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I have an application that requires an MTA with the following capabilities:

  • be able to receive email for multiple addresses in a single domain, e.g. [email protected], [email protected], and so on.
  • the mails will be received from a single msg service provider, this will not be a public facing MTA
  • must support TLS
  • should store incoming msgs in the Maildir format (existing legacy application expects each msg as an individual file)
  • should be able to check incoming msgs for viruses using clamd
  • single catchall mailbox, no pop, imap clients.

The incoming msgs will be processed by a script, scraped for information, then fed into an application for processing and storage. There will never be mail clients connecting to this MTA. In other words, this is really not meant to be an email server in the traditional sense, rather a component of a larger application acting as a means to receive information into the application from one of it's sources. While one might question the rationale of using an MTA for this purpose, that's beyond my scope, it is a legacy application and changing that structure is simply not efficient at this point. The current setup runs on Windows using an old version of Rockliffe Mailsite. I wish to move this function over to Linux for a variety of reasons.

I have looked far and wide, and other than Postfix, haven't really found anything that would serve the purpose. Except that Postfix appears to be an overkill for the intended purpose. Sendmail is too old and Exim doesn't appear to be actively maintained (I could be wrong?).

My primary concern with Postfix is that I might end up opening a can of worms in terms of security maintenance by going with an application as sophisticated as Postfix for a purpose this limited. That said, I am also loathe to try some nameless tool.

Any suggestions/opinions/thoughts?

thanks.

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  • So your concern against Postfix (which serves all your needs) is that you might have a security problem one day as postfix is so configurable and you can't manage that? Well, yes, postfix is powerful and offers many possibilities. But you also have some requirements which are not served by many MTAs. But as server administrator you have to care about your system and know it good, irrespective of which software you choose. See also my answer here
    – sebix
    Commented Aug 31, 2014 at 11:46
  • I read your comments on the other post, and that is indeed helpful. I have no complaints against Postfix, rather just wondering if there might be a solution with a smaller footprint, and consequently smaller exposure given my limited needs. Then again, as it appears, my needs aren't necessarily limited. I already have Postfix setup and doing most of what I need, except the TLS part, which should be in place shortly. I am torn between Exim and Postfix at this point though, having trouble figuring out if one would suit my needs better than the other. Any thoughts regarding that? thanks.
    – Jim Walker
    Commented Aug 31, 2014 at 12:47
  • To be honest, no :) Even after some time to think about it. I would just decide for one and stick at it for some time and then learn to use the other one.
    – sebix
    Commented Sep 6, 2014 at 18:41
  • Thanks, I decided to go with Postfix, it's working out pretty good so far. Most importantly, love the amount of documentation available, nothing like being able to google a problem! Thanks for all the help. Cheers!
    – Jim Walker
    Commented Sep 7, 2014 at 20:29

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