Specifications

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12 Managing Mail Service
Use this chapter to learn the commands to manage Mail
service.
Mac OS X Server provides a full complement of tools for setting up and managing Mail
service for your users. You use the commands described in this chapter to control the
components that make up Mail service.
Understanding Mail Service
Mail service in Mac OS X Server consists of the following components, all based on
open standards with full support for Internet mail protocols:
 Postfix, the SMTP mail transfer agent
 Cyrus, which supports IMAP and POP
 Mailman, which provides mailing list management features
For more information, see Mail Service Administration.
Postfix Agent
Mac OS X Server uses Postfix as its SMTP mail transfer agent. Postfix is easy to
administer. Its basic configuration can be managed through Server Admin, and
therefore, it does not rely on editing the configuration file /etc/postfix/main.cf.
Postfix uses multiple layers of defense to protect the server computer from intruders.
There is no direct path from the network to the security-sensitive local delivery tools.
Postfix does not trust the contents of its own queue files, or the contents of its own IPC
messages. Postfix filters sender-provided information before exporting it via
environment variables. Nearly every Postfix application can run with fixed low
privileges and no ability to change ID, run with root privileges, or run as any other user.
Postfix uses the configuration file main.cf in /etc/postfix/. When Server Admin modifies
Postfix settings, it overwrites the main.cf file.