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Chapter 12. Postfix

Postfix is an open-source Mail Transport Agent (MTA), which supports protocols like LDAP, SMTP AUTH (SASL), and TLS.[11]
In Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the postfix package provides postfix. Run the rpm -q postfix command to see if the postfix package is installed. If it is not installed, run the following command as the root user to install it:
~]# yum install postfix

12.1. Postfix and SELinux

When Postfix is enabled, it runs confined by default. Confined processes run in their own domains, and are separated from other confined processes. If a confined process is compromised by an attacker, depending on SELinux policy configuration, an attacker's access to resources and the possible damage they can do is limited. The following example demonstrates the Postfix and related processes running in their own domain. This example assumes the postfix package is installed and that the Postfix service has been started:
  1. Run the getenforce command to confirm SELinux is running in enforcing mode:
    ~]$ getenforce
    Enforcing
    
    The getenforce command returns Enforcing when SELinux is running in enforcing mode.
  2. Run the service postfix start command as the root user to start postfix:
    ~]# service postfix start
    Starting postfix:                               [  OK  ]
    
  3. Run the ps -eZ | grep postfix command to view the postfix processes:
    ~]$ ps -eZ | grep postfix
    system_u:system_r:postfix_master_t:s0 1651 ?   00:00:00 master
    system_u:system_r:postfix_pickup_t:s0 1662 ?   00:00:00 pickup
    system_u:system_r:postfix_qmgr_t:s0 1663 ?     00:00:00 qmgr
    
    In the output above, the SELinux context associated with the Postfix master process is system_u:system_r:postfix_master_t:s0. The second last part of the context, postfix_master_t, is the type for this process. A type defines a domain for processes and a type for files. In this case, the master process is running in the postfix_master_t domain.


[11] Refer to the Postfix project page for more information.