groups      = ["My docker-mailserver Security Group"]
base_domain          = "mycompany.com"
route_53_zone_id     = "9DQXLTNSN7ZX9P8V2KZII"
first_email          = "jack@mycompany.com"
first_email_password = "sdfeo9uig&^&rf8u"

  • aws_ec2_region is the EC2 runtime region where docker-mailserver EC2 instance will be deployed into

  • ami_name is the name of the published AMI; it must be the same as the ami_name in Packer variable file

  • instance_name is the deployed EC2 name as appeared in the instance list of AWS console; it can be arbitrary

  • key_pair_name is the name of AWS EC2 key pair bound to this docker-mailserver instance. We can use this key pair to later ssh into the instance for admin management purposes

  • security_groups is the list of AWS Security Group names to associate with (yes, not ID, but name...)

    tip

    The security group must open all the ports mentioned docker-mailserver's documentation

  • base_domain is the base domain name of the MX record. For example, if base domain is 'mycompany.com', the generated MX record will be 'mail.mycompany.com'

    note

    hashicorp-aws will bind a private IP address to this domain because AWS security groups works for private IP only for DNS resolving.

  • route_53_zone_id is the AWS Route 53 hosted Zone ID that hosts the domain "mail.mycompany.com"

    tip

    To find the zone ID in AWS Route 53, we can:

    1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console
    2. Open the Route 53 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/route53/
    3. Select Hosted zones in the navigation pane
    4. Find the requested ID in the top level Hosted Zones summary in the Route 53 section

  • first_email is the email used for mail server startup.

  • first_email_password is the password of the email for mail server startup

    tip

    On first start, we will need to add at least one email account. The provided first email will be used for that and can be used for sending/receiving emails immediately after deployment

  • (Optional) instance_type: is the AWS EC2 instance type running the EC2 instance. hashicorp-aws uses "t2.micro" as default value if this value is unspecified

Building AMI Image​

cd hashicorp-aws/hashicorp/docker-mailserver/images
packer init .
packer validate -var "skip_create_ami=true" .
packer build -var "skip_create_ami=false" .

Deploying to EC2​

caution

Depending on the AMI and EC2 configs, please be aware AWS credit charges shall incur after the following commands execute

cd ../instances/
terraform init
terraform validate
terraform apply -auto-approve

Deployment via Screwdriver CD​

hashicorp-aws supports deployment using Screwdriver CD. Please check it out.

Deployment via HACP​

tip

Please try our HACP platform to deploy a docker-mailserver instance. It gives us one-click experience that helps us stand up docker-mailserver in a minute.

FAQ​

How to Add New Email Accounts or Update Email Password​

Use setup.sh

./setup.sh email add <email> <password>
./setup.sh email update <email> <password>
./setup.sh email del <email>
./setup.sh email list

Troubleshooting​

Emails Not Sent to External Emails​

While sending emails to external emails such as a working gmail, it does not go through, usually complaining of connection timed out. An example error log looks like the following.

Sep 26 02:47:21 mail postfix/qmgr[1329]: 8167B7F0B1: from=<iam@zp4rker.com>, size=2190, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Sep 26 02:47:21 mail amavis[1223]: (01223-02) Passed CLEAN {RelayedOpenRelay}, [110.141.179.150]:60565 [110.141.179.150] <iam@zp4rker.com> -> <iamzp4rker@gmail.com>, Queue-ID: E27927F0C0, Message-ID: <2b0b8cff-b4e5-4f01-b778-9b5d7d76f988@spark>, mail_id: dGghh_AqJFO4, Hits: -0.201, size: 1959, queued_as: 8167B7F0B1, 1501 ms
Sep 26 02:47:21 mail postfix/smtp-amavis/smtp[2330]: E27927F0C0: to=<iamzp4rker@gmail.com>, relay=127.0.0.1[127.0.0.1]:10024, delay=1.6, delays=0.12/0.01/0/1.5, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (250 2.0.0 from MTA(smtp:[127.0.0.1]:10025): 250 2.0.0 Ok: queued as 8167B7F0B1)
Sep 26 02:47:21 mail postfix/qmgr[1329]: E27927F0C0: removed
Sep 26 02:47:22 mail postfix/smtp[2339]: connect to gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[2404:6800:4003:c0f::1a]:25: Cannot assign requested address
Sep 26 02:47:43 mail postfix/smtp[2307]: connect to gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[142.251.10.27]:25: Connection timed out
Sep 26 02:47:43 mail postfix/smtp[2307]: connect to gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[2404:6800:4003:c0f::1b]:25: Cannot assign requested address
Sep 26 02:47:43 mail postfix/smtp[2307]: connect to alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[2607:f8b0:400e:c00::1a]:25: Cannot assign requested address
Sep 26 02:47:51 mail dovecot: imap(iam@zp4rker.com)<2220><QibNiYvpkexujbOW>: Connection closed (EXPUNGE finished 31.220 secs ago) in=836 out=6270 deleted=1 expunged=1 trashed=0 hdr_count=3 hdr_bytes=64 body_count=0 body_bytes=0
Sep 26 02:47:51 mail dovecot: imap(iam@zp4rker.com)<2219><FRTNiYvpkOxujbOW>: Connection closed (UID SEARCH finished 31.145 secs ago) in=4407 out=14821 deleted=0 expunged=0 trashed=0 hdr_count=8 hdr_bytes=264 body_count=0 body_bytes=0
Sep 26 02:47:52 mail postfix/smtp[2339]: connect to gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[142.251.10.26]:25: Connection timed out
Sep 26 02:48:13 mail postfix/smtp[2307]: connect to alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[173.194.202.27]:25: Connection timed out
Sep 26 02:48:18 mail postfix/smtpd-amavis/smtpd[1579]: timeout after END-OF-MESSAGE from localhost[127.0.0.1]
Sep 26 02:48:18 mail postfix/smtpd-amavis/smtpd[1579]: disconnect from localhost[127.0.0.1] ehlo=1 mail=1 rcpt=1 data=1 commands=4
Sep 26 02:48:22 mail postfix/smtp[2339]: connect to alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[173.194.202.27]:25: Connection timed out
Sep 26 02:48:22 mail postfix/smtp[2339]: connect to alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[2607:f8b0:400e:c00::1b]:25: Cannot assign requested address
Sep 26 02:48:22 mail postfix/smtp[2339]: connect to alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[2607:f8b0:4023:c0b::1a]:25: Cannot assign requested address
Sep 26 02:48:22 mail postfix/smtp[2339]: 8167B7F0B1: to=<iamzp4rker@gmail.com>, relay=none, delay=61, delays=0.01/0.01/61/0, dsn=4.4.1, status=deferred (connect to alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[2607:f8b0:4023:c0b::1a]:25: Cannot assign requested address)
Sep 26 02:48:25 mail postfix/postscreen[2537]: CONNECT from [170.187.162.6]:61000 to [172.25.0.2]:25
Sep 26 02:48:31 mail postfix/postscreen[2537]: PASS NEW [170.187.162.6]:61000
Sep 26 02:48:31 mail postfix/smtpd[2554]: connect from cloud-scanner-a68296bf.internet-research-project.net[170.187.162.6]
Sep 26 02:48:32 mail postfix/smtpd[2554]: lost connection after AUTH from cloud-scanner-a68296bf.internet-research-project.net[170.187.162.6]
Sep 26 02:48:32 mail postfix/smtpd[2554]: disconnect from cloud-scanner-a68296bf.internet-research-project.net[170.187.162.6] auth=0/1 commands=0/1
Sep 26 02:48:43 mail postfix/smtp[2307]: connect to alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[142.250.141.26]:25: Connection timed out
Sep 26 02:48:43 mail postfix/smtp[2307]: B00297F0A3: to=<iamzp4rker@gmail.com>, relay=none, delay=623, delays=532/0.01/91/0, dsn=4.4.1, status=deferred (connect to alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[142.250.141.26]:25: Connection timed out)
Sep 26 02:48:50 mail dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<iam@zp4rker.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=110.141.179.150, lip=172.25.0.2, mpid=2618, TLS, session=<NIhEkYvpo+xujbOW>
Sep 26 02:48:50 mail dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<iam@zp4rker.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=110.141.179.150, lip=172.25.0.2, mpid=2619, TLS, session=<Ur9EkYvpouxujbOW>

This is a connection issue. The server is not able to establish outgoing connections on port tcp/25. This might be just a missing firewall rule, or the cloud provider blocks port 25, which is the case on AWS. You can manually test the connection with nc alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com 25 on our server to verify that.

In the case of AWS, we will need to sign in to our AWS account, and then open the Request to remove email sending limitations form.