MailGatewayDeploymentGuide-V2 3

Proxmox Mail Gateway
Deployment Guide
8/18/2017
MailGatewayDeploymentGuide-V2.3.docx
Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH
Bruhausgasse 37 A-1050 Vienna office@proxmox.com www.proxmox.com
Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH reserves the right to make changes to this document and to the
products described herein without notice. Before installing and using the software, please review the
latest version of this document, which is available from http://www.proxmox.com.
NOTE: All prices are one year subscription licenses. After expiration, Email flow continues but Spam-
and AV checks are not working anymore (Exception: ClamAV will continue working).
All other product or company names different from Proxmox may be trademarks or registered
trademarks of their owners.
Copyright 2005 - 2017 Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH. All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted without the
express prior written consent of Proxmox.
18.08.2017 Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH 2 | 42

Table of Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 5
2 Proxmox Mail Gateway integration ..................................................................................... 6
2.1 E-mail system without Proxmox Mail Gateway .................................................................................... 6
2.2 E-mail system with Proxmox Mail Gateway .......................................................................................... 6
2.3 Proxmox Mail Gateway in the intranet .................................................................................................. 8
2.3.1 Default port settings ............................................................................................................................ 8
2.3.2 Alternative port settings (e.g. for MS Exchange) ........................................................................... 9
2.4 Proxmox Mail Gateway in DMZ (demilitarized zone)........................................................................ 10
2.5 Proxmox Mail Gateway with multiple e-mail server and e-mail domains ................................... 11
3 Performance tuning ............................................................................................................. 12

3.1 Hardware benchmarks ............................................................................................................................ 12
3.2 Backup MX .................................................................................................................................................. 12
3.3 Blocking emails on SMTP level ............................................................................................................... 12
3.3.1 Greylisting ............................................................................................................................................ 13
3.3.2 Sender Policy Framework SPF ...................................................................................................... 13
3.3.3 Real Time Blacklists (RBL) ................................................................................................................. 14
3.3.4 Local DNS RBL cache Spamhaus Datafeed Service ................................................................ 15
3.3.4.1 Synchronize DNS blacklist to the Proxmox Mail Gateway ............................................... 15
3.3.4.2 Configure and start RBLDNS daemon .................................................................................. 15
3.3.4.3 Redirect DNS queries to local cache..................................................................................... 16
3.3.5 Receiver verification ........................................................................................................................... 16
3.3.5.1 Proxmox Mail Gateway solutions .......................................................................................... 16
3.3.5.2 Enabling verify receivers .......................................................................................................... 18
3.3.5.2.1 Settings for MS Exchange 2003 SP2 ................................................................................ 19
3.3.5.2.2 Settings for MS Exchange 2007 SP1 (and higher version) .......................................... 22
4 Rule system............................................................................................................................ 24
4.1 Default rules............................................................................................................................................... 26
4.1.1 Blacklist ................................................................................................................................................. 26
4.1.2 Block viruses ........................................................................................................................................ 26
4.1.3 Virus alert ............................................................................................................................................. 27
4.1.4 Block dangerous files ........................................................................................................................ 27
4.1.5 Modify header ..................................................................................................................................... 28
4.1.6 Whitelist ................................................................................................................................................ 29
4.1.7 Quarantine/Mark spam (Level 3) .................................................................................................... 29
4.2 Custom rules ............................................................................................................................................. 31
4.2.1 Enable spam quarantine for just a selection of users ............................................................... 31
4.2.2 Enable spam quarantine for existing LDAP users ...................................................................... 32
4.2.3 Block Spam e-mails with a score higher 10.................................................................................. 33
4.2.4 BCC object a simple archive solution ......................................................................................... 33
4.2.5 Block video and audio attachments ............................................................................................... 34
4.2.6 Add admin notification to rules ....................................................................................................... 34

4.2.7 Block Video and Audio Attachments for LDAP groups .............................................................. 34
5 Proxmox Mail Gateway HA cluster High availability ..................................................... 36

5.1 Load Balancing with MX Records .......................................................................................................... 37
5.2 Multiple address records ........................................................................................................................ 38
5.3 Using third party Firewall features ....................................................................................................... 38
6 Hardware selection and virtualization............................................................................... 39

6.1 Physical Hardware .................................................................................................................................... 39
6.2 Proxmox VE ................................................................................................................................................ 39
6.3 VMware .................................................................................................................................................... 39
7 Troubleshooting and technical support ............................................................................ 40

8 Table of figures ..................................................................................................................... 41
9 Appendix ................................................................................................................................ 42

1 Introduction
The huge amount of e-mail traffic is a challenge for every e-mail environment. The daily e-mail routine
brings along some major problems, this includes: performance, reliability, regulation under public law
and e-mail threads like viruses or phishing attacks.
E-mail is an essential service for any organization, and professionally managed e-mail improves
organizational workflow and customer satisfaction. A missed e-mail could mean a lost opportunity, or
it could cause a public-relations problem that no organization would want.
How does the Proxmox Mail Gateway work?
When an e-mail arrives at the Proxmox Mail Gateway, it is analyzed and forwarded to your e-mail
server which is responsible for sending the e-mail to the receiver. If the e-mail server is not working,
Proxmox Mail Gateway temporarily stores the message in the e-mail queue for later transfer. The
process works similar for outgoing e-mails.
This document covers samples and deployment information how to integrate and customize
Proxmox in your e-mail environment.
Note: See also the Proxmox Mail Gateway Administration Guide for a detailed product description.

2 Proxmox Mail Gateway integration

2.1 E-mail system without Proxmox Mail Gateway
In a sample configuration, your e-mail traffic (SMTP) arrives on the firewall and will be forwarded
directly to your e-mail server.
Figure 2-1 System without Proxmox Mail Gateway
2.2 E-mail system with Proxmox Mail Gateway

A single Proxmox Mail Gateway Server can handle unlimited mail domains with multiple internal mail
servers and millions of e-mails per day. For high availability and maximum performance it is
recommended to use a Proxmox Mail Gateway HA Cluster, see chapter 5 Proxmox Mail Gateway HA
cluster High availability.
Proxmox Mail Gateway can process incoming AND outgoing SMTP traffic by using different ports.
One port is assigned to incoming, one port for outgoing e-mails.
With the integrated Proxmox Mail Gateway system all your e-mail traffic is forwarded to the Proxmox
Mail Gateway which filters the whole e-mail traffic and removes unwanted e-mails. You can manage
incoming and outgoing e-mail traffic.

Figure 2-2 Incoming e-mail with Proxmox Mail Gateway
Many mail filter solutions do not scan outgoing mails. Opposed to that Proxmox Mail Gateway is
designed to scan both incoming and outgoing mails. This has two major advantages:
Figure 2-3 Outgoing with Proxmox Mail Gateway
1. Proxmox Mail Gateway is able to detect viruses sent from an internal host. I many countries
you are liable for not sending viruses to other people. Proxmox Mail Gateway outgoing e-mail
scanning feature is an additional protection to avoid that.
2. Proxmox Mail Gateway can gather statistics about outgoing e-mails too. Statistics about
incoming e-mails looks nice, but they are quite useless. Consider two users, user-1 receives
10 mails from news portals and wrote 1 mail to a person you never heard from. While user-2
receiver 5 mails from a customer and sent 5 mails back. Which user do you consider more
active? I am sure its user-2, because he communicates with your customers. Proxmox Mail
Gateway advanced address statistics can show you this important information. Solution
which does not scan outgoing mail cant do that.

2.3 Proxmox Mail Gateway in the intranet

2.3.1 Default port settings
The default configuration of the Proxmox Mail Gateway uses port 25 for incoming and port 26 for
outgoing e-mails.
Figure 2-4 Incoming default port settings (port 25)
Outgoing Mails:
Configure your mail server to send all e-mails to the Proxmox Mail Gateway, port 26.
Note: Proxmox Mail Gateway receives the outgoing e-mails on port 26, so Proxmox Mail Gateway
knows its internal trusted e-mail. After processing, Proxmox Mail Gateway sends the e-mails to
Internet, using standard port 25.
Figure 2-5 Outgoing default port settings (port 26)

2.3.2 Alternative port settings (e.g. for MS Exchange)

Sometimes it is not possible to change the outgoing port due to third party software limitations or
existing network configurations (e.g. changing MS Exchange to another sending port will have impact
on Exchange internals and its not recommend)
To receive e-mails you have to do port forwarding at your Firewall. So that youre external IP and port
25 shows to the Proxmox Mail Gateway IP and port 26.
Figure 2-6 Incoming alternative port settings (port 26)
With MS Exchange you should not use port 26 for outgoing so you have to switch these two values
(25 and 26). In the end you have to use port 25 for outgoing and port 26 for incoming mails.
Figure 2-7 Outgoing alternative port settings (port 25)

2.4 Proxmox Mail Gateway in DMZ (demilitarized zone)

To run a DMZ Zone you have to adjust your Firewall settings. The intranet (Local) and DMZ needs to
have different IP Networks, for example:
Interface Zone IP Address Net mask

eth0 Local 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
eth1 Internet 10.0.0.2 255.255.255.0
eth2 DMZ 192.168.16.1 255.255.255.0
Figure 2-8 Proxmox Mail Gateway in DMZ

2.5 Proxmox Mail Gateway with multiple e-mail server and e-mail
domains
You can use Proxmox Mail Gateway sending e-mails to different internal e-mail servers. For example
you can send e-mails addressed to domain.com to your first e-mail server, and e-mails addressed to
subdomain.domain.com to a second one. In the e-mail proxy transport section add the IP addresses
or hostname, SMTP ports and mail domains of your additional e-mail servers.
Figure 2-9 Multiple e-mail servers
Note: you need for each e-mail domain an appropriate license, otherwise it will not work!

3 Performance tuning
3.1 Hardware benchmarks
Please use the command line tool proxperf to get an overview about your hardware and DNS
performance.
Note: Never run proxperf if the system is under load.
Here is a sample output of proxperf:
root@proxmox:~# proxperf
CPU BOGOMIPS: 4189.90
REGEX/SECOND: 824300
HD SIZE: 14.99 GB (/dev/disk/by-uuid/beca6e55-675d-4f11-bd74-eb93858d8fca)
BUFFERED READS: 144.92 MB/sec
AVERAGE SEEK TIME: 0.95 ms
FSYNCS/SECOND: 3551.82
DNS EXT: 34.57 ms
DNS INT: 1.72 ms (proxmox.com)
Please compare your results against this reference. If you get lower results please analyze your
hardware and DNS setup for comments post your results on https://my.proxmox.com.
3.2 Backup MX
Using your ISPs e-mail server is not a good idea, because many ISPs do not use advanced spam
prevention techniques. And spammers know this and they use your ISP backup MX to work around
your Proxmox Mail Gateway spam filtering.
Additionally, you can never benefit of blocking spam messages on SMTP level.
If you need redundancy, it is recommended to run a second Proxmox Mail Gateway server in HA
Cluster mode to avoid lower spam detection rates.
3.3 Blocking emails on SMTP level

Blocking emails before they reach your network saves your internet bandwidth and reduces
processing power. By doing the following, you can reduce your e-mail traffic by more than 90 %,
depends on your environment.
If you want to exclude some senders or receivers from getting blocked on the SMTP level, just enter
them in the Mail proxy whitelist.

Figure 3-1 Mail proxy whitelist
3.3.1 Greylisting
Typically, a server that utilizes Greylisting will record the following three pieces of information
(referred to as triplet) for all incoming e-mail.
The IP address of the connecting host

The envelope sender address
The envelope recipient address
The client is checked against the mail server's internal whitelists (if any) first. Then, if the triplet has
never been seen before, it is greylisted for a period of time (how much time is dependent on the
server configuration). The e-mail is rejected with a temporary error. The assumption is that since
temporary failures are built into the RFC specifications for e-mail delivery, a legitimate server will
attempt to connect again later on to deliver the e-mail.
Greylisting is effective because many mass e-mail tools utilized by spammers are not set up to handle
temporary failures (or any failures for that matter) so the Spam is never received.
This feature can reduce e-mail traffic up to 50%. Greylisted e-mails never reach your mail server and
your mail server will stop sending useless "Non Delivery Reports" to spammers, filling up the queue.
If a sender has a valid SPF record, he will never be greylisted.
3.3.2 Sender Policy Framework SPF

Domains use public records (DNS) to direct requests for different services (web, e-mail, etc.) to the
machines that perform those services. All domains already publish e-mail (MX) records to tell the
world what machines receive e-mail for the domain. SPF works by domains publishing "reverse MX"
records to tell the world what machines send e-mail for the domain. When receiving a message from
a domain, the recipient can check those records to make sure e-mail is coming from where it should
be coming from.
Please make sure, that you deploy a valid SPF record for your mail domain.
Note: see http://www.openspf.org for setting up a SPF for your mail domain.

3.3.3 Real Time Blacklists (RBL)

Proxmox Mail Gateway can use RBL checks on SMTP level to reject e-mails. Therefore Proxmox Mail
Gateway has to query the RBL servers for every SMTP connection.
Multiple RBL providers can be added, but please make sure to follow the usage terms of the RBL
provider.
Well known providers are:
Barracuda Reputation Block List BRBL

http://www.barracudacentral.org/rbl
Spamhaus
https://www.spamhaus.org
Figure 3-2 Configure DNSBL Sites

3.3.4 Local DNS RBL cache Spamhaus Datafeed Service

Each e-mail leads to DNS queries to external RBL servers. If those servers are under heavy load, it
cannot be guaranteed that you will get an answer. If you are running a high traffic site, it is also
recommended to locally cache RBL data to avoid high traffic.
Spamhaus offers a special datafeed service to download RBL data using rsync. Using that data, you
can setup a local DNS service and thus reduce traffic to external DNS servers.
Proxmox provides a script to synchronize those blacklists, and we also ship rbldnsd to easily setup a
local DNS cache.
Note: Spamhaus data feed is a commercial service additional license/account required. For
details visit https://www.spamhaus.org/datafeed/
3.3.4.1 Synchronize DNS blacklist to the Proxmox Mail Gateway

Local sync is done using the script proxblsync, usually started via cron. Please log in to the console
and configure the following:
crontab e
11,41 * * * * proxblsync --spamhaus eu.dr.spamhaus.net --mailto root
Note: 11,41 stands for the minutes of each hour, please replace these values with the one in your
spamhaus datafeed license.
At present Spamhaus support three pools of servers:

North America na.dr.spamhaus.net
Europe eu.dr.spamhaus.net
Oceania and Southeast Asia oc.dr.spamhaus.net
Please choose the server pool that you believe to be closer (in terms of traveling times of Internet
packets) to your geographical location
Data is stored in /var/lib/rbldns/ after sucessful sync. In case of errors, a notification is sent to the
address specified with the mailto attribute.
3.3.4.2 Configure and start RBLDNS daemon
nano /etc/default/rbldnsd
RBLDNSD="- -r/var/lib/rbldns -f -b127.0.0.2 \

sbl.spamhaus.org:ip4set:sbl \
pbl.spamhaus.org:ip4trie:pbl \
xbl.spamhaus.org:ip4tset:xbl \
zen.spamhaus.org:ip4set:sbl \
zen.spamhaus.org:ip4trie:pbl \
zen.spamhaus.org:ip4tset:xbl \
dbl.dnsbl:dnset:dbl"

Then you can start the rbldnsd service:
# /etc/init.d/rbldnsd restart
Restarting rbldnsd: rbldnsd
rbldnsd: listening on 127.0.0.2/53
rbldnsd: ip4set:sbl: 20170818 054021: e32/24/16/8=539382/25617/439/0
rbldnsd: ip4trie:pbl: 20170818 053447: ent=848585 nodes=1667899 mem=53372768
rbldnsd: ip4tset:xbl: 20170818 053637: cnt=8340334
rbldnsd: dnset:dbl: 20170818 054028: e/w=702782/702781
rbldnsd: zones reloaded, time 3.71e/3.44u sec, mem arena=66564 free=136 mmap=63380
Kb
rbldnsd: rbldnsd version 0.996b (29 Mar 2008) started (1 socket(s), 5 zone(s))
3.3.4.3 Redirect DNS queries to local cache

Finally you need to reconfigure the bind9 service to redirect queries for spamhaus.org to
rbldbsd:
# nano /etc/bind/named.conf.local
zone "spamhaus.org" {
type forward;
forward only;
forwarders { 127.0.0.2 port 53; };
};
Please restart the bind9 service to activate those changes:
# /etc/init.d/bind9 restart
3.3.5 Receiver verification

Nowadays, e-mail domains are receiving a lot of e-mails to non-existing users. This could be up to 95
% of junk messages.
In short, this means for your systems:
Increased traffic on your internet connection

Your e-mail server is handling junk e-mails instead of working for you
High load on your scanners
Slow overall performance and high costs
3.3.5.1 Proxmox Mail Gateway solutions

Proxmox Mail Gateway can detect these e-mails to non-existing users on SMTP level, which means
BEFORE the e-mails are transferred to your networks.
In short, this means for your systems:
Reduced traffic, up to 90 %

Your internal e-mail server is now working for you again

Reduced load on your scanners, 90 % less e-mails to analyze for spam and viruses
Good performance and costs

3.3.5.2 Enabling verify receivers
You can enable this option on the admin interface (Configuration/Mail Proxy/Options)
We recommend selecting yes (450). 450 means, that in the case of a short downtime of your
internal mail server no messages are lost.
Note: Your internal e-mail server has to be reconfigured to reject unknown user. Proxmox Mail
Gateway is doing a short query to the internal e-mail server to check if the user is valid. For settings
on Exchange 2003 SP2, see chapter 3.3.5.2.1 Settings for MS Exchange 2003 SP2
Figure 3-3 Enable Verify Receivers

3.3.5.2.1 Settings for MS Exchange 2003 SP2

You have to enable Recipient Filtering, please use the Exchange System Manager.
Figure 3-4 Exchange 2003: Filter recipients 1



3.3.5.2.2 Settings for MS Exchange 2007 SP1 (and higher version)

First, make sure that you have the MS Exchange 2007 Anti-Spam agent. If you installed a typical one
server installation, this is NOT installed by default.
Microsoft provides an install script to manually install the Anti-Spam agent:
1. Open the Exchange Management Shell

2. cd c:\program files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Scripts
3. .\install-AntispamAgents
4. Restart the Microsoft Exchange Transport service
Figure 3-8 MS Exchange 2007 SP1: Install Anti-Spam agent
Now you can enable Recipient Filtering on the Anti-Spam agent, please use the MS Exchange
Management Console.

Figure 3-9 MS Exchange 2007 SP1: Filter recipients 1
Figure 3-10 MS Exchange 2007 SP1: Filter recipients 2

4 Rule system
The object-oriented rule system enables custom rules for your domains. Its an easy but very
powerful way to define filter rules by user, domains, time frame, content type and resulting action.
Who - object
For TO and/or FROM Category
Example: Mail object - Who is the sender or receiver of the e-mail?
When - object
Example: When is the e-mail received by Proxmox Mail Gateway?
What - object
Example: Does the e-mail contain spam?
Action - object
Example: Mark e-mail with "SPAM:" in the subject.
Every rule has got 5 categories (FROM, TO, WHEN, WHAT, ACTION) which can contain several objects.
For example enable Archive Solutions with BCC Object (Blind carbon copy, recipients not visible in the
"To" field) to Mailbox or to a Public Folder
FROM: Anybody
TO: Anybody
WHEN: Always
WHAT: Mail
ACTION: BCC to Publicfolder
In most of the countries worldwide a company has to forward all e-mails to their employees this
includes spam e-mails as well.
For example to send Spam e-mails in quarantine
FROM: Anybody
TO: Anybody
WHEN: Always
WHAT: Spam
ACTION: Quarantine
With this kind of setup the receiver gets detailed Information about the Spam e-mails.
Quarantine can be enabled just for existing LDAP groups or via BCC to Public Folders or Mailboxes.
At present the usefulness of e-mail is being threatened by three phenomena: spamming, phishing
and e-mail worms.
Spamming is unsolicited commercial e-mail. Because of the very low cost of sending e-mail,
spammers can send hundreds of millions of e-mail messages each day over an inexpensive internet
connection. Hundreds of active spammers sending this volume of mail results in information
overload for many computer users who receive tens or even hundreds of junk messages each day.
E-mail worms use e-mail as a way of replicating themselves into vulnerable computers.
The combination of spam and worm programs results in users receiving a constant drizzle of junk e-
mail, which reduces the usefulness of e-mail as a practical tool.

To increase the efficiency of e-mail communications the use of anti-spam, anti-phishing and antivirus
software is essential. With the deployment of Proxmox Mail Gateway you get the job done. Based on
the design as software appliance one of the strengths of Proxmox Mail Gateway is its flexibility. It can
be easy integrated in existing E-mail architecture. Its compatible to every type of mail server or MTA
(e.g. MS Exchange, Lotus Domino, Postfix ).
For example a virus protection looks like this:
FROM: Anybody
TO: Anybody
WHEN: Always
WHAT: Virus
ACTION: Block (or Quarantine)
Options range from simple spam and virus filter setups to sophisticated, highly customized
configurations blocking certain types of e-mails and generating notifications.

4.1 Default rules

4.1.1 Blacklist
This rule blocks all emails received from the senders listed in the Blacklist. The Blacklist can contain
several items.
(Please note, the term Blacklist is widely used in industry and its not meant as racist.)
Figure 4-1 Rule: Blacklist
Figure 4-2 Who Object: Blacklist
4.1.2 Block viruses

This rule quarantines all incoming virus e-mail and informs the admin via e-mail notification.

Figure 4-3 Rule: Block Viruses
4.1.3 Virus alert

This rule blocks all outgoing virus e-mail and informs the admin and sender via e-mail notification.
Figure 4-4 Rule: Virus Alert
4.1.4 Block dangerous files

This rule removes dangerous attachments from incoming e-mails (.vbs,.bat,.com, )

Figure 4-5 Rule: Block Dangerous Files
4.1.5 Modify header

This rule modifies e-mail header for all incoming e-email. It just adds the results of the spam analysis,
including the test names and the reached spam score.
Figure 4-6 Rule: Modify Header

4.1.6 Whitelist
This rule accepts all emails received from the senders listed in the Whitelist. The Whitelist can
contain several items.
(Please note, the term Whitelist is widely used in industry and its not meant as racist.)
Figure 4-7 Rule: Whitelist
Figure 4-8 Who Object: Whitelist
4.1.7 Quarantine/Mark spam (Level 3)

This rule identifies Spam with Level 3 and modifies the e-mail subject and move the e-mail to the
spam quarantine.

Figure 4-9 Rule: Quarantine/Mark Spam (Level 3)

4.2 Custom rules

Proxmox Mail Gateway provides samples for custom rules to show the functionality. For support or
help configuring rules the Proxmox support forum at http://forum.proxmox.com or submit a support
request via the Proxmox Customer Portal at https://my.proxmox.com
4.2.1 Enable spam quarantine for just a selection of users

If you want to use the spam quarantine for specific users or a specific domain (and for the rest just
Mark Spam), create a new WHO object containing these users or domains.
1. Create a new WHO object; give a name like Quarantine Users and add the users or domains
to this object
2. Use the existing (inactive) rule Spam Quarantine and set higher priority than the Mark
Spam rule (e.g. 81)
3. Add the WHO object Quarantine Users
4. Activate the rule
Figure 4-10 Enable Spam quarantine for just a selection of users

4.2.2 Enable spam quarantine for existing LDAP users

If you want to use the spam quarantine only for existing internal e-mail addresses, you can use the
LDAP query Existing LDAP.
1. Create a new WHO object; give a name like Existing LDAP address and add the LDAP group
Existing LDAP address
2. Use the existing (inactive) rule Spam Quarantine and set higher priority than the Mark
Spam rule (e.g. 81)
3. Add the WHO object Existing LDAP address
Figure 4-11 Create WHO object Existing LDAP address
Figure 4-12 Enable Spam quarantine for existing LDAP addresses

4.2.3 Block Spam e-mails with a score higher 10

The default rule moves Spam with a score higher 3 to the spam quarantine. By activating this
additional rule, you can block Spam with a score higher 10 to reduce the delivery of spam e-mails to
the user spam quarantine.
Figure 4-13 Activate Block Spam (Level 10)
4.2.4 BCC object a simple archive solution

If you need to archive e-mails its useful to send a copy to a special mailbox. If you have Microsoft
Exchange, you can also send a copy to a e-mail enabled public folder.
1. Create an Action Object: Add BCC Object, name it BCC to Archive Public folder or Mailbox
2. Under Receiver, type the e-mail address of the public folder/Mailbox
3. Click on an already existing rule or create a new one
4. Add Action Object BCC to Archive Public folder or Mailbox to the rule
How to create a Mail Enable Public Folder under MS Exchange 2000/2003?
1. Create a public folder in MS Exchange (MS Exchange System Manager or via Outlook)
2. "Mail enable" the public folder via MS Exchange system manager right click an select Mail
Enable
3. Wait a few minutes, MS Exchange creates the e-mail address
4. Right click the folder an check the e-mail address (or change it, if you want), remember e-mail
address
5. Set appropriate client permission (note: anonymous must have the right to create items)
6. Optional: Set age limit: select Limits and set the age limit to 90 days (all messages older than
90 days will be automatically deleted)

4.2.5 Block video and audio attachments

1. Create a new rule, e.g. Block Multimedia Files, define direction and set priority
2. Add What Object Multimedia to the rule
3. Add Action Object Block to the rule
4. Final review (still inactive)
4.2.6 Add admin notification to rules

If you block mails its useful to inform the Proxmox Mail Gateway Admin.
1. Click on the desired rule

2. Add the notify Admin action to the rule
4.2.7 Block Video and Audio Attachments for LDAP groups

The LDAP groups can be used to apply special settings to groups.
Most people like sending joke videos and audio files via e-mail this grows up your users mailboxes.
On the other side, you do not want to block these funny things for everybody.
We assume you have a MS ADS group called Staff (including all your active users)
Create a new WHO Object, give a name, e.g. Staff

Add LDAP Group to the Object, select your LDAP Profile and select Staff from the
dropdown menu, click save.
Now you can test your object against e-mail addresses
Add new rule, give a name, e.g. Block Multimedia for Staff, set priority to 70, set direction to
in, click save
Add the WHO object Staff from above to the rule (as to)
Add the WHAT Multimedia to the rule
Add the ACTION object Remove Attachments
Final review (still inactive)
Activate the rule
Note: Removed attachments from e-mails are replaced with a text file.

Figure 4-14 Block video and Audio attachment for LDAP group Staff

5 Proxmox Mail Gateway HA cluster High availability

We are living in a world where e-mail becomes more and more important - failures in e-mail systems
are just not acceptable. To meet these requirements we developed the Proxmox Mail Gateway HA
(High Availability) Cluster.
The Proxmox Mail Gateway HA Cluster consists of a master and several nodes (minimum one maser
and one node). Configuration is done on the master. Configuration and data is synchronized to all
cluster nodes over a VPN tunnel. This provides the following advantages:
centralized configuration management

fully redundant data storage
high availability
high performance
Proxmox Mail Gateway uses a unique application level clustering scheme, which provides extremely
good performance. Special considerations where taken to make management as easy as possible.
Complete Cluster setup is done within minutes, and nodes automatically reintegrate after temporary
failures without any operator interaction.
Figure 5-1 Proxmox Mail Gateway HA Cluster with load balanced MX records

5.1 Load Balancing with MX Records

Its quite simple to set up a high performance load balanced mail cluster using MX records. You have
to define two MX records with the same priority.
You need to have 2 working Proxmox Mail Gateways (mail1.example.com and mail2.example.com),
each having its own IP address (the rest of the setting should be more or less equal, i.e. you can use
backup/restore to copy the rules).
We recommend adding reverse lookup entries (PTR records) for those hosts. Many e-mail systems
nowadays reject mails from hosts without valid PTR records.
This is all you need. You will receive mails on both hosts, more or less load-balanced (round-robin
scheduling). If one host fails the other is used.
Figure 5-2 Load balancing via MX Records

5.2 Multiple address records

Using several DNS MX record is sometime clumsy if you have many domains. It is also possible to use
one MX record per domain, but multiple address records:
Figure 5-3 Load balancing Multiple Address Records
5.3 Using third party Firewall features

Many firewalls can do some kind of RR-Scheduling (round-robin) when using DNAT. See your firewall
manual for more details.

6 Hardware selection and virtualization

Proxmox Mail Gateway always needs a dedicated PC or server hardware. Alternative, Proxmox Mail
Gateway can be run under the following virtualization technologies:
Proxmox VE (KVM)
VMware vSphere (VMware tools are integrated in the ISO)
Hyper-V (Hyper-V Linux integration tools are integrated in the ISO)
KVM (virtio drivers are integrated, great performance)
Virtual box
Citrix XenServer
6.1 Physical Hardware

See http://www.proxmox.com for hardware recommendation or contact us via the Proxmox
Customer Portal at https://my.proxmox.com/. For maximum performance we recommend:
Hard disks Enterprise class SSD with power loss protection (e.g. Intel SSD DC 35xx/36xx/37xx)
CPU Two physical CPU with a lot of cores (e.g. Intel Xeon)
RAM 4 GB ECC
6.2 Proxmox VE
The Proxmox Mail Gateway runs perfectly on qemu/KVM. Just install from ISO, use virtio for disk and
network.
6.3 VMware
Proxmox Mail Gateway runs perfectly under VMware.
Proxmox Mail Gateway 4.x ISO installer includes open-vm tools by default. Just install from ISO.

7 Troubleshooting and technical support

Use the moderated Proxmox support forum or contact us via the Proxmox Customer Portal at
https://my.proxmox.com/
All information:
https://www.proxmox.com

8 Table of figures
Figure 2-1 System without Proxmox Mail Gateway............................................................................................ 6

Figure 2-2 Incoming e-mail with Proxmox Mail Gateway .................................................................................. 7
Figure 2-3 Outgoing with Proxmox Mail Gateway .............................................................................................. 7
Figure 2-4 Incoming default port settings (port 25) ........................................................................................... 8
Figure 2-5 Outgoing default port settings (port 26) ........................................................................................... 8
Figure 2-6 Incoming alternative port settings (port 26) .................................................................................... 9
Figure 2-7 Outgoing alternative port settings (port 25) .................................................................................... 9
Figure 2-8 Proxmox Mail Gateway in DMZ ......................................................................................................... 10
Figure 2-9 Multiple e-mail servers ........................................................................................................................ 11
Figure 3-1 Mail proxy whitelist .............................................................................................................................. 13
Figure 3-2 Configure DNSBL Sites ........................................................................................................................ 14
Figure 3-3 Enable Verify Receivers ....................................................................................................................... 18
Figure 3-4 Exchange 2003: Filter recipients 1 ................................................................................................... 19
Figure 3-8 MS Exchange 2007 SP1: Install Anti-Spam agent ......................................................................... 22
Figure 3-9 MS Exchange 2007 SP1: Filter recipients 1 .................................................................................... 23
Figure 3-10 MS Exchange 2007 SP1: Filter recipients 2 .................................................................................. 23
Figure 4-1 Rule: Blacklist ......................................................................................................................................... 26
Figure 4-2 Who Object: Blacklist ........................................................................................................................... 26
Figure 4-3 Rule: Block Viruses ............................................................................................................................... 27
Figure 4-4 Rule: Virus Alert..................................................................................................................................... 27
Figure 4-5 Rule: Block Dangerous Files ............................................................................................................... 28
Figure 4-6 Rule: Modify Header ............................................................................................................................ 28
Figure 4-7 Rule: Whitelist ........................................................................................................................................ 29
Figure 4-8 Who Object: Whitelist .......................................................................................................................... 29
Figure 4-9 Rule: Quarantine/Mark Spam (Level 3)............................................................................................ 30
Figure 4-10 Enable Spam quarantine for just a selection of users .............................................................. 31
Figure 4-11 Create WHO object Existing LDAP address ............................................................................... 32
Figure 4-12 Enable Spam quarantine for existing LDAP addresses ............................................................ 32
Figure 4-13 Activate Block Spam (Level 10) ..................................................................................................... 33
Figure 4-14 Block video and Audio attachment for LDAP group Staff ...................................................... 35
Figure 5-1 Proxmox Mail Gateway HA Cluster with load balanced MX records ........................................ 36
Figure 5-2 Load balancing via MX Records ........................................................................................................ 37
Figure 5-3 Load balancing Multiple Address Records ..................................................................................... 38

9 Appendix
Reference document: Mail Gateway AdminGuide

You can download the latest version from https://www.proxmox.com/
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Proxmox Mail Gateway

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3 Performance tuning ............................................................................................................. 12

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5 Proxmox Mail Gateway HA cluster High availability ..................................................... 36

6 Hardware selection and virtualization............................................................................... 39

7 Troubleshooting and technical support ............................................................................ 40

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How does the Proxmox Mail Gateway work?

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2 Proxmox Mail Gateway integration

Figure 2-1 System without Proxmox Mail Gateway

2.2 E-mail system with Proxmox Mail Gateway

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Figure 2-2 Incoming e-mail with Proxmox Mail Gateway

Figure 2-3 Outgoing with Proxmox Mail Gateway

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2.3 Proxmox Mail Gateway in the intranet

Figure 2-4 Incoming default port settings (port 25)

Figure 2-5 Outgoing default port settings (port 26)

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2.3.2 Alternative port settings (e.g. for MS Exchange)

Figure 2-6 Incoming alternative port settings (port 26)

Figure 2-7 Outgoing alternative port settings (port 25)

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2.4 Proxmox Mail Gateway in DMZ (demilitarized zone)

Interface Zone IP Address Net mask

Figure 2-8 Proxmox Mail Gateway in DMZ

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Figure 2-9 Multiple e-mail servers

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Note: Never run proxperf if the system is under load.

Here is a sample output of proxperf:

3.3 Blocking emails on SMTP level

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Figure 3-1 Mail proxy whitelist

The IP address of the connecting host

If a sender has a valid SPF record, he will never be greylisted.

3.3.2 Sender Policy Framework SPF

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3.3.3 Real Time Blacklists (RBL)

Well known providers are:

Barracuda Reputation Block List BRBL

Figure 3-2 Configure DNSBL Sites

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3.3.4 Local DNS RBL cache Spamhaus Datafeed Service

3.3.4.1 Synchronize DNS blacklist to the Proxmox Mail Gateway

11,41 * * * * proxblsync --spamhaus eu.dr.spamhaus.net --mailto root

At present Spamhaus support three pools of servers:

3.3.4.2 Configure and start RBLDNS daemon

RBLDNSD="- -r/var/lib/rbldns -f -b127.0.0.2 \

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Then you can start the rbldnsd service:

3.3.4.3 Redirect DNS queries to local cache

Please restart the bind9 service to activate those changes:

3.3.5 Receiver verification

In short, this means for your systems:

Increased traffic on your internet connection

3.3.5.1 Proxmox Mail Gateway solutions

In short, this means for your systems:

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Your internal e-mail server is now working for you again

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