How to Configure EXIM

Developed in 1995, the Experimental Internet Mailer (EXIM) program has proven to be a solid, single-binary mail delivery solution. A standard on Debian and other Linux variants, it is surprisingly easy to configure EXIM. This guide will outline how to get the EXIM mailer configured and operational.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Open up a terminal session. If you are on the local machine you can open up "xterm." If you are not local you can open a telnet or SSH session. Be sure to log in as "root."

2. Type the command "eximconfig." This is a built-in utility for configuring your EXIM installation. This utility will ask you a series of key questions and modify the configuration based on your answers.

3. Choose a number from one to five. You can configure EXIM to be local, satellite, internet or Internet using smarthost. The individual options are explained by the installer program and will walk you through the individual installer options.

4. Enter a hostname for your machine in the next field. This can be any word you want as the hostname is only locally significant. If you entered selection four or five from Step 3, you can skip ahead to Step number 7.

5. Enter the domain name (what will be placed after the "@" in the return message). If you do not specify anything, the hostname will be used.

6. Answer the other questions as they apply to your configuration.

7. Edit the "etc./e-mail-addresses" file with a text editor, such as "Gedit" or "VI." You will have to manually enter the users and their appropriate e-mail addresses in the correct format "[username]: [username]@[domain]."

Tips & Warnings

• You can find comprehensive information on any version of EXIM by opening and reading "usr/doc/exim/spec.txt."
• Opening up a SMTP server in your local environment to open relay is dangerous. You can illicit a lot of spam and abuse without proper configuration. Be sure to read up on installing components such as "SpamAssassin" and setting SMTP authentication before you expose your server to the Internet.
• You can damage the operation of EXIM by modifying the configuration files. It is always good policy to backup the configuration files before you begin making modifications.