FreeBSD periodic output to external email addresses with SSMTP

freebsd_periodic_ssmtp.md

Based in part on: https://www.debarbora.com/freebsd-10-1-setup-ssmtp-for-outgoing-mail/

Disable sendmail

Edit /etc/rc.conf to add:

sendmail_enable="NO"
sendmail_submit_enable="NO"
sendmail_outbound_enable="NO"
sendmail_msp_queue_enable="NO"

Stop the sendmail service nicely

service sendmail stop

Install the ssmtp package (may update other packages)

root@cancer-1050740:~ # pkg install -y ssmtp
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
FreeBSD repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
The following 1 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):

New packages to be INSTALLED:
        ssmtp: 2.64_3

Number of packages to be installed: 1

19 KiB to be downloaded.
[1/1] Fetching ssmtp-2.64_3.txz: 100%   19 KiB  19.7kB/s    00:01
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
[1/1] Installing ssmtp-2.64_3...
===> Creating groups.
Creating group 'ssmtp' with gid '916'.
[1/1] Extracting ssmtp-2.64_3: 100%
Message from ssmtp-2.64_3:

sSMTP has been installed successfully.

To replace sendmail with ssmtp type "make replace" or change
your /etc/mail/mailer.conf to:

sendmail        /usr/local/sbin/ssmtp
send-mail       /usr/local/sbin/ssmtp
mailq           /usr/local/sbin/ssmtp
newaliases      /usr/local/sbin/ssmtp
hoststat        /usr/bin/true
purgestat       /usr/bin/true


However, before you can use the program, you should copy the files
"revaliases.sample" and "ssmtp.conf.sample" in /usr/local/etc/ssmtp
to "revaliases" and "ssmtp.conf" respectively and edit them to suit
your needs.

Set up ssmtp.conf

A sample configuration with comments is in /usr/local/etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf.sample.

Create a new /usr/local/etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf with the following contents:

root=postmaster

# The place where the mail goes. The actual machine name is required
# no MX records are consulted. Commonly mailhosts are named mail.domain.com
# The example will fit if you are in domain.com and your mailhub is so named.
mailhub=<SMTP host IP or hostname>:587
AuthUser=<userid for authentication>
AuthPass=<user credentials for authentication>
FromLineOverride=NO
Hostname=_HOSTNAME_ (or whatever)
RewriteDomain=<domain where the mail should appear to come from>
useTLS=YES <- may be required for some SMTP providers instead of useSTARTTLS
useSTARTTLS=YES <- Confirmed to work with Amazon Simple Email Service (SES)

Then change permissions:

chmod o-r ssmtp.conf

Set up reverse aliases

A sample configuration with comments is in /usr/local/etc/ssmtp/revaliases.sample.

Create a new /usr/local/etc/ssmtp/revaliases with the following contents:

root:your.apparent@outgoing.address.com:SMTP.hostname.com:587

(or :25 if not using TLS)

And then change permissions:

chmod o-r revaliases

Change the root user's name

chpass

Replace Charlie & in the Full Name: field with whatever.

Reroute calls to sendmail with ssmtp

After this step, outgoing mail will be enabled.

Replace /etc/mail/mailer.conf (as suggested after package installation) with:

sendmail        /usr/local/sbin/ssmtp
send-mail       /usr/local/sbin/ssmtp
mailq           /usr/local/sbin/ssmtp
newaliases      /usr/local/sbin/ssmtp
hoststat        /usr/bin/true
purgestat       /usr/bin/true

Test from command line

mail -v -s "cmdline test" your.name@domain.com (use . on empty line to end)

Edit periodic settings

Open /etc/defaults/periodic.conf and search for lines

Include double quotes, use commas between email adresses, and do not include local account names.