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Docker Administration: set up an email server with iredmail

Environment:

Configurations:

1. Follow this instruction and create the necessary folders and a default config file.

Sample script:

cd YOUR_DIRECTORY
mkdir iredmail
cd iredmail
mkdir -p data/{backup-mysql,clamav,custom,imapsieve_copy,mailboxes,mlmmj,mlmmj-archive,mysql,sa_rules,ssl,postfix_queue}

nano iredmail-docker.conf

# Paste the following content into iredmail-docker.conf
HOSTNAME=<YOUR_HOSTNAME>
FIRST_MAIL_DOMAIN=<YOUR_DOMAIN>
FIRST_MAIL_DOMAIN_ADMIN_PASSWORD=<YOUR_ADMIN_PASSWORD>
MLMMJADMIN_API_TOKEN=$(openssl rand -base64 32)
ROUNDCUBE_DES_KEY=$(openssl rand -base64 24)
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=<YOUR_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD>

2. Start the iredmail container:

docker run -dit \
    --name YOUR_CONTAINER_NAME \
    --env-file iredmail-docker.conf \
    --network YOUR_DOCKER_NETWORK \
    --hostname YOUR_HOSTNAME \
    --ip IP_ADDRESS --restart=unless-stopped \
    -v YOUR_DATA_DIRECTORY/iredmail/data/backup-mysql:/var/vmail/backup/mysql \
    -v YOUR_DATA_DIRECTORY/iredmail/data/mailboxes:/var/vmail/vmail1 \
    -v YOUR_DATA_DIRECTORY/iredmail/data/mlmmj:/var/vmail/mlmmj \
    -v YOUR_DATA_DIRECTORY/iredmail/data/mlmmj-archive:/var/vmail/mlmmj-archive \
    -v YOUR_DATA_DIRECTORY/iredmail/data/imapsieve_copy:/var/vmail/imapsieve_copy \
    -v YOUR_DATA_DIRECTORY/iredmail/data/custom:/opt/iredmail/custom \
    -v YOUR_DATA_DIRECTORY/iredmail/data/ssl:/opt/iredmail/ssl \
    -v YOUR_DATA_DIRECTORY/iredmail/data/mysql:/var/lib/mysql \
    -v YOUR_DATA_DIRECTORY/iredmail/data/clamav:/var/lib/clamav \
    -v YOUR_DATA_DIRECTORY/iredmail/data/sa_rules:/var/lib/spamassassin \
    -v YOUR_DATA_DIRECTORY/iredmail/data/postfix_queue:/var/spool/postfix \
    iredmail/mariadb:nightly

Troubleshooting:

  • The container’s first-time startup will take some time, if the server is not responding after the container’s been started, wait for a few a minutes and try again.
  • There is no “latest” tag for the iredmail/mariadb image, you’ll need to use either docker pull iredmail/mariadb:nightly or docker pull iredmail/mariadb:stable instead.
  • Default admin login:
    • username: postmaster@<YOUR_DOMAIN>
    • password: your password specified in iredmail-docker.conf file. FIRST_MAIL_DOMAIN_ADMIN_PASSWORD=<YOUR_ADMIN_PASSWORD>