Getting started¶

Default configuration¶

The debops.postldap role configures a Postfix SMTP server with support for a virtual user mail system, i.e. where the senders and recipients do not correspond to the Linux system users. Hence it is possible to host emails for other domains. The users, email alias and domains will be managed with LDAP. Local mail is enabled by default, support for mail aliases is provided by the debops.etc_aliases Ansible role and the LDAP user attribute mailAlias.

This role only works when LDAP support is explicitly enabled and the environment has a working LDAP infrastructure. See the debops.ldap role and its documentation for more details about setting up LDAP client support on a host.

Overriding lookup table configuration¶

The Postfix LDAP lookup tables defined by the debops.ldap Ansible role are designed to work with the LDAP directory set up by the debops.ldap and debops.slapd roles. If you want to use different LDAP directory configuration, or tailor the default configuration to your own needs, you can override specific parameters in the looup table configuration via the Ansible inventory.

The role defers to the debops.postfix Ansible role for actual looup table configuration and passes the details via the role dependent variables. You can find more about the details in the postfix__lookup_tables documentation.

For example, if you want to change the LDAP filter of the ldap_virtual_recipients.cf lookup table, you can defined in the Ansible inventory:

# ansible/inventory/host_vars/mail-server/postfix.yml

postfix__host_lookup_tables:

  - name: 'ldap_virtual_recipients.cf`
    state: 'append'
    query_filter: '(&(|(mail=%s)(mailAlias=%s)))'

Please note that the configuration is defined in the postfix__* variables, not postldap__* variables. It is also important to use the append state to make sure that the configuration is only applied when the debops.postldap configuration is "active".

If you want to disable a part of the LDAP configuration defined in the Ansible inventory, you can change the state to ignore, which will then use the definition from the role defaults.

Avoid any other states in this case, because the resulting configuration will be applied in different contexts, for example when you run the debops.postfix role directly, and will break your configuration.

After making your changes, you can apply them by running the command:

debops service/postldap -l mail-server -t role::postfix --diff

This will execute the debops.postfix role in the context of the debops.postldap role and correct set of variables will be active.

Example inventory¶

To install and configure Postfix Virtual Mail Server on a host, it needs to be present in the [debops_service_postldap] Ansible inventory group:

[debops_service_slapd]
ldap-server

[debops_service_postfix]
mail-server

[debops_service_postconf]
mail-server

[debops_service_postldap]
mail-server

The debops.postldap playbook configures only the LDAP part of postfix configuration, you should use the debops.postfix role and its playbook to set up Postfix mail server. Additional useful configuration can be found in the debops.postconf role.

Example playbook¶

If you are using this role without DebOps, here's an example Ansible playbook that uses the debops.postldap role:

---

- name: Manage Postfix service with Virtual Mail LDAP backend
  collections: [ 'debops.debops', 'debops.roles01',
                 'debops.roles02', 'debops.roles03' ]
  hosts: [ 'debops_service_postldap' ]
  become: True

  environment: '{{ inventory__environment | d({})
                   | combine(inventory__group_environment | d({}))
                   | combine(inventory__host_environment  | d({})) }}'

  pre_tasks:

    - name: Prepare postfix environment
      import_role:
        name: 'postfix'
        tasks_from: 'main_env'
      vars:
        postfix__dependent_packages:
          - '{{ postldap__postfix__dependent_packages }}'
        postfix__dependent_lookup_tables:
          - '{{ postldap__postfix__dependent_lookup_tables }}'
        postfix__dependent_maincf:
          - role: 'postldap'
            config: '{{ postldap__postfix__dependent_maincf }}'
      tags: [ 'role::postfix:env', 'role::postfix', 'role::postldap', 'role::secret', 'role::ferm' ]

  roles:

    - role: secret
      tags: [ 'role::secret', 'role::postfix', 'role::postldap' ]
      secret__directories:
        - '{{ postfix__secret__directories }}'

    - role: postldap
      tags: [ 'role::postldap', 'skip::postldap', 'role::postfix' ]

    - role: ldap
      tags: [ 'role::ldap', 'skip::ldap' ]
      ldap__dependent_tasks:
        - '{{ postldap__ldap__dependent_tasks }}'

    - role: postfix
      tags: [ 'role::postfix', 'skip::postfix' ]
      postfix__dependent_packages:
        - '{{ postldap__postfix__dependent_packages }}'
      postfix__dependent_lookup_tables:
        - '{{ postldap__postfix__dependent_lookup_tables }}'
      postfix__dependent_maincf:
        - role: 'postldap'
          config: '{{ postldap__postfix__dependent_maincf }}'

Ansible tags¶

You can use Ansible --tags or --skip-tags parameters to limit what tasks are performed during Ansible run. This can be used after a host was first configured to speed up playbook execution, when you are sure that most of the configuration is already in the desired state.

Available role tags:

role::postldap: Main role tag, should be used in the playbook to execute all of the role tasks as well as role dependencies.