Q: Mail forwarding in Lion

Can't say for sure if there's another way to do it graphically, but you should be able to set this up in /etc/aliases.  It's a fairly standard file so you should be able to find instructios by googling.

I've solved it this way:

I've created the following files in my homedirectory:

-rwxr-xr-x   1 root    staff     61 Sep 15 14:59 edit_aliases.sh
-rwxr-xr-x   1 root    staff     62 Sep 15 14:59 reload_aliases.sh

They contain the following:

edit_aliases.sh:

#!/bin/bash
vi /etc/aliases
./reload_aliases.sh

reload_aliases.sh:

#!/bin/bash
postalias /etc/aliases
newaliases 
postfix reload

In the aliases file I did this:

cat /etc/aliases
#
# Sample aliases file. Install in the location as specified by the
# output from the command "postconf alias_maps". Typical path names
# are /etc/aliases or /etc/mail/aliases.
#
#     >>>>>>>>>>      The program "newaliases" must be run after
#     >> NOTE >>      this file is updated for any changes to
#     >>>>>>>>>>      show through to Postfix.
#

# Person who should get root's mail. Don't receive mail as root!
#root:          you

# Basic system aliases -- these MUST be present
MAILER-DAEMON:     postmaster
postmaster:     root

# General redirections for pseudo accounts
bin:          root
daemon:          root
named:          root
nobody:          root
uucp:          root
www:          root
ftp-bugs:     root
postfix:     root

# Put your local aliases here.

# Well-known aliases
manager:     root
dumper:          root
operator:     root

#Custom Aliassen
info:   localuser1, "partner@gmail.com"
sales:  localuser1, localuser2
...

When a user sends an e-mail to info@mydomain.com it is forwarded to localuser1 and to partner@gmail.com. When a users sends an e-mail to sales@mydomain.com it is forwarded to localuser1 and localuser2.

I hope this helps a bit.

PLEASE NOTE: Run those .sh files AS ROOT (meaning, in the terminal do sudo -s or sudo ./edit_aliases.sh)

Open Directory Utility on your Lion Server. Authenticate as the LDAP Admin account (usually diradmin) and edit 'groups' in LDAPv3/127.0.0.1. You can add an object type called EMailAddress for any group in LDAP. Add the accounts to the group that you would like to receive email.

What a pain in the neck.  Going back to the command line for what was easy to do in the previous GUI.

I agree with Kane David - that Apple play with these things and reduce the capability because someone at Apple doesn't understand or consult with the current users.

Apple - pleas put the capability back to administer mail services with Work Group Manager.

This problem was crippling a large client after migrating from Microsoft Online Services (now Office 365) to Lion Server.

Not having this feature is simply unacceptable.

However, I have finalized a way to get group emails working. It involves adding the LDAP 'mail' attribute to each group that you would like to have members 'subscribed' to for group email (simply by being in that group) by doing the instructions below.

Open Directory Utility on your Lion Server. Authenticate as the LDAP Admin account (usually diradmin) and edit 'groups' in LDAPv3/127.0.0.1. You can add an object type called EMailAddress for any group in LDAP. Add the accounts to the group that you would like to receive email.

I preferred creating my own file called /etc/postfix/ldap-groups.cf, but you can use the provided /etc/postfix/ldap-aliases.cf if desired.

In it, I put the following information to make postfix find the email address for the group, and then expand memberUid to uid, then formatting the results in an acceptable email format.

/etc/postfix/ldap-groups.cf

server_host = localhost

search_base = cn=groups,dc=domain,dc=tld

version = 3

query_filter = (mail=%s)

result_attribute = memberUid

result_format = %u@domain.tld

Once that is configured, you can test it by the Terminal:

$ postmap -q (EMailAddress)@domain.tld ldap:/etc/postfix/ldap-groups.cf

It should return users' email addresses.

After that, add the following information into main.cf

virtual_alias_maps = ldap:/etc/postfix/ldap-groups.cf

Restart postfix

# sudo postfix reload

Send yourself a test email and enjoy the functionality of what should have been included in Lion Server in the first place.

I am currently looking for a way to query OpenLDAP in a similar way, but instead be able to get the group email address to forward to users in it and to addresses outside of only LDAP users: e.g. forward to uid1, uid2, name(at)gmail.com.

Also, being able to have some kind of rules for who can email the group ... would be nice. However, it seems that Apple has run out of nice.

What about the functions in server admin?

Under mail - settings - mailing list you can create mailing groups.  I have tried it out seems to give the ability to only allow certain out email addresses ability to email the group,  but i am still testing it out...

Let us know how you go.

OK, so groups can recieve mail from a group address;  can the group members then send mail under the guise of the group-assigned email alias?

For example

USERS 1,2,3, and 4 are in the "Sales" group with the group email of "sales@example.com".  If a client sends a question to sales@example.com all users in the Sales group get the email.  When they reply, will the email show up as being sent by "sales@example.com"?

sincerely,

OS X mail server noob

By going in to webmail and editing the identies to the sales address - yes. Outside of that, I don't know.

My goal is to have multiple groups and aliases for each user.  I think editting the identity in webmail would allow for only one group email alias?

For example:  I am a member of the Admin, Tech Support, and Janitor groups (not really),  when I get emails from each group, I want the "from" address to be the respective address of the group email account.  I would reply to emails to the janitor group with a from address of janitor@example.com and so on...

Does anyone have any tricks for this?

Thank you Zach Mann!

One word of caution though, I think if you have a group Wiki of the same name of the group you are creating email aliases for all your services will fail, at least mine did until I removed the EMailAddress object type - restarted and removed the Wiki. I then came back and added the object type and everything is fine.

Chaps, this is well overdue now but maybe for anyone else searching for a solition here:

(for unix geeks)

man  set_user_mail_opts

(for people who like reading step by step guides)

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5032

Pete