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<h1><img src="postfix-logo.jpg" width="203" height="98" ALT="">Postfix LDAP Howto</h1>

<hr>

<h2>LDAP Support in Postfix</h2>

<p> Postfix can use an LDAP directory as a source for any of its
lookups:  <a href="aliases.5.html">aliases(5)</a>, <a href="virtual.5.html">virtual(5)</a>, <a href="canonical.5.html">canonical(5)</a>, etc. This allows
you to keep information for your mail service in a replicated
network database with fine-grained access controls. By not storing
it locally on the mail server, the administrators can maintain it
from anywhere, and the users can control whatever bits of it you
think appropriate.  You can have multiple mail servers using the
same information, without the hassle and delay of having to copy
it to each. </p>

<p> Topics covered in this document:</p>

<ul>

<li><a href="#build">Building Postfix with LDAP support</a>

<li><a href="#config">Configuring LDAP lookups</a>

<li><a href="#example_alias">Example: aliases</a>

<li><a href="#example_virtual">Example: virtual domains/addresses</a>

<li><a href="#example_group">Example: expanding LDAP groups</a>

<li><a href="#other">Other uses of LDAP lookups</a>

<li><a href="#hmmmm">Notes and things to think about</a>

<li><a href="#feedback">Feedback</a>

<li><a href="#credits">Credits</a>

</ul>

<h2><a name="build">Building Postfix with LDAP support</a></h2>

<p> These instructions assume that you build Postfix from source
code as described in the <a href="INSTALL.html">INSTALL</a> document. Some modification may   
be required if you build Postfix from a vendor-specific source
package.  </p>

<p> Note 1: Postfix no longer supports the LDAP version 1 interface.
</p>

<p> Note 2: to use LDAP with Debian GNU/Linux's Postfix, all you
need is to install the postfix-ldap package and you're done.  There
is no need to recompile Postfix. </p>

<p> You need to have LDAP libraries and include files installed
somewhere on your system, and you need to configure the Postfix
Makefiles accordingly. </p>

<p> For example, to build the OpenLDAP libraries for use with
Postfix (i.e.  LDAP client code only), you could use the following
command: </p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
% ./configure  --without-kerberos --without-cyrus-sasl --without-tls \
    --without-threads --disable-slapd --disable-slurpd \
    --disable-debug --disable-shared
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p> If you're using the libraries from OpenLDAP
(<a href="https://www.openldap.org">https://www.openldap.org</a>), something like this in the top level of
your Postfix source tree should work: </p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
% make tidy
% make makefiles CCARGS="-I/usr/local/include -DHAS_LDAP" \
    <a href="LDAP_README.html">AUXLIBS_LDAP</a>="-L/usr/local/lib -lldap -L/usr/local/lib -llber"
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p> If your LDAP shared library is in a directory that the RUN-TIME
linker does not know about, add a "-Wl,-R,/path/to/directory" option after
"-lldap". </p>

<p> Postfix versions before 3.0 use AUXLIBS instead of <a href="LDAP_README.html">AUXLIBS_LDAP</a>.
With Postfix 3.0 and later, the old AUXLIBS variable still supports
building a statically-loaded LDAP database client, but only the new
<a href="LDAP_README.html">AUXLIBS_LDAP</a> variable supports building a dynamically-loaded or
statically-loaded LDAP database client.  </p>

<blockquote>
 
<p> Failure to use the <a href="LDAP_README.html">AUXLIBS_LDAP</a> variable will defeat the purpose
of dynamic database client loading. Every Postfix executable file
will have LDAP database library dependencies. And that was exactly
what dynamic database client loading was meant to avoid. </p>
 
</blockquote>

<p> On Solaris 2.x you may have to specify run-time link information,
otherwise ld.so will not find some of the shared libraries: </p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
% make tidy
% make makefiles CCARGS="-I/usr/local/include -DHAS_LDAP" \
    <a href="LDAP_README.html">AUXLIBS_LDAP</a>="-L/usr/local/lib -R/usr/local/lib -lldap \
            -L/usr/local/lib -R/usr/local/lib -llber"
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p> The 'make tidy' command is needed only if you have previously
built Postfix without LDAP support. </p>

<p> Instead of '/usr/local' specify the actual locations of your
LDAP include files and libraries. Be sure to not mix LDAP include
files and LDAP libraries of different versions!! </p>

<p> If your LDAP libraries were built with Kerberos support, you'll
also need to include your Kerberos libraries in this line. Note
that the KTH Kerberos IV libraries might conflict with Postfix's
lib/libdns.a, which defines dns_lookup. If that happens, you'll
probably want to link with LDAP libraries that lack Kerberos support
just to build Postfix, as it doesn't support Kerberos binds to the
LDAP server anyway. Sorry about the bother. </p>

<p> If you're using one of the Netscape LDAP SDKs, you'll need to
change the AUXLIBS line to point to libldap10.so or libldapssl30.so
or whatever you have, and you may need to use the appropriate linker
option (e.g. '-R') so the executables can find it at runtime. </p>

<p> If you are using OpenLDAP, and the libraries were built with SASL
support, you can add -DUSE_LDAP_SASL to the CCARGS to enable SASL support.
For example: </p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
     CCARGS="-I/usr/local/include -DHAS_LDAP -DUSE_LDAP_SASL"
</pre>
</blockquote>

<h2><a name="config">Configuring LDAP lookups</a></h2>

<p> In order to use LDAP lookups, define an LDAP source
as a table lookup in <a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a>, for example: </p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
<a href="postconf.5.html#alias_maps">alias_maps</a> = <a href="DATABASE_README.html#types">hash</a>:/etc/aliases, <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/ldap-aliases.cf
</pre>
</blockquote>

<p> The file /etc/postfix/ldap-aliases.cf can specify a great number
of parameters, including parameters that enable LDAP SSL or STARTTLS,
and LDAP SASL. For a complete description, see the <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap_table(5)</a>
manual page. </p>

<h2><a name="example_alias">Example: local(8) aliases</a></h2>

<p> Here's a basic example for using LDAP to look up <a href="local.8.html">local(8)</a>
aliases. Assume that in <a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a>, you have: </p>

<blockquote> 
<pre>
<a href="postconf.5.html#alias_maps">alias_maps</a> = <a href="DATABASE_README.html#types">hash</a>:/etc/aliases, <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/ldap-aliases.cf
</pre>
</blockquote> 

<p> and in <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/ldap-aliases.cf you have: </p>

<blockquote> 
<pre>
server_host = ldap.example.com
search_base = dc=example, dc=com
</pre>
</blockquote> 

<p> Upon receiving mail for a local address "ldapuser" that isn't
found in the /etc/aliases database, Postfix will search the LDAP
server listening at port 389 on ldap.example.com. It will bind anonymously,
search for any directory entries whose mailacceptinggeneralid
attribute is "ldapuser", read the "maildrop" attributes of those
found, and build a list of their maildrops, which will be treated
as <a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822">RFC822</a> addresses to which the message will be delivered. </p>

<h2><a name="example_virtual">Example: virtual domains/addresses</a></h2>

<p> If you want to keep information for virtual lookups in your
directory, it's only a little more complicated. First, you need to
make sure Postfix knows about the virtual domain. An easy way to
do that is to add the domain to the mailacceptinggeneralid attribute
of some entry in the directory. Next, you'll want to make sure all
of your virtual recipient's mailacceptinggeneralid attributes are
fully qualified with their virtual domains. Finally, if you want
to designate a directory entry as the default user for a virtual
domain, just give it an additional mailacceptinggeneralid (or the
equivalent in your directory) of "@fake.dom". That's right, no
user part. If you don't want a catchall user, omit this step and
mail to unknown users in the domain will simply bounce. </p>

<p> In summary, you might have a catchall user for a virtual domain
that looks like this: </p>

<blockquote> 
<pre>
     dn: cn=defaultrecipient, dc=fake, dc=dom
     objectclass: top
     objectclass: virtualaccount
     cn: defaultrecipient
     owner: uid=root, dc=someserver, dc=isp, dc=dom
1 -&gt; mailacceptinggeneralid: fake.dom
2 -&gt; mailacceptinggeneralid: @fake.dom
3 -&gt; maildrop: realuser@real.dom         
</pre>
</blockquote> 

<dl compact>

<dd> <p> 1: Postfix knows fake.dom is a valid virtual domain when
it looks for this and gets something (the maildrop) back. </p>

<dd> <p> 2: This causes any mail for unknown users in fake.dom to
go to this entry ... </p>

<dd> <p> 3: ... and then to its maildrop. </p>

</dl>

<p> Normal users might simply have one mailacceptinggeneralid and
<a href="QSHAPE_README.html#maildrop_queue">maildrop</a>, e.g. "normaluser@fake.dom" and "normaluser@real.dom".
</p>

<h2><a name="example_group">Example: expanding LDAP groups</a></h2>

<p>
LDAP is frequently used to store group member information.  There are a
number of ways of handling LDAP groups.  We will show a few examples in
order of increasing complexity, but owing to the number of independent
variables, we can only present a tiny portion of the solution space.
We show how to:
</p>

<ol>

<li> <p> query groups as lists of addresses; </p>

<li> <p> query groups as lists of user objects containing addresses; </p>

<li> <p> forward special lists unexpanded to a separate list server,
for moderation or other processing; </p>

<li> <p> handle complex schemas by controlling expansion and by treating
leaf nodes specially, using features that are new in Postfix 2.4. </p>

</ol>

<p>
The example LDAP entries and implied schema below show two group entries
("agroup" and "bgroup") and four user entries ("auser", "buser", "cuser"
and "duser"). The group "agroup" has the users "auser" (1) and "buser" (2)
as members via DN references in the multi-valued attribute "memberdn", and
direct email addresses of two external users "auser@example.org" (3) and
"buser@example.org" (4) stored in the multi-valued attribute "memberaddr".
The same is true of "bgroup" and "cuser"/"duser" (6)/(7)/(8)/(9), but
"bgroup" also has a "maildrop" attribute of "bgroup@mlm.example.com"
(5): </p>

<blockquote> 
<pre>
     dn: cn=agroup, dc=example, dc=com
     objectclass: top
     objectclass: ldapgroup
     cn: agroup
     mail: agroup@example.com
1 -&gt; memberdn: uid=auser, dc=example, dc=com
2 -&gt; memberdn: uid=buser, dc=example, dc=com
3 -&gt; memberaddr: auser@example.org
4 -&gt; memberaddr: buser@example.org
</pre>
<br>

<pre>
     dn: cn=bgroup, dc=example, dc=com
     objectclass: top
     objectclass: ldapgroup
     cn: bgroup
     mail: bgroup@example.com
5 -&gt; maildrop: bgroup@mlm.example.com
6 -&gt; memberdn: uid=cuser, dc=example, dc=com
7 -&gt; memberdn: uid=duser, dc=example, dc=com
8 -&gt; memberaddr: cuser@example.org
9 -&gt; memberaddr: duser@example.org
</pre>
<br>

<pre>
     dn: uid=auser, dc=example, dc=com
     objectclass: top
     objectclass: ldapuser
     uid: auser
10 -&gt; mail: auser@example.com
11 -&gt; maildrop: auser@mailhub.example.com
</pre>
<br>

<pre>
     dn: uid=buser, dc=example, dc=com
     objectclass: top
     objectclass: ldapuser
     uid: buser
12 -&gt; mail: buser@example.com
13 -&gt; maildrop: buser@mailhub.example.com
</pre>
<br>

<pre>
     dn: uid=cuser, dc=example, dc=com
     objectclass: top
     objectclass: ldapuser
     uid: cuser
14 -&gt; mail: cuser@example.com
</pre>
<br>

<pre>
     dn: uid=duser, dc=example, dc=com
     objectclass: top
     objectclass: ldapuser
     uid: duser
15 -&gt; mail: duser@example.com
</pre>
<br>

</blockquote> 

<p> Our first use case ignores the "memberdn" attributes, and assumes
that groups hold only direct "memberaddr" strings as in (3), (4), (8) and
(9). The goal is to map the group address to the list of constituent
"memberaddr" values. This is simple, ignoring the various connection
related settings (hosts, ports, bind settings, timeouts, ...) we have:
</p>

<blockquote> 
<pre>
    simple.cf:
        ...
        search_base = dc=example, dc=com
        query_filter = mail=%s
        result_attribute = memberaddr
    $ postmap -q agroup@example.com <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/simple.cf \
        auser@example.org,buser@example.org
</pre>
</blockquote> 

<p> We search "dc=example, dc=com". The "mail" attribute is used in the
query_filter to locate the right group, the "result_attribute" setting
described in <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap_table(5)</a> is used to specify that "memberaddr" values
from the matching group are to be returned as a comma separated list.
Always check tables using <a href="postmap.1.html">postmap(1)</a> with the "-q" option, before
deploying them into production use in <a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a>. </p>

<p> Our second use case instead expands "memberdn" attributes (1), (2),
(6) and (7), follows the DN references and returns the "maildrop" of the
referenced user entries. Here we use the "special_result_attribute"
setting from <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap_table(5)</a> to designate the "memberdn" attribute
as holding DNs of the desired member entries. The "result_attribute"
setting selects which attributes are returned from the selected DNs. It
is important to choose a result attribute that is not also present in
the group object, because result attributes are collected from both
the group and the member DNs. In this case we choose "maildrop" and
assume for the moment that groups never have a "maildrop" (the "bgroup"
"maildrop" attribute is for a different use case). The returned data for
"auser" and "buser" is from items (11) and (13) in the example data. </p>

<blockquote> 
<pre>
    special.cf:
        ...
        search_base = dc=example, dc=com
        query_filter = mail=%s
        result_attribute = maildrop
        special_result_attribute = memberdn
    $ postmap -q agroup@example.com <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/special.cf \
        auser@mailhub.example.com,buser@mailhub.example.com
</pre>
</blockquote> 

<p> Note: if the desired member object result attribute is always also
present in the group, you get surprising results: the expansion also
returns the address of the group. This is a known limitation of Postfix
releases prior to 2.4, and is addressed in the new with Postfix 2.4
"leaf_result_attribute" feature described in <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap_table(5)</a>. </p>

<p> Our third use case has some groups that are expanded immediately,
and other groups that are forwarded to a dedicated mailing list manager
host for delayed expansion. This uses two LDAP tables, one for users
and forwarded groups and a second for groups that can be expanded
immediately. It is assumed that groups that require forwarding are
never nested members of groups that are directly expanded. </p>

<blockquote> 
<pre>
    no_expand.cf:
        ...
        search_base = dc=example, dc=com
        query_filter = mail=%s
        result_attribute = maildrop
    expand.cf
        ...
        search_base = dc=example, dc=com
        query_filter = mail=%s
        result_attribute = maildrop
        special_result_attribute = memberdn
    $ postmap -q auser@example.com \
        <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/no_expand.cf <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/expand.cf \
        auser@mailhub.example.com
    $ postmap -q agroup@example.com \
        <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/no_expand.cf <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/expand.cf \
        auser@mailhub.example.com,buser@mailhub.example.com
    $ postmap -q bgroup@example.com \
        <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/no_expand.cf <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/expand.cf \
        bgroup@mlm.example.com
</pre>
</blockquote> 

<p> Non-group objects and groups with delayed expansion (those that have a
maildrop attribute) are rewritten to a single maildrop value. Groups that
don't have a maildrop are expanded as the second use case. This admits
a more elegant solution with Postfix 2.4 and later. </p>

<p> Our final use case is the same as the third, but this time uses new
features in Postfix 2.4. We now are able to use just one LDAP table and
no longer need to assume that forwarded groups are never nested inside
expanded groups. </p>

<blockquote> 
<pre>
    fancy.cf:
        ...
        search_base = dc=example, dc=com
        query_filter = mail=%s
        result_attribute = memberaddr
        special_result_attribute = memberdn
        terminal_result_attribute = maildrop
        leaf_result_attribute = mail
    $ postmap -q auser@example.com <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/fancy.cf \
        auser@mailhub.example.com
    $ postmap -q cuser@example.com <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/fancy.cf \
        cuser@example.com
    $ postmap -q agroup@example.com <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/fancy.cf \
        auser@mailhub.example.com,buser@mailhub.example.com,auser@example.org,buser@example.org
    $ postmap -q bgroup@example.com <a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/etc/postfix/fancy.cf \
        bgroup@mlm.example.com
</pre>
</blockquote> 

<p> Above, delayed expansion is enabled via "terminal_result_attribute",
which, if present, is used as the sole result and all other expansion is
suppressed. Otherwise, the "leaf_result_attribute" is only returned for
leaf objects that don't have a "special_result_attribute" (non-groups),
while the "result_attribute" (direct member address of groups) is returned
at every level of recursive expansion, not just the leaf nodes. This fancy
example illustrates all the features of Postfix 2.4 group expansion. </p>

<h2><a name="other">Other uses of LDAP lookups</a></h2>

Other common uses for LDAP lookups include rewriting senders and
recipients with Postfix's canonical lookups, for example in order
to make mail leaving your site appear to be coming from
"First.Last@example.com" instead of "userid@example.com".

<h2><a name="hmmmm">Notes and things to think about</a></h2>

<ul>

<li> <p> The bits of schema and attribute names used in this document are just
  examples. There's nothing special about them, other than that some are
  the defaults in the LDAP configuration parameters. You can use
  whatever schema you like, and configure Postfix accordingly. </p>

<li> <p> You probably want to make sure that mailacceptinggeneralids are
  unique, and that not just anyone can specify theirs as postmaster or
  root, say. </p>

<li> <p> An entry can have an arbitrary number of mailacceptinggeneralids or
  maildrops. Maildrops can also be comma-separated lists of addresses.
  They will all be found and returned by the lookups. For example, you
  could define an entry intended for use as a mailing list that looks
  like this (Warning! Schema made up just for this example): </p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
dn: cn=Accounting Staff List, dc=example, dc=com
cn: Accounting Staff List
o: example.com
objectclass: maillist
mailacceptinggeneralid: accountingstaff
mailacceptinggeneralid: accounting-staff
maildrop: mylist-owner
maildrop: an-accountant
maildrop: some-other-accountant
maildrop: this, that, theother
</pre>
</blockquote>

<li> <p> If you use an LDAP map for lookups other than aliases, you may have to
  make sure the lookup makes sense. In the case of virtual lookups,
  maildrops other than mail addresses are pretty useless, because
  Postfix can't know how to set the ownership for program or file
  delivery. Your <b>query_filter</b> should probably look something like this: </p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
query_filter = (&amp;(mailacceptinggeneralid=%s)(!(|(maildrop="*|*")(maildrop="*:*")(maildrop="*/*"))))
</pre>
</blockquote>

<li> <p> And for that matter, even for aliases, you may not want users to be able to
  specify their maildrops as programs, includes, etc. This might be
  particularly pertinent on a "sealed" server where they don't have
  local UNIX accounts, but exist only in LDAP and Cyrus. You might allow
  the fun stuff only for directory entries owned by an administrative
  account,
  so that if the object had a program as its maildrop and weren't owned
  by "cn=root" it wouldn't be returned as a valid local user. This will
  require some thought on your part to implement safely, considering the
  ramifications of this type of delivery. You may decide it's not worth
  the bother to allow any of that nonsense in LDAP lookups, ban it in
  the <b>query_filter</b>, and keep things like majordomo lists in local alias
  databases. </p>

<blockquote>
<pre>
query_filter = (&amp;(mailacceptinggeneralid=%s)(!(|(maildrop="*|*")(maildrop="*:*")(maildrop="*/*"))(owner=cn=root, dc=your, dc=com)))
</pre>
</blockquote>

<li> <p> LDAP lookups are slower than local DB or DBM lookups. For most sites
  they won't be a bottleneck, but it's a good idea to know how to tune
  your directory service. </p>

<li> <p> Multiple LDAP maps share the same LDAP connection if they differ
  only in their query related parameters: base, scope, query_filter, and
  so on. To take advantage of this, avoid spurious differences in the
  definitions of LDAP maps: host selection order, version, bind, tls
  parameters, ... should be the same for multiple maps whenever possible. </p>

</ul>

<h2><a name="feedback">Feedback</a></h2>

<p> If you have questions, send them to postfix-users@postfix.org. Please
include relevant information about your Postfix setup: LDAP-related
output from postconf, which LDAP libraries you built with, and which
directory server you're using. If your question involves your directory
contents, please include the applicable bits of some directory entries. </p>

<h2><a name="credits">Credits</a></h2>

<ul>

<li>Manuel Guesdon: Spotted a bug with the timeout attribute.

<li>John Hensley: Multiple LDAP sources with more configurable attributes.

<li>Carsten Hoeger: Search scope handling. 

<li>LaMont Jones: Domain restriction, URL and DN searches, multiple result
              attributes.

<li>Mike Mattice: Alias dereferencing control.

<li>Hery Rakotoarisoa: Patches for LDAPv3 updating.

<li>Prabhat K Singh: Wrote the initial Postfix LDAP lookups and connection caching.

<li>Keith Stevenson: <a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2254">RFC 2254</a> escaping in queries.

<li>Samuel Tardieu: Noticed that searches could include wildcards, prompting
                the work on <a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2254">RFC 2254</a> escaping in queries. Spotted a bug
                in binding.

<li>Sami Haahtinen: Referral chasing and v3 support.

<li>Victor Duchovni: ldap_bind() timeout. With fixes from LaMont Jones:
                 OpenLDAP cache deprecation. Limits on recursion, expansion
                 and search results size. LDAP connection sharing for maps
                 differing only in the query parameters.

<li>Liviu Daia: Support for SSL/STARTTLS. Support for storing map definitions in
            external files (<a href="ldap_table.5.html">ldap</a>:/path/ldap.cf) needed to securely store
            passwords for plain auth.

<li>Liviu Daia revised the configuration interface and added the <a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a>
    configuration feature.</li>
    
<li>Liviu Daia with further refinements from Jose Luis Tallon and
Victor Duchovni developed the common query, result_format, domain and
expansion_limit interface for LDAP, MySQL and PosgreSQL.</li>

<li>Gunnar Wrobel provided a first implementation of a feature to
limit LDAP search results to leaf nodes only. Victor generalized
this into the Postfix 2.4 "leaf_result_attribute" feature. </li>

<li>Quanah Gibson-Mount contributed support for advanced LDAP SASL
mechanisms, beyond the password-based LDAP "simple" bind. </li>

</ul>

And of course Wietse.

</body>

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