The tutorial at docs.slackware.com/howtos:network_servicesostfix_dovecot_mysql is pure awesomeness. Mail servers are so daunting with their plethora of configuration options, and their ability to relay you wide open. But that tutorial's got Slack!

With that much configuring, I made a couple of typing mistakes, and the logs revealed where they were at; once my typos were gone, everything worked except one thing, and it was at one of the points where my setup deviated from tutorial: a database on a separate host, with local ip, 10.11.12.13.

In the file /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual-mailbox-maps.cf and in the other two like it, for domains, and aliases, I had to make change from to I noticed some online examples said host, and others said hosts; when I tried it with the hosts, the database connected. It was the only rough spot. It probably defaults to localhost on an error, and so for everybody using localhost, it doesn't matter. But to get it to connect to remote hosts, it had to be plural.

There are lots of steps and components, and they all have to be right. The tutorial was clean. Thanks Astrogeek and any other contributors.

It's great to have this documented! Thanks!

But, I'm not finding that file in the postfix package from SBo (for 14.2) and the package from -current. Is it one you created? I don't see any reference to it in the SlackDocs article you linked. Was this just a hodgepodge of things from other websites or is it part of the package (and/or tutorial) and I just totally missed it?

If it is part of the tutorial, we should definitely change it. If it isn't part of the tutorial, maybe you could add a section about connecting postfix to an external database.

First, thanks for the kind words! Always appreciated!

And I am glad to see that it is still useful after so long a time with few updates!

Honestly, it has been a while since I wrote that so I'll have to take a refresher look at it later today. I have multiple instances running based on that setup and have never encountered a problem with the host name such as you describe, all of mine are host = localhost I think, but I am not aware of anything that would require 'hosts' in that parameter.

Could you post a link to one of the tutorials that suggests 'hosts' to geve me a starting point to look into it, please?

I have had a to-do on my list to update that doc for... well too long! Perhaps as the weather cools and I settle in for the winter... your comments are terrific incentive!

Oops, I didn't realize there were multiple articles linked there...

Here's one I found when I was searching for that filename.

https://workaround.org/ispmail/wheez...o-the-database

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I did some quick look around and was on that page when you posted the link, but thanks!

Indeed, I am seeing a lot of 'hosts' usage. Slac-in-the-box may be correct that it defaults to localhost on error, but I just restarted one configured with 'host = localhost' and see no actual error message.

It is the first time I have seen any mysql connector use 'hosts' - it is 'host' the world around in my (possibly limited) experience. As it is processed by postfix code, I guess it must be a postfix thing but will try to get to the bottom of it now that I see it...

Thanks for pointing it out!

This would seem to be the definitive last word...

man mysql_table from the postfix package:

From my local man mysql_table which may be different than above link..

Although it does not say so, my guess is that it simply does not recognize 'host', or 'zebra' for that matter, uses the unix socket by default, and does not complain about unrecognized parameter names.

When you have no local mysql instance that can be connected to by default, you see the error.

I'll fix that later this evening, and thanks for the heads up!

*** EDIT: Should be all fixed now, and includes a note about the appropriate man page to reference for those details. - Thanks again to all!

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I got so excited about imapd and smptd working on slackware cloud instance, (and it's now had 60 hours uptime without any unwanted connections) that I kept the momentum by reading ncurses man page again, and trying to make ncurses based front end for managing the mysql mailserver database... got so distracted that I didn't even notice the replies yesterday. Looks like everyone answered themselves! I'm so used to things not working in my trial and error linux hacking, that when all the pieces finally fit and something works, I get kind of giddy. Slackware has great documentation! Thanks. The next round's on me.

BTW, if there already is a ncurses front end to mysql, please save me.

I am not aware of an ncurses front end for mysql for general queries (but I haven't really looked either). I am not aware of an ncurses front end for managing the vmail tables either.

I wrote a shell script which I use for managing my own, but I also have a more {complete|complex} schema structure which would make it not generally useful.

When I get around to updating the docs page I'll try to include a simple shell script for managing the basic schema. In the mean time, give it a try yourself - you obviously have a good handle on it already!

I'm also using this article as it is very good. Any way to get postfixadmin added to it? Thanks!