In previous tutorials we discussed how to quickly set up a full-featured mail server using iRedMail or Modoboa, and we also learned how to set up SMTP relay with Postfix SMTP server to bypass port 25 blocking or IP blacklists. However, you might not want to set up your entire email server to use relay host. We can configure Postfix transport map and relay map so that some emails are delivered relay host, other emails are sent directly to recipients.
There are many SMTP relay services. In this tutorial, I use Mailjet, which allows you to send 6000 emails per month for free. SMTP relay services maintain good IP reputation. They stop the bad senders and grow the good ones, so using SMTP relay service will increase the chance of hitting into the inbox.
How to Use Postfix Transport Map
The transport map defines mappings from recipient address to transport method. By default, the value of the transport_maps parameter in Postfix is not set, as can be checked with:
postconf transport_maps
Sample output:
transport_maps =
iRedMail and Modoboa uses MySQL/MariaDB database to store transport maps. If you used iRedMail to set up your mail server, then the output should be like:
transport_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql/transport_maps_user.cf proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql/transport_maps_domain.cf
If you used Modoboa to set up your mail server, then the output should be like:
transport_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/sql-transport.cf proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/sql-spliteddomains-transport.cf
The transport_maps parameter points to one or more transport lookup tables. You can edit the Postfix main configuration file.
sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf
And set a value by adding the following line at the end of the file. The /etc/postfix/transport file will contain the lookup table.
transport_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/transport
If you use iRedMail, you can find the transport_maps parameter and set the value to
transport_maps =
hash:/etc/postfix/transport
proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql/transport_maps_user.cf
proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql/transport_maps_domain.cf
If you use Modoboa, you can find the tranport_maps parameter and set the value to:
transport_maps =
hash:/etc/postfix/transport
proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/sql-transport.cf
proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/sql-spliteddomains-transport.cf
Lookup table can be a file, or in the form of MySQL/MariaDB database tables. Lookup tables will be searched in the specified order until a match is found.
Save and close the Postfix main configuration file. Next, we need to create the lookup table file.
sudo nano /etc/postfix/transport
In this file, we can define mappings from recipient addresses to transport method. For example, I found that many .pl (Poland) domains are using a particular blacklist that blocks my mail server’s IP address. I can add the following line in this file so that emails sent to .pl domains will be relayed through Mailjet.
.pl relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587
Some people find that it’s hard to get into the inbox of Microsoft mailboxes (hotmail.com, outlook.com, etc). It’s very likely that you email will be put in spam folder. Well, you can try using Mailjet to deliver emails to Microsoft mailbox users. Mailjet even allows you to see if the recipient opened or clicked links in your email. So I put the following lines in the file.
hotmail.com relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587 hotmail.co.uk relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587 hotmail.fr relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587 hotmail.de relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587 outlook.com relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587 outlook.de relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587 outlook.fr relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587 outlook.be relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587 outlook.in relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587 live.com relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587
If you want to use relay host to deliver emails to a particular recipient, but send emails directly to all other recipients in the same domain, then you can add a line like below.
[email protected] relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587
If a certain SMTP server doesn’t use the default SMTP port 25, but uses a different port such as 2525 to receive incoming emails, you can add the following line
example.com smtp:[mail.example.com]:2525
You can also add your own domain name in this file like below.
your-domain.com local
This tells Postfix that emails sent to your own domain should be delivered locally, which is the default behavior.
If you just put the following two lines in the file and don’t add other lines, this will make all emails, excluding emails sent to your own domain, delivered via the relay host. The asterisk (*) is a wild-card character that represent any email address.
your-domain.com local * relay:[in-v3.mailjet.com]:587
Save and close the file. Then run the following command to build the index file.
sudo postmap /etc/postfix/transport
Restart Postfix for the changes to take effect.
sudo systemctl restart postfix
Sender Dependent Relay Maps
The transport map defines defines mappings from recipient address to transport method. If you want to define mappings from sender address to relay hosts, use the sender_dependent_relay_maps parameter. By default, its value is empty, as can be seen with:
postconf sender_dependent_relayhost_maps
Output:
sender_dependent_relayhost_maps =
iRedMail uses MySQL/MariaDB database to store sender dependent relayhost maps. If you used iRedMail to set up your mail server, then the output should be like:
sender_dependent_relayhost_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql/sender_dependent_relayhost_maps.cf
The sender_dependent_relayhost_maps parameter points to one or more lookup tables. You can edit the Postfix main configuration file.
sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf
And set a value by adding the following line at the end of the file. The /etc/postfix/relay_by_sender file will contain the lookup table.
sender_dependent_relayhost_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/relay_by_sender
If you use iRedMail, you can find the sender_dependent_relayhost_maps parameter and set the value to
sender_dependent_relayhost_maps =
hash:/etc/postfix/relay_by_sender
proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql/sender_dependent_relayhost_maps.cf
Lookup table can be a file, or in the form of MySQL/MariaDB database tables. Lookup tables will be searched in the specified order until a match is found.
Save and close the Postfix main configuration file. Next, we need to create the lookup table file.
sudo nano /etc/postfix/relay_by_sender
Add rules like below, this will make emails sent from [email protected] delivered via the relay host specified on the right side.
[email protected] [in-v3.mailjet.com]:587
Let’s say if you have a Linux server that hosts two websites and each website have its own mail server running on two separate hosts, then you can add the following two lines to make each website uses its own mail server.
domain1.com [mail.domain1.com]:587 domain2.com [mail.domain2.com]:587
Save and close the file. Then build the index file.
sudo postmap /etc/postfix/relay_by_sender
Restart Postfix for the changes to take effect.
sudo systemctl restart postfix
Set Up SMTP Authentication
Now we need to set up SMTP authentication so that the Postfix SMTP client can use the relay host. Edit the Postfix main configuration file.
sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf
Add the following lines at the end of this file. The /etc/postfix/sasl_password will contain the username and password.
# outbound relay configurations smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes smtp_sasl_password_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd smtp_sasl_security_options = noanonymous smtp_tls_security_level = may header_size_limit = 4096000
If you have set the relayhost parameter, then I recommend giving it an empty value like below, because we are now using transport maps and sender dependent relayhost maps.
relayhost =
Save and close the file. Then create the /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd file.
sudo nano /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
Add the SMTP relay host and SMTP credentials to this file like below. Replace api-key and secret-key with your real Mailjet API key and secret key.
in-v3.mailjet.com:587 api-key:secret-key
Save and close the file. Then create the corresponding hash db file with postmap.
sudo postmap /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
Now you should have a file /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd.db. Restart Postfix for the changes to take effect.
sudo systemctl restart postfix
By default, sasl_passwd and sasl_passwd.db file can be read by any user on the server. Change the permission to 600 so only root can read and write to these two files.
sudo chmod 0600 /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd.db
Testing
Now you can send test email to the recipients defined in transport maps, or send an email from the address specified in sender dependent relayhost maps. Then check the mail log (/var/log/mail.log or /var/log/maillog) to see if it’s working.
Note that if you are using a third-party SMTP relay service like Mailjet, then it’s likely that you are required to validate your domain name in your account and edit SPF and DKIM record.
Wrapping Up
I hope this tutorial helped you use Postfix transport maps and sender dependent relayhost maps. As always, if you found this post useful, subscribe to our free newsletter to get more tips and tricks. Take care 🙂
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