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ticktockhouse
Asked: 2017-11-29 02:23:10 +0800 CST

postfix catchall user not found in virtual alias table

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My task is to create a postfix config that accepts all mail from all domains, recipients, etc. and forwards them to a catchall mailbox. This may be further filtered in future and indeed the config will need to be latered in another environment so that mail goes through to the intended recipient.

Here's an abbreviated main.cf:

....
myhostname = mailserver.fqdn
alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases
alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases
mydestination =
myorigin = localhost
relayhost =
mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8 [::ffff:127.0.0.0]/104 [::1]/128 192.168.5.0/24
mailbox_size_limit = 0
recipient_delimiter = +
inet_interfaces = 192.168.5.43, 127.0.0.1
inet_protocols = all

virtual_alias_maps = pcre:/etc/postfix/virtual

virtual_mailbox_base = /var/vmail
virtual_minimum_uid = 2222
virtual_transport = virtual
virtual_uid_maps = static:2222
virtual_gid_maps = static:2222
....

/etc/postfix/virtual:

/.*/     catchall
/catchall\@localhost/ catchall

Other machines are configured to use this mail server as a relayhost, and when mail makes it to here, this appears in the log:

Nov 28 10:08:10 mailserver.fqdn postfix/error[23768]: 5EA9BBD9F5: to=<catchall@localhost>, orig_to=<[email protected]>, relay=none, delay=0, delays=0/0/0/0, dsn=5.1.1, status=bounced (User unknown in virtual alias table)

I'm probably missing something obvious, is it the presence of alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases?

Also, if all goes well, can I expect the catchall mailbox to be created automatically, or is there another config item needed?

postfix

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    You can test the outcome with postmap -q "[email protected]" pcre:/etc/postfix/virtual. It should return catchall. What may happen here is that the /.*/ catchall also includes the catchall@localhost, making it to loop back to itself and eventually not resolved to any real user.

    If you only have a certain domain and its subdomains, it would be more safe to use:

    /@((\w[\w\-]*)\.)+example\.com/ catchall

    Then, handle the localhost with $local_transport mail delivery transport using

    mydestination = localhost

    Now, your catchall@localhost may be a real local user or an alias defined in /etc/aliases.

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  2. Just editing the /etc/postfix/virtual file is not enough to make the changes take affect. You must run the postmap command to make postfix read the file, like so:

    /usr/sbin/postmap /etc/postfix/virtual

    This creates a new file called /etc/postfix/virtual.db and the aliases are now loaded into postfix.

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