Emailing the system messages to me

Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 01, 2007 at 12:49:52AM -0400, Guillermo Garron wrote:
>> On 3/1/07, Greg Folkert wrote:
>>> On Thu, 2007-03-01 at 00:36 -0400, Guillermo Garron wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> I have a Debian Etch as my desktop PC, and i want to configure it so
>>>> the system messages could be sent to my personal email, not to the
>>>> root mailbox on that system, it has exim any ideas?
>>>>
>>>> or I better install postfix?
>>>>
>>>> best regards,
>>> /etc/aliases
>>>
>>> make the root alias like this:
>>>
>>> root:
>>>
>>> That should do it.
>> Thanks,
>>
>> i have think about that, but my PC does not have a reverse lookup
>> name, so I think the email will be returned, I think i need to
>> configure exim, postfix, or sendmail to send email via an account
>> using a login and password, to use an authenticated smtp server.
>>
>> am I right?
>
> exim can certainly handle the mail for you, but maybe its easier to
> just set it
>
> root: guillermo
>
> or whatever your local account is.
>

Not if he needs to read it from elsewhere.

Exim4 can certainly authenticate, what I'm not absolutely sure of is
how. Here's a couple of bits from the exim4.config.template, one
router and one transport section:

### router/200_exim4-config_primary
#################################
# This file holds the primary router, responsible for nonlocal mails

.ifdef DCconfig_internet
# configtype=internet
#
# deliver mail to the recipient if recipient domain is a domain we
# relay for. We do not ignore any target hosts here since delivering to
# a site local or even a link local address might be wanted here, and if
# such an address has found its way into the MX record of such a domain,
# the local admin is probably in a place where that broken MX record
# could be fixed.

domaintosendto:
debug_print = "R: NameOfDomain for $local_part@$domain"
driver = manualroute
domains = domaintosendto.com
transport = myisp_auth_smtp
route_list = * auth.smtp.myisp.com

dnslookup_relay_to_domains:
debug_print = "R: dnslookup_relay_to_domains for $local_part@$domain"
driver = dnslookup
domains = ! +local_domains : +relay_to_domains
transport = remote_smtp
same_domain_copy_routing = yes
no_more

* * *
* * *

### transport/30_exim4-config_remote_smtp_smarthost
#################################

# This transport is used for delivering messages over SMTP connections
# to a smarthost. The local host tries to authenticate and does some
# modification in headers and return-path.
# This transport is used for smarthost and satellite configurations.

remote_smtp_smarthost:
debug_print = "T: remote_smtp_smarthost for $local_part@$domain"
driver = smtp
hosts_try_auth = ${if exists {CONFDIR/passwd.client}{DCsmarthost}{}}
tls_tempfail_tryclear = false
DEBCONFheaders_rewriteDEBCONF
DEBCONFreturn_pathDEBCONF

myisp_auth_smtp:
debug_print = "T: myisp_auth_smtp for $local_part@$domain"
driver = smtp
hosts_require_auth = auth.smtp.myisp.com
port = 587

#####################################################
### end transport/30_exim4-config_remote_smtp_smarthost
#####################################################

It happens that the ISP in question expects Auth SMTP on port 587,
but some accept on 25 and some on both. You only need the port if
it won't accept on 25. Some want TLS, some don't.

You also need to set up a passwd.client file in /etc/exim4 with the
server name, user and password separated by colons, one account per
line. There should be a sample file there already.

I won't swear to it, but I think that's all that's needed. It's
certainly most of it, and exim's logs are good if there are problems.

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