Re: Secondary outbound mail on Postfix

[Wietse Venema]

Sedhumadhavan Parthasarathy1:
> Hi All,
>
> Our primary outbound mail is configured in postfix MTA. We would like to
> set a secondary outbound mail server on DR sitee.

With all Postfix versions, you would set relayhost to a name that
resolves to multiple IP addresses (in DNS or /etc/hosts). In my
first 10+ years in IBM I had:

relayhost = $mydomain

i.e. use the MX records for the local domain.

Later I had to change that to

relayhost = [na.relay.ibm.com]

i.e. use the A records for a regional mail cluster.

> Will it possible to configure secondary outbound mail server on Postfix ?
> Postfix will have high availability functionality ?

Having multiple servers helps.

With Postfix 3.0.0 you could use this:

sender_dependent_relayhost_maps = randmap:{[host1], [host2]}

You could even list host1 and host2 different numbers of times
to get a load split different from 50/50.

Wietse
>
> Cheers...
>
>
>
> Sedhumadhavan (Sedhu) Parthasarathy
>
>
> Infrastructure Architect
>
> IBM Certified Infrastructure Systems Architect
> IBM Certified Cloud Computing Infrastructure Solution Architect
> Client Excellence - Change and Innovation
>
> Delivery Centre India, GTS Services Delivery
>
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>
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>
>
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>
>

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[sedhumadhavan Parthasarathy]

On Monday, March 30, 2015 at 4:49:11 PM UTC+5:30, Wietse Venema wrote:
> Sedhumadhavan Parthasarathy1:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Our primary outbound mail is configured in postfix MTA. We would like to
> > set a secondary outbound mail server on DR sitee.
>
> With all Postfix versions, you would set relayhost to a name that
> resolves to multiple IP addresses (in DNS or /etc/hosts). In my
> first 10+ years in IBM I had:
>
> relayhost = $mydomain
>
> i.e. use the MX records for the local domain.
>
> Later I had to change that to
>
> relayhost = [na.relay.ibm.com]
>
> i.e. use the A records for a regional mail cluster.
>
> > Will it possible to configure secondary outbound mail server on Postfix ?
> > Postfix will have high availability functionality ?
>
> Having multiple servers helps.
>
> With Postfix 3.0.0 you could use this:
>
> sender_dependent_relayhost_maps = randmap:{[host1], [host2]}
>
> You could even list host1 and host2 different numbers of times
> to get a load split different from 50/50.
>
> Wietse
> >
> > Cheers...
> >
> >
> >
> > Sedhu

Thanks Wietse, Do you have any link or reference documents to guide to set up secondary outbound mail server on DR site ?

Here is our primary server configuration file :

alias_database = dbm:/etc/postfix/aliases
alias_maps = dbm:/etc/postfix/aliases
canonical_maps = dbm:/etc/postfix/canon
command_directory = /usr/sbin
config_directory = /etc/postfix
daemon_directory = /usr/libexec/postfix
debug_peer_level = 2
disable_dns_lookups = no
html_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix-2.2.8/html
mail_owner = postfix
mail_spool_directory = /var/spool/mail
mailq_path = /usr/sbin/mailq
manpage_directory = /usr/share/man
mydestination = $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, localhost, $mydomain
mydomain = warwick.meb.ihost.com
myhostname = gb02.warwick.meb.ihost.com
mynetworks = xx.xx.xx.xx/16, 127.0.0.0/8
myorigin = $mydomain
newaliases_path = /usr/sbin/newaliases
queue_directory = /var/spool/postfix
readme_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix-2.2.8/README_FILES
relay_domains = $mydestination online.deb.com
sample_directory = /etc/postfix
sendmail_path = /usr/sbin/sendmail
setgid_group = postdrop
smtp_host_lookup = native,dns
smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_mynetworks,check_relay_domains,reject_unauth_destination
transport_maps = dbm:/etc/postfix/transport
unknown_local_recipient_reject_code = 550

[Viktor Dukhovni]

On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 07:18:52AM -0400, Wietse Venema wrote:
> Sedhumadhavan Parthasarathy1:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Our primary outbound mail is configured in postfix MTA. We would like to
> > set a secondary outbound mail server on DR sitee.
>
> With all Postfix versions, you would set relayhost to a name that
> resolves to multiple IP addresses (in DNS or /etc/hosts). In my
> first 10+ years in IBM I had:
>
> relayhost = $mydomain

I'd go with a variant of that:

relayhost = outbound.$mydomain

and configure MX records for that name in the internal DNS:

outbound IN MX 0 primary
outbound IN MX 10 secondary
primary IN A 192.0.2.1
secondary IN A 192.0.2.2

mail will go to the primary first, and only if the primary is down
or defers the transaction with a 4XX code will it go to the secondary.

--
Viktor.

[Wietse Venema]

Sedhumadhavan Parthasarathy1:
> Hi All,
>
> Our primary outbound mail is configured in postfix MTA. We would like to
> set a secondary outbound mail server on DR sitee.

Are you asking

- How to configure Postfix to BE the second outbound relay?

- How to configure Postfix to USE a second outbound relay?

Wietse

[Zoltán Beck]

Hi,

may I ask if there is an answer for the second question? How can I set up postfix to relay e-mails through one of the available relay hosts? If the first one is not available, then send to second one relay host.

Kind Regards,
Zoltan