Use an internal mail server to send E-Mails for a non-mail server
 

I have recently been asked by my boss to implement E-Mail alerts on some Backup scripts to be sent to me and another person.

I editted one of the Backup scripts on a mail server and they appear to be working without problems (ie, the backup job runs successfully and I get told so via E-Mail). However, when I implemented this script onto another, non-mail server, it would not send E-Mail confirmations.

The only server that is allowed to send E-Mails to the outside world is the mail server, so I did not expect the script to work without any fine-tuning. However, I thought I could direct the non-mail server to send an E-Mail through the mail server. I just can't find out how to do it.

The servers are running Ubuntu 9.04 64bit. The mail server is using postfix and dovecot for email, and is also the DNS server for that particular network section. The non-mail server should be installed with the default server install (exim4). If possible, I do not want to install any new programs on either server.


Please could someone help me get the non-mail server to use the mail server to send out E-Mails?

It's safest to have a mail server on the machine running the backup scripts, even if only to relay to the company mail server. Second best is for that machine to use a mail client that allow you to specify an smtp server, i.e. the mail client will relay to the company mail server. You can use mutt or a recent mailx for that.

Would I be able to perform this task using exim4, pointing to a postfix/dovecot server on the same network?

I can't see why I wouldn't be able to.

exim sounds like a plan.