Installation of exim mail server

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Parveen Kaur

Exim is a mail transfer agent (MTA) used on Unix-like operating systems. Exim is free software distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public Licence, and it aims to be a general and flexible mailer with extensive facilities for checking incoming e-mail.

  • Download exim4 by following command:

sudo apt-get install exim4 exim4-config

  • Run the following command:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config

  • You will see the ‘Package Configuration’ interface. Here, select the options as mentioned in the following:
  • Choose -> mail sent by smarthost; received via SMTP or fetchmail  and press tab

  • Type System Mail Name: e.g. gmail.com

  • Type IP Adresses to listen on for incoming SMTP connections: 127.0.0.1

  • Leave Other destinations for which mail is accepted blank

  • Leave Machines to relay mail for: blank

  • Type Machine handling outgoing mail for this host (smarthost): smtp.gmail.com::587

  • Choose NO, (don’t hide local mail name in outgoing mail).

  • Chose NO, (don’t keep number of DNS-queries minimal (Dial-on-Demand)).

  • Choose mbox

  • Choose NO, (split configuration into small files).

  • Mail for postmaster. Leaving blank will not cause any problems though it is not recommended

  • Now open the file /etc/exim4/exim4.conf.template
  • Find the line .ifdef DCconfig_smarthost DCconfig_satellite and add the following in that section:

 send_via_gmail:

driver = manualroute

domains = ! +local_domains

transport = gmail_smtp route_list = * smtp.gmail.com

  • If you have any other smarthost defined with “domains = ! +local_domains” remove that smarthost.
  • Find begin authenticators. In that section add the following:

 gmail_login:

driver = plaintext

public_name = LOGIN

client_send = : username@gmail.com : YourGmailPassword

  • Make sure you have no other authenticators with the same public_name (LOGIN). Comment out the whole section in the bottom starting with:

login:
driver = plaintext
public_name = LOGIN

  • Find the comment transport/30_exim4-config_remote_smtp_smarthost. In that section add:

 gmail_smtp:

driver = smtp

port = 587

hosts_require_auth = $host_address

hosts_require_tls = $host_address

  • Run command:

 update-exim4.conf

  • Restart exim:

 /etc/init.d/exim4 restart

  • Now,to test it follow the instructions:

mail receiver_email_address@example.com

  • Give a subject and press enter.
  • Type something and press enter.
  • Type a single . (dot) and press enter.
  • Press enter for a blank CC:
  • If mail is send to reciever it means you successfully install the mail server.
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