lebaowth

Q: Server side rule to BCC all mail from sender

The subject nearly says it all

 

I would like to set up a server side rule so that every message coming from my user joshua@example.com blind carbon copies vic@example.com immediately upon sending

 

Can this be done through a GUI or some other fairly transparent command?  If not, what witchcraft will be required to do this simply?

 

thanks

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), Server 5.0.15

Posted on Feb 5, 2016 9:28 AM

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Q: Server side rule to BCC all mail from sender

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  • by lebaowth,

    lebaowth lebaowth Feb 5, 2016 4:07 PM in response to lebaowth
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 4:07 PM in response to lebaowth

    Come on... Linc... Mr Humphries... one of you knows the answer to this question just off the top of your head... one line command, I bet...

     

    Bowl me over with your mail wisdom...

  • by MrHoffman,Helpful

    MrHoffman MrHoffman Feb 8, 2016 5:37 AM in response to lebaowth
    Level 6 (15,627 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 8, 2016 5:37 AM in response to lebaowth

    Learn some more about Postfix and its sender and recipient bcc maps? Additional details on the BCC parameters are available on the Postfix web site, around these parameters and around address rewriting, and there are examples posted around the 'net.    The only wrinkle here — from the postconf commands that are posted and used everywhere else — is the need for the postconf -c command syntax needed on recent Server.app releases, and you can get a flavor for that in the thread how to disable OSX server 3 SMTP authentication.

  • by lebaowth,

    lebaowth lebaowth Feb 8, 2016 5:41 AM in response to MrHoffman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 8, 2016 5:41 AM in response to MrHoffman

    Thank you Mr Hoffman, and forgive me for referring to you as Mr Humphries earlier.  It was Friday and I was in a fit of stupor regarding how simple my need seemed to be and how complex all of the answers I was mining became.

     

    So are you confident this CAN be done?

     

    Again and again, it seems someone points to this notion that almost all server side mail rules are created for INCOMING mail, not outgoing mail.

     

    I'm not averse to experimenting with some of the BCC mapping commands, but I am a little nervous about what degree of probability that I'll destroy our mail server I'm dancing around.

     

    If you think it can be done, perhaps I'll conduct some trial and error attempts today.

     

    Any additional insight/guidance you can offer will be most appreciated!

  • by MrHoffman,

    MrHoffman MrHoffman Feb 8, 2016 8:34 AM in response to lebaowth
    Level 6 (15,627 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 8, 2016 8:34 AM in response to lebaowth

    lebaowth wrote:

     

    Any additional insight/guidance you can offer will be most appreciated!

     

    Read through and reference the Postfix and (maybe) Dovecot documentation.  OS X Server doesn't provide a user interface for any of this stuff.

  • by lebaowth,

    lebaowth lebaowth Feb 8, 2016 10:38 AM in response to MrHoffman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 8, 2016 10:38 AM in response to MrHoffman

    So I look at this:

     

    sender_bcc_maps (default: empty)

    Optional BCC (blind carbon-copy) address lookup tables, indexed by sender address. The BCC address (multiple results are not supported) is added when mail enters from outside of Postfix. 

    Specify zero or more "type:name" lookup tables, separated by whitespace or comma. Tables will be searched in the specified order until a match is found.

    The table search order is as follows:

    Note: with Postfix 2.3 and later the BCC address is added as if it was specified with NOTIFY=NONE. The sender will not be notified when the BCC address is undeliverable, as long as all down-stream software implements RFC 3461.

    Note: with Postfix 2.2 and earlier the sender will be notified when the BCC address is undeliverable.

    Note: automatic BCC recipients are produced only for new mail. To avoid mailer loops, automatic BCC recipients are not generated after Postfix forwards mail internally, or after Postfix generates mail itself.

    Example:

    sender_bcc_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/sender_bcc 

    After a change, run "postmap /etc/postfix/sender_bcc".

    This feature is available in Postfix 2.1 and later.

     

     

     

    And the syntax doesn't look intelligible to me at all.  Being it simply doesn't seem like there is a beginners guide to Postfix, I'm going to go ahead and ask the stupid questions:

     

    First off, are these instructions for editing the main.cf or the master.cf files?  Or is this done through Terminal commands?

     

    Second, if I am editing one of the main config files for Postfix, I don't understand how I specify sender and and bcc accounts?

     

    sender_bcc_maps = joshua@example.com:/etc/postfix/vic@example.com

     

    If I were trying to coax Postfix into triggering a BCC to vic@example.com each time joshua@example.com composed and sent an email, is that how the command should look?

     

    Should I be using UUID's rather than email addresses?  I feel like the examples don't include placeholders for the sender and the BCC recipient

     

    Forgive my first foray into postfix

  • by UptimeJeff,Solvedanswer

    UptimeJeff UptimeJeff Feb 8, 2016 10:52 AM in response to MrHoffman
    Level 4 (3,477 points)
    Feb 8, 2016 10:52 AM in response to MrHoffman

    True that OS X uses postfix, and you'll find plenty of documentation on the topic.

    But....... Most tutorials will have you running the wrong binaries (not those compiled for OS X Server app) and editing config files OS X Server doesn't use.

     

    Best to use directions specific to OS X Server.

     

    OS X Server: How to setup sender_bcc_maps

     

    1. Create the text file which stores the sender bcc maps.

    Use whatever method you prefer to create this file. Here is an example using pico in Terminal

     

    sudo pico /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/sender_bcc

     

    The file may contain one more more maps with one or more spaces in between the sender and bcc_map.

    It should like this:

     

    sender@example.com    bcc@example.com
    anothersender@example.com    bcc@example.com
    
    

     

    When done, use ctrl-x to exit and hit y to save

     

    2. Run postmap anytime you edit the sender_bcc file

     

    sudo /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/postmap /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/sender_bcc
    
    

     

    3. Tell postfix where to find your new sender_bcc file


     

    sudo /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/postconf -e sender_bcc_maps=hash:/Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/sender_bcc
    
    

     

    4. Reload postfix

     

    sudo /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/postfix reload
    
    

     

    That should do it.

  • by lebaowth,

    lebaowth lebaowth Feb 8, 2016 12:41 PM in response to UptimeJeff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 8, 2016 12:41 PM in response to UptimeJeff

    Really, really easy instructions to follow - thank you so much for spoon feeding me the answer

     

    Honestly, after looking at it now, it is way simpler than I was making it.

     

    But without your instructions, there is no way I would have organized the commands the way I needed to in order to work effectively the first time!

     

    If you're ever in Cincinnati, I'll buy you a beer!