Configure postfix to send emails via smtp.gmail.com

1. Install postfix:

   apt-get install postfix libsasl2-2 ca-certificates libsasl2-modules
   

   • SMTP relay host: smtp.gmail.com:587
2. Configure postfix by editing /etc/postfix/main.cf:

   relayhost = smtp.gmail.com:587
   smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes
   smtp_sasl_password_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
   smtp_sasl_security_options = noanonymous
   smtp_tls_CAfile = /etc/postfix/cacert.pem
   smtp_use_tls = yes
   

3. Create /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd file, which contains the gmail user name and password in the following format:

   smtp.gmail.com:587    username@gmail.com:password
   

4. Generate /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd.db file using postmap:

   sudo postmap /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
   

5. Secure the files by setting file permissions:

   sudo chmod 400 /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd*
   

6. Set up CA certificate for postfix:

   cat /etc/ssl/certs/Thawte_Premium_Server_CA.pem | sudo tee -a /etc/postfix/cacert.pem
   

7. Reload postfix:

   /etc/init.d/postfix reload
   

Note:

• The commands above tested on Ubuntu Linux 11.10
• To send a test email from command line:

  echo "this is a test mail." | mail -s "test" youremail@yourdomain.org
  

• if mail is not installed, try

  sudo apt-get install mailutils
  

• Configure postfix to send emails via smtp.gmail.com
• Import Gmail certificate into java keystore
• Configure exim4 to send emails via smtp.gmail.com
• Configure Gmail clients