Docker Mail Gateway Postfix - (ghcr.io/servercontainers/mail-gateway) [x86 + arm]

maintained by ServerContainers

IMPORTANT!

In March 2023 - Docker informed me that they are going to remove my organizations servercontainers and desktopcontainers unless I'm upgrading to a pro plan.

I'm not going to do that. It's more of a professionally done hobby then a professional job I'm earning money with.

In order to avoid bad actors taking over my org. names and publishing potenial backdoored containers, I'd recommend to switch over to my new github registry: ghcr.io/servercontainers.

Build & Versions

You can specify DOCKER_REGISTRY environment variable (for example my.registry.tld) and use the build script to build the main container and it's variants for x86_64, arm64 and arm

You'll find all images tagged like d11.2-p3.5.6-1_b1 which means d<debian version>-p<postfix version (with some esacped chars)>. This way you can pin your installation/configuration to a certian version. or easily roll back if you experience any problems (don't forget to open a issue in that case ;D).

To build a latest tag run ./build.sh release

Changelogs

• 2024-09-22
  • config/tls fixes - removed dh - now done by postfix automatically
• 2023-04-07
  • added package libsasl2-modules to fix broken sasl2
• 2023-03-20
  • github action to build container
  • implemented ghcr.io as new registry
• 2023-03-18
  • switched from docker hub to a build-yourself container
• 2022-01-08
  • new build script
  • version tagging
  • update to debian bullseye
• 2021-07-28
  • healthcheck will fail if certificate is 3 days or less valid or already expired
• 2021-06-04
  • added healthcheck (will fail when certs are updated without container restart)
• 2020-12-01
  • fixed broken containers/build
  • better tls settings (tls 1.3 support)
• 2020-11-05
  • multiarch build

What is it

This Dockerfile (available as self-build-container) gives you a Postfix Configured for the following scenarios.

• Smarthost Configuration (Outgoing Mails for trusted nodes with random IP)
  • let your internal mailserver send mails through this container encrypted and authenticated via ssl client authentication
• Incoming Mail Spamfilter/Virusscanner (Amavis) Gateway
  • you can also put this container in front of your mailbox handling server and let this container do the spam/virus checks
• Incoming Mail Gateway
  • let this gateway do caching and loadbalancing
• Outgoing Mail Gateway and DKIM signer
  • sign your mails even for multiple domains with DKIM automatically
• Outgoing Mail Gateway for Docker Containers connected to this container via networks
  • this container is capable of automatically trusting all networks it's connected to
• Outgoing Mail for specified Networks
  • trust specified Networks

For Configuration of the Server you use environment Variables and volume files.

It's based on the debian:bullseye Image

View in GitHub Registry ghcr.io/servercontainers/mail-gateway

View in GitHub ServerContainers/mail-gateway

currently tested on: x86_64, arm64, arm

What it's not

This container is not meant to be used as a mail server which stores mails and handles mailboxes. Just put this container in between the outside world and your mailbox handeling mail server. Take a look at ServerContainers/mail-box for a mail server with mailbox/imap handling.

Environment variables

OFFICIAL ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

• MAIL_FQDN

  • specify the mailserver name - only add FQDN not a hostname!
  • e.g. my.mailserver.example.com

• POSTFIX_SMTPD_BANNER

  • alter the SMTPD Banner of postfix e.g. mailserver.example.local ESMTP

• AUTO_TRUST_NETWORKS

  • add all networks this container is connected to and trust them to send mails
  • set to any value to enable

• ADDITIONAL_MYNETWORKS

  • add this specific network to the automatically trusted onces
  • set to 0.0.0.0/0 to make this an open relay

• MYNETWORKS

  • ignore all auto configured mynetworks and replace them with this value
  • overwrites networks specified in ADDITIONAL_MYNETWORKS

• RELAYHOST

  • sets postfix relayhost - please take a look at the official documentation
  • The form enclosed with [] eliminates DNS MX lookups. Don't worry if you don't know what that means. Just be sure to specify the [] around the mailhub hostname that your ISP gave to you, otherwise mail may be mis-delivered.

• DISABLE_AMAVIS

  • disable spam and virus checks (also disables the services so only postfix and needed services get started)
  • might be useful if you only get trusted e-mails
  • set to any value to disable

• DISABLE_VIRUS_CHECKS

  • disables virus scanning/checks (also disabled clamd and freshclam)
  • set to any value to disable

• DISABLE_SPAM_CHECKS

  • disables spam checking
  • set to any value to disable

• AMAVIS_SA_TAG_LEVEL_DEFLT

  • amavis setting sa_tag_level_deflt - default undef

• AMAVIS_SA_TAG2_LEVEL_DEFLT

  • amavis setting sa_tag2_level_deflt - default 5

• AMAVIS_SA_KILL_LEVEL_DEFLT

  • amavis setting sa_kill_level_deflt - default 20

• POSTFIX_SSL_OUT_CERT

  • path to SSL Client certificate (outgoing connections)
  • default: /etc/postfix/tls/client.crt

• POSTFIX_SSL_OUT_KEY

  • path to SSL Client key (outgoing connections)
  • default: /etc/postfix/tls/client.key

• POSTFIX_SSL_OUT_SECURITY_LEVEL

  • SSL security level for outgoing connections
  • default: may

• POSTFIX_SSL_IN_CERT

  • path to SSL Cert/Bundle (incoming connections)
  • default: /etc/postfix/tls/bundle.crt

• POSTFIX_SSL_IN_KEY

  • path to SSL Cert key (incoming connections)
  • default: /etc/postfix/tls/cert.key

• POSTFIX_SSL_IN_SECURITY_LEVEL

  • SSL security level for incoming connections
  • default: may

• POSTFIX_SSL_IN_CERT_FINGERPRINTS

  • trusted incoming certificate fingerprints (multiline) (which clients are authenticated)
  • e.g.: AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF:12:34:56:67:2E:FB:3F:34:99:90:AB:CD:EF:4C trusted.mailserver.example.tld

• POSTFIX_QUEUE_LIFETIME_BOUNCE

  • The maximal time a BOUNCE MESSAGE is queued before it is considered undeliverable
  • By default, this is the same as the queue life time for regular mail

• POSTFIX_QUEUE_LIFETIME_MAX

  • maximum lifetime of regular (non bounce) messages

• POSTFIX_RELAY_DOMAINS

  • specify certain domains which will be relayed (by default all mails will be forwarded)

• POSTFIX_MYDESTINATION

  • specify the domains which this mail-gateway handles (I recommend to use only POSTFIX_RELAY_DOMAINS)

HIGH PRIORITY ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE

the following variable/s are only if you have some specific settings you need. They help you overwrite everything after the config was generated. If you can update your setting with the variables from above, it is strongly recommended to use them!

some characters might brake your configuration!

• POSTFIX_RAW_CONFIG_<POSTFIX_SETTING_NAME>
  • set/edit all configurations in /etc/postfix/main.cf using the POSTFIX_RAW_CONFIG_ followed by the setting name

for example: to set mynetworks_style = subnet just add a environment variable POSTFIX_RAW_CONFIG_MYNETWORKS_STYLE=subnet

Volumes

• /etc/postfix/tls
  • this is where the container looks for:
    • rootCA.crt (to check valid client certificates against)
    • client.crt (outgoing SSL Client cert)
    • client.key (outgoing SSL Client key)
    • bundle.crt (incoming SSL Server cert/bundle)
    • cert.key (incoming SSL Server key)
• /etc/postfix/additional
  • this is where the container looks for:
    • opendkim (folder - enables opendkim support if it exists - but needs DKIM_DOMAINS env)
    • transport (postfix transport text-file - without been postmaped)
    • header_checks (postfix header_checks regex file)

Cheat Sheet

DKIM

This Server enables you to use DKIM for multiple Domains by default.

To use it just add your domains to the DKIM_DOMAINS environment variable. DKIM_DOMAINS: example.com myotherdomain.tld

and make sure the folder /etc/postfix/additional/opendkim is available from within the container (/etc/postfix/additional is a volume).

After that the DKIM Keys will be generated automatically if necessary. All DKIM Public Informations for your DNS Servers will be printed to the Docker Logs.

So you start the container wait for the Public Keys to appear in the Docker logs and add them to the Domains in your DNS System.

DKIM manually (for a single Domain)

You don't need the next steps, but they are great to understand how DKIM works

If you want to know how the multi domain handeling is done just take a look at the containers github repository

To generate DKIM keys you'll need the opendkim tools

$ apt-get install opendkim-tools

This generates a new certificate for @example.com with selector -s mail. If you want to Test DKIM first, add -t argument which stands for test-mode.

$ opendkim-genkey -s mail -d example.com

Just put the file mail.private as dkim.key inside the dkim directory you'll later link into the container using -v.

The mail.txt should be imported into the DNS System. Add a new TXT-Record for mail._domainkey [selector._domainkey]. And add as value the String starting "v=DKIM1;..." from the mail.txt file.

Example:

$ cat mail.txt
mail._domainkey	IN	TXT	( "v=DKIM1; k=rsa; "
	  "p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDcUp8Q1sbxgnR2iL7w+TOHN1IR6PzAP3vmUoPfeN07NGfWo8Wzxyn+hqqnC+mbPOW4ZDoAiu5dvpPsCt1RQalwBw/iPlB/8ScTlPGRpsTLo4ruCDL+yVkw32/UhvCL8vbZxM/Q7ELjO6AqRRW/KuCvbd5gNRYGeyjWd+UQAfmBJQIDAQAB" )  ; ----- DKIM key mail for example.com

You need to put this line in your example.com DNS config zone:

mail._domainkey	IN	TXT	"v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDcUp8Q1sbxgnR2iL7w+TOHN1IR6PzAP3vmUoPfeN07NGfWo8Wzxyn+hqqnC+mbPOW4ZDoAiu5dvpPsCt1RQalwBw/iPlB/8ScTlPGRpsTLo4ruCDL+yVkw32/UhvCL8vbZxM/Q7ELjO6AqRRW/KuCvbd5gNRYGeyjWd+UQAfmBJQIDAQAB"

Thats all you need for DKIM

Check DNS config:

$ host -t TXT mail._domainkey.example.com
mail._domainkey.example.com descriptive text "v=DKIM1\; k=rsa\; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDcUp8Q1sbxgnR2iL7w+TOHN1IR6PzAP3vmUoPfeN07NGfWo8Wzxyn+hqqnC+mbPOW4ZDoAiu5dvpPsCt1RQalwBw/iPlB/8ScTlPGRpsTLo4ruCDL+yVkw32/UhvCL8vbZxM/Q7ELjO6AqRRW/KuCvbd5gNRYGeyjWd+UQAfmBJQIDAQAB"

Create a self-signed ssl cert

Please note, that the Common Name (CN) is important and should be the FQDN to the secured server:

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4086 \
-keyout key.pem -out cert.pem \
-days 3650 -nodes -sha256

Generate Cert fingerprint

openssl x509 -noout -fingerprint -in cert.pem

Example relay_clientcerts

AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF:12:34:56:67:2E:FB:3F:34:99:90:AB:CD:EF:4C trusted.mailserver.example.tld

Create a Simple CA with openssl

# generate CA cert & key
openssl genrsa -out rootCA.key 4096
openssl req -x509 -new -nodes -key rootCA.key -sha256 -days 1024 -out rootCA.pem

# create csr
openssl genrsa -out device.key 4096
openssl req -new -key device.key -out device.csr

# sign csr with CA
openssl x509 -req -in device.csr -CA rootCA.pem -CAkey rootCA.key -CAcreateserial -out device.crt -days 500 -sha256

Postfix SSL Configuration

##### TLS settings ######

### outgoing connections ###
# smtp_tls_security_level=encrypt # for secure connections only
smtp_tls_security_level=$POSTFIX_SSL_OUT_SECURITY_LEVEL
smtp_tls_cert_file=$POSTFIX_SSL_OUT_CERT
smtp_tls_key_file=$POSTFIX_SSL_OUT_KEY

smtp_tls_exclude_ciphers = aNULL, DES, RC4, MD5, 3DES
smtp_tls_mandatory_exclude_ciphers = aNULL, DES, RC4, MD5, 3DES

smtp_tls_mandatory_ciphers=medium

smtp_tls_protocols = TLSv1.3 TLSv1.2, !TLSv1.1, !TLSv1, !SSLv2, !SSLv3
smtp_tls_mandatory_protocols = TLSv1.3 TLSv1.2, !TLSv1.1, !TLSv1, !SSLv2, !SSLv3

smtp_tls_session_cache_database = btree:\${data_directory}/smtp_scache
smtp_tls_loglevel = 1

### incoming connections ###
# smtpd_tls_security_level=encrypt # for secure connections only
smtpd_tls_security_level=$POSTFIX_SSL_IN_SECURITY_LEVEL
smtpd_tls_cert_file=$POSTFIX_SSL_IN_CERT
smtpd_tls_key_file=$POSTFIX_SSL_IN_KEY

smtpd_tls_exclude_ciphers = aNULL, DES, RC4, MD5, 3DES
smtpd_tls_mandatory_exclude_ciphers = aNULL, DES, RC4, MD5, 3DES

smtpd_tls_mandatory_ciphers=high

smtpd_tls_protocols = TLSv1.3 TLSv1.2, !TLSv1.1, !TLSv1, !SSLv2, !SSLv3
smtpd_tls_mandatory_protocols = TLSv1.3 TLSv1.2, !TLSv1.1, !TLSv1, !SSLv2, !SSLv3

smtpd_tls_session_cache_database = btree:\${data_directory}/smtpd_scache
smtpd_tls_loglevel = 1

Enable Postfix Cert Authentication

postconf -e smtpd_tls_ask_ccert=yes
postconf -e smtpd_tls_CAfile=/etc/postfix/tls/rootCA.crt
postconf -e smtpd_recipient_restrictions=permit_mynetworks,permit_tls_all_clientcerts,reject_unauth_destination