The Book of Postfix: State-of-the-Art Message Transport

DNS and BIND, Fourth Edition

Mysql And Msql

Postfix : The Definitive Guide

Format: Paperback
Author: Kyle D Dent
ReleaseDate: 01 December, 2003
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Rating:

A very good book about Postfix
I was looking for a book on Postfix and that's what the author provided. I wasn't looking for esoteric information on how to administer Sendmail. I got the book based a lot on the quality of O'Reilly books and the editor's reputation. Andy Oram is a top notch editor. I recommend this book to any Linux or UNIX person wanting to substitute Postfix for sendmail. Postfix is a drop in replacement for systems configured for sendmail but Postfix is not a monlithic program with lots of vulnerabilities. The author expalins that perfectly.

Good reference guide for PostFix
PostFix was written to be a
drop in replacement for Sendmail but with it's own variations on control
files. PostFix is a replacement mail server, MTA, for Unix based systems that
formerly used Sendmail or other variants.

This book outlines most of the common issues in dealing with setting up
PostFix. The author takes the reader through the design concerns outlined
by the author of the program, Wietse Venema, who wrote the forward of the
book.

Sendmail has been a staple of the mail delivery world but it has a well
deserved reputation for being hard to setup, administer and understand.
The O'Reilly book on Sendmail is at least 3 times as large as this book.
There is alot to learn about its' macro language and using M4 to build
control files. Sendmail is a very hard program for a beginner to
understand and configure properly.

The author spends the first few chapters discussing how a mail server is
supposed to work; how the DNS system interacts with the mail system. There
are well laid out block diagrams to show the flow of email through a
system. Any SysAdmin who has spent time administering a mail system can
probably skip the first few chapters. Those who are new to running a mail
server should find the begining chapters enlightening.

PostFix mostly uses easy to read control files that don't require processing.
The program can be set up to use the Unix standard mbox delivery format or
the newer maildir format. The book explains the pros and cons of the 2
storage formats both from the MTA perspective and the pop or imap
interface.

Most of the more common configuration tweaks used in securing a Sendmail
system also apply to a PostFix installation. They are just easier to set
up in PostFix with the examples provided.

The book has a section devoted to setting up secure mail relay using the
Cyrus SASL libraries. It details setting up the password database via the
Unix standard or shadow format, SASL, LDAP PAM or MYSQL formats. The
author discusses ways to further secure the connection by using TLS
connections to ensure passwords are not compromised.

PostFix has some built in anti-spam tools. The book has a chapter devoted
to to pros and cons of the various approaches. Examples of "reasonable"
and "paranoid" approaches for setting up PostFix are provided. A simpler
apporoach than jumping directly into Spam Assassin or other
spam pre-processors

Mailing lists are another feature that PostFix can manage. The book has
examples of various simple ways of setting up mailing lists short of
installing a separate program like MajorDomo. This is a handy feature.

There are Appendixes intended to walk a user through the compiling process
which will help users not familiar with using Make. There is a listing of
the PostFix parameter commands and what they all mean.

PostFix the Definitive Guide is a well written, easy to read step by step
instruction book for using the PostFix mail server. Using this book as a
reference, an experienced SysAdmin should make the transition from
Sendmail to PostFix without much trouble. For someone new to the world of
MTA's, the book should answer most of the questions associated with
getting a PostFix mail server up and running.

This is another O'Reilly book that should be on a SysAdmin's bookshelf.
.

Not what I was expecting
For those that are already familiar with setting up MTAs, the information provided in "The Definitive Guide" is probably enough, but this book only covers a subset of the Postfix configuration parameters and does not provide the step-by-step instructions that many people may be expecting. If you're looking for a comprehensive guide on setting up a Postfix mail server, then this isn't the book for you. .