Configuration¶

The configuration for sending email is controlled by the gsconfig.ini file. The configuration options set up how the system connects to the SMTP server [1]. Delivery of email messages can be can be to a local server, a remote server, or turned off entirely as shown in the configuration examples below.

Options¶

hostname (required):

The name of the SMTP server (localhost if the SMTP server is running on the same machine as GroupServer).

port (required):

The port that the SMTP server runs on (usually 25).

username (optional):

The name of the user that logs into the SMTP server to send the message. (Defaults to None.)

password (optional):

The password used to log into the SMTP server. (Defaults to None.)

no_tls and force_tls (both optional):

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the replacement to the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). It can be used to encrypt the communication between GroupServer and the SMTP server. Normally the system will use TLS if it is available.

Setting the no_tls option to False will force the GroupServer to connect to the SMTP server en clear, even if encryption is available. This may be useful if the SMTP server only accepts connections from localhost and it is running on the same machine as GroupServer.

Setting the force_tls to True forces GroupServer to use encryption to connect to the SMTP server. If TLS is not available then a RuntimeError is raised.

queuepath (optional):

The path to the Maildir folder that stores all the messages before processing by the SMTP server. Defaults to /tmp/mailqueue.

processorthread (optional):

If True (the default) then a separate thread will be started to handle the queue and pass the email messages on to the SMTP server. If False the email messages will just be written to the file in queuepath and not be processed (which is very useful for testing).

xverp (optional):

If True then XVERP will be used when the email messages are sent [2].

Examples¶

Setting up delivery to the local SMTP server, from the GroupServer instance called main:

[config-main]
smtp = local

[smtp-local]
hostname = localhost
port = 25
no_tls = True
queuepath = /tmp/main-mail-queue
xverp = True

Note:	There will be more than the `smtp` option for the configuration of the `main` GroupServer instance. However, the other options have been left out for clarity.

Setting up delivery to a remote SMTP server, from the GroupServer instance called production:

[config-production]
smtp = remote

[smtp-remote]
hostname = remote.host.name
port = 2525
username = user_on_the_remote_server
password = password_on_the_remote_server
force_tls = True
queuepath = /tmp/production-mail-queue
processorthread = True
xverp = True

Setting up a test system to not send out email:

[config-test]
smtp = none

[smtp-none]
hostname = localhost
port = 25
queuepath = /tmp/test-mail-queue
processorthread = False

[1]	Configuration is handled by the `gs.email.config` module. It uses the `gs.config` module to read the configuration information <https://github.com/groupserver/gs.config>

[2]	For more information about XVERP see The Postfix VERP Howto.