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VIRTUAL(8)                                             VIRTUAL(8)

<b>NAME</b>
       virtual - Postfix virtual domain mail delivery agent

<b>SYNOPSIS</b>
       <b>virtual</b> [generic Postfix daemon options]

<b>DESCRIPTION</b>
       The  <b>virtual</b>  delivery  agent is designed for virtual mail
       hosting services. Originally based on  the  Postfix  local
       delivery  agent,  this  agent looks up recipients with map
       lookups of their full recipient address, instead of  using
       hard-coded unix password file lookups of the address local
       part only.

       This delivery agent only delivers  mail.   Other  features
       such  as  mail  forwarding,  out-of-office  notifications,
       etc., must be configured via  virtual_alias  maps  or  via
       similar lookup mechanisms.

<b>MAILBOX</b> <b>LOCATION</b>
       The  mailbox  location  is controlled by the <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>mail-</b>
       <b>box</b><i>_</i><b>base</b> and <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>mailbox</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b> configuration parameters
       (see below).  The <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>mailbox</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b> table is indexed by
       the full recipient address.

       The mailbox pathname is constructed as follows:

         <b>$virtual</b><i>_</i><b>mailbox</b><i>_</i><b>base/$virtual</b><i>_</i><b>mailbox</b><i>_</i><b>maps(</b><i>recipient</i><b>)</b>

       where <i>recipient</i> is the full recipient address.

<b>UNIX</b> <b>MAILBOX</b> <b>FORMAT</b>
       When the mailbox location does not end in <b>/</b>,  the  message
       is  delivered in UNIX mailbox format.   This format stores
       multiple messages in one textfile.

       The  <b>virtual</b>  delivery  agent  prepends  a  "<b>From</b>   <i>sender</i>
       <i>time_stamp</i>"  envelope  header  to each message, prepends a
       <b>Delivered-To:</b> message header with the  envelope  recipient
       address, prepends an <b>X-Original-To:</b> header with the recip-
       ient address as given to Postfix, prepends a  <b>Return-Path:</b>
       message  header with the envelope sender address, prepends
       a &gt; character to lines beginning with "<b>From</b> ", and appends
       an empty line.

       The  mailbox is locked for exclusive access while delivery
       is in progress. In case of problems, an attempt is made to
       truncate the mailbox to its original length.

<b>QMAIL</b> <b>MAILDIR</b> <b>FORMAT</b>
       When the mailbox location ends in <b>/</b>, the message is deliv-
       ered in qmail <b>maildir</b> format. This format stores one  mes-
       sage per file.

       The <b>virtual</b> delivery agent daemon prepends a <b>Delivered-To:</b>
       message header with the final envelope recipient  address,
       prepends  an  <b>X-Original-To:</b>  header  with  the  recipient
       address as given to Postfix, and prepends  a  <b>Return-Path:</b>
       message header with the envelope sender address.

       By  definition, <b>maildir</b> format does not require file lock-
       ing during mail delivery or retrieval.

<b>MAILBOX</b> <b>OWNERSHIP</b>
       Mailbox ownership is controlled  by  the  <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>uid</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b>
       and <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>gid</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b> lookup tables, which are indexed with
       the full recipient address. Each table provides  a  string
       with the numerical user and group ID, respectively.

       The <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>minimum</b><i>_</i><b>uid</b> parameter imposes a lower bound on
       numerical user ID values that may be specified in any <b>vir-</b>
       <b>tual</b><i>_</i><b>uid</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b>.

<b>SECURITY</b>
       The virtual delivery agent is not security sensitive, pro-
       vided that the lookup tables with recipient user/group  ID
       information  are adequately protected. This program is not
       designed to run chrooted.

<b>STANDARDS</b>
       <a href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc822.html">RFC 822</a> (ARPA Internet Text Messages)

<b>DIAGNOSTICS</b>
       Mail bounces when the recipient has no mailbox or when the
       recipient is over disk quota. In all other cases, mail for
       an existing recipient is deferred and a warning is logged.

       Problems  and transactions are logged to <b>syslogd</b>(8).  Cor-
       rupted message files are marked so that the queue  manager
       can move them to the <b>corrupt</b> queue afterwards.

       Depending  on the setting of the <b>notify</b><i>_</i><b>classes</b> parameter,
       the postmaster is notified of bounces and of  other  trou-
       ble.

<b>BUGS</b>
       This delivery agent silently ignores address extensions.

       Postfix should have lookup tables that can return multiple
       result attributes. In order to avoid the inconvenience  of
       maintaining three tables, use an LDAP or MYSQL database.

<b>CONFIGURATION</b> <b>PARAMETERS</b>
       The  following  <b>main.cf</b> parameters are especially relevant
       to this program. See the Postfix <b>main.cf</b> file  for  syntax
       details  and  for  default  values. Use the <b>postfix</b> <b>reload</b>
       command after a configuration change.

<b>Mailbox</b> <b>delivery</b>
       <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>mailbox</b><i>_</i><b>base</b>
              Specifies a path that is prepended to  all  mailbox
              or  maildir  paths.   This  is  a safety measure to
              ensure that an out of control map in  <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>mail-</b>
              <b>box</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b>  doesn't  litter the filesystem with mail-
              boxes.  While it could be set to "/", this  setting
              isn't recommended.

       <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>mailbox</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b>
              Recipients are looked up in these maps to determine
              the path  to  their  mailbox  or  maildir.  If  the
              returned  path ends in a slash ("/"), maildir-style
              delivery is carried  out,  otherwise  the  path  is
              assumed to specify a UNIX-style mailbox file.

              While  searching  a lookup table, an address exten-
              sion (<i>user+foo@domain.tld</i>) is ignored.

              In a lookup table,  specify  a  left-hand  side  of
              <i>@domain.tld</i>  to  match  any  user  in the specified
              domain   that   does   not    have    a    specific
              <i>user@domain.tld</i> entry.

              Note  that  <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>mailbox</b><i>_</i><b>base</b> is unconditionally
              prepended to this path.

              For security reasons, regular expression  maps  are
              allowed  but  regular expression substitution of $1
              etc. is disallowed, because that would open a secu-
              rity hole.

              For  security  reasons, proxied table lookup is not
              allowed, because that would open a security hole.

       <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>mailbox</b><i>_</i><b>domains</b>
              The list of domains that should  be  delivered  via
              the  Postfix  virtual delivery agent. This uses the
              same  syntax  as  the  <b>mydestination</b>  configuration
              parameter.

       <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>minimum</b><i>_</i><b>uid</b>
              Specifies  a minimum uid that will be accepted as a
              return   from   a   <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>owner</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b>   or    <b>vir-</b>
              <b>tual</b><i>_</i><b>uid</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b>  lookup.   Returned  values less than
              this will be rejected,  and  the  message  will  be
              deferred.

       <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>uid</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b>
              Recipients are looked up in these maps to determine
              the user ID to be used when writing to  the  target
              mailbox.

              While  searching  a lookup table, an address exten-
              sion (<i>user+foo@domain.tld</i>) is ignored.

              In a lookup table,  specify  a  left-hand  side  of
              <i>@domain.tld</i>  to  match  any  user  in the specified
              domain   that   does   not    have    a    specific
              <i>user@domain.tld</i> entry.

              For  security  reasons, regular expression maps are
              allowed but regular expression substitution  of  $1
              etc. is disallowed, because that would open a secu-
              rity hole.

              For security reasons, proxied table lookup  is  not
              allowed, because that would open a security hole.

       <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>gid</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b>
              Recipients are looked up in these maps to determine
              the group ID to be used when writing to the  target
              mailbox.

              While  searching  a lookup table, an address exten-
              sion (<i>user+foo@domain.tld</i>) is ignored.

              In a lookup table,  specify  a  left-hand  side  of
              <i>@domain.tld</i>  to  match  any  user  in the specified
              domain   that   does   not    have    a    specific
              <i>user@domain.tld</i> entry.

              For  security  reasons, regular expression maps are
              allowed but regular expression substitution  of  $1
              etc. is disallowed, because that would open a secu-
              rity hole.

              For security reasons, proxied table lookup  is  not
              allowed, because that would open a security hole.

<b>Locking</b> <b>controls</b>
       <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>mailbox</b><i>_</i><b>lock</b>
              How  to  lock  UNIX-style mailboxes: one or more of
              <b>flock</b>,  <b>fcntl</b>  or  <b>dotlock</b>.  The   <b>dotlock</b>   method
              requires  that  the  recipient UID or GID has write
              access to the parent directory of the mailbox file.

              This  setting  is ignored with <b>maildir</b> style deliv-
              ery,  because  such  deliveries  are  safe  without
              explicit locks.

              Use  the command <b>postconf</b> <b>-l</b> to find out what lock-
              ing methods are available on your system.

       <b>deliver</b><i>_</i><b>lock</b><i>_</i><b>attempts</b>
              Limit the number of attempts to acquire  an  exclu-
              sive lock on a UNIX-style mailbox file.

       <b>deliver</b><i>_</i><b>lock</b><i>_</i><b>delay</b>
              Time (default: seconds) between successive attempts
              to acquire an exclusive lock on a UNIX-style  mail-
              box  file. The actual delay is slightly randomized.

       <b>stale</b><i>_</i><b>lock</b><i>_</i><b>time</b>
              Limit the time after  which  a  stale  lockfile  is
              removed  (applicable to UNIX-style mailboxes only).

<b>Resource</b> <b>controls</b>
       <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>destination</b><i>_</i><b>concurrency</b><i>_</i><b>limit</b>
              Limit the number of parallel deliveries to the same
              domain via the <b>virtual</b> delivery agent.  The default
              limit is taken from the <b>default</b><i>_</i><b>destination</b><i>_</i><b>concur-</b>
              <b>rency</b><i>_</i><b>limit</b>  parameter.   The  limit is enforced by
              the Postfix queue manager.

       <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>destination</b><i>_</i><b>recipient</b><i>_</i><b>limit</b>
              Limit the number of recipients per message delivery
              via  the <b>virtual</b> delivery agent.  The default limit
              is  taken  from   the   <b>default</b><i>_</i><b>destination</b><i>_</i><b>recipi-</b>
              <b>ent</b><i>_</i><b>limit</b>  parameter.  The limit is enforced by the
              Postfix queue manager.

       <b>virtual</b><i>_</i><b>mailbox</b><i>_</i><b>limit</b>
              The maximal size in bytes of a mailbox  or  maildir
              file.  Set to zero to disable the limit.

<b>HISTORY</b>
       This  agent  was  originally  based  on  the Postfix local
       delivery agent. Modifications mainly consisted of removing
       code  that  either was not applicable or that was not safe
       in this context: aliases, ~user/.forward  files,  delivery
       to "|command" or to /file/name.

       The  <b>Delivered-To:</b>  header  appears in the <b>qmail</b> system by
       Daniel Bernstein.

       The <b>maildir</b> structure  appears  in  the  <b>qmail</b>  system  by
       Daniel Bernstein.

<b>SEE</b> <b>ALSO</b>
       <a href="regexp_table.5.html">regexp_table(5)</a> POSIX regular expression table format
       <a href="pcre_table.5.html">pcre_table(5)</a> Perl Compatible Regular Expression table format
       <a href="bounce.8.html">bounce(8)</a> non-delivery status reports
       syslogd(8) system logging
       <a href="qmgr.8.html">qmgr(8)</a> queue manager

<b>LICENSE</b>
       The  Secure  Mailer  license must be distributed with this
       software.

<b>AUTHOR(S)</b>
       Wietse Venema
       IBM T.J. Watson Research
       P.O. Box 704
       Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA

       Andrew McNamara
       andrewm@connect.com.au
       connect.com.au Pty. Ltd.
       Level 3, 213 Miller St
       North Sydney 2060, NSW, Australia

                                                       VIRTUAL(8)
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