# Sendmail / Postfix, recommendations?



## MPaans (Jan 6, 2011)

Hi, I'm configuring a new lamp server to migrate websites and mail from an old server. Doing some upgrades while in the process.

Now, I'm pretty familiar (comfortable) with Sendmail. But I read that Postfix is generally better. (true?) I already got a my old server with Sendmail configured, been working for years without problems. So is it worth the trouble to migrate to Postfix?

I found this guide: http://www.nmmm.nu/postfix.htm which seems to cover the basics. But when I opened the master.cf (which looks pretty basic in that guide), I suddenly started having serious doubts. I'm seeing a lot of services, and I'm not sure if they're necessary.. or even if I should change this file at all?

Anyway, should I just stick with what I know, or get over my initial scare of postfix?


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## vand777 (Jan 6, 2011)

Do not be scared. Some time ago I was googling a lot in hope to find a good guide how to setup a mail server. I found a lot of guides but the below one was the best:
http://blog.tusoffka.org/2009/07/31/freebsd-postfix-mysql-spamassassin-maia-virtual-setup/

Unfortunately, if you do exactly how it says in this guide, it won't work anyway  They made approximately 5-6 mistakes. It took me not more than an hour to fix them and make it working. At that moment I was a complete newbie in mail servers.

Also it will never hurt to read the following book:
The Book of Postfix: State-of-the-Art Message Transport

Just do not be scared. It is a good idea to move from Sendmail to Postfix. Less security issues.


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## vermaden (Jan 6, 2011)

I use *postfix/dovecot/spamassassin* with virtual accounts for mail server, havent tried *sendmail* through.


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## DutchDaemon (Jan 6, 2011)

If you're used to Sendmail and know your way around .mc files, just keep using it. The 'security issues' story is old (and starting to resemble propaganda). Sendmail is a very secure and stable platform nowadays, and the combination of .mc files and tables/databases in /etc/mail/ is complex, but very versatile. As you can see, the 'relative simplicity' of Postfix .. isn't really anymore. And it's GPL'ed.


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## Orum (Jan 7, 2011)

I like postfix for its relative simplicity, but I never bothered learning sendmail.  Probably not worth your time to convert unless sendmail support suddenly vanishes (which it won't).


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## MPaans (Jan 7, 2011)

Thanks all. Esp. DutchDaemon. I think I'll stick with sendmail as it works fine for me. And I'm also pressed for time, so no luxury of spending too much time figuring new things out. Maybe I'll look into postfix later this year.


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## vand777 (Jan 7, 2011)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> The 'security issues' story is old (and starting to resemble propaganda).



I'm sorry for misleading people.


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## MPaans (Jan 9, 2011)

One quick question.. I can't seem to stop postfix from starting up. My /etc/rc.conf has 
	
	



```
postfix_enable="NO"
```
, and 
	
	



```
sendmail_enable="YES"
```
.. When I run */etc/rc.d/sendmail*, it starts/stops postfix.. 

I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out (deinstall postfix, if necessary), but maybe someone can give me a quick pointer


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## MPaans (Jan 9, 2011)

As it turns out, sendmail wasn't even (properly) installed. Deinstalled postfix, installed sendmail. All is well. (I'm starting to like the ports feature of FreeBSD btw  )


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## wblock@ (Jan 9, 2011)

sendmail(8) is part of the base system.  There's also a port, which may be a newer version.


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## DutchDaemon (Jan 9, 2011)

If you want to restore the base system Sendmail: deinstall the port, and run:


```
cd /usr/src/lib/libsm && make clean && make obj && make depend && make
cd /usr/src/lib/libsmutil && make clean && make obj && make depend && make
cd /usr/src/usr.sbin/sendmail && make clean && make obj && make depend && make && make install
```


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