Install IMAP Server On ReadyNAS Duo V2

I've found that some sort of EXIM server seems to be installed on the ReadyNAS, can somebody confim that?

Robyn VanDeCradles wrote:
I've found that some sort of EXIM server seems to be installed on the ReadyNAS, can somebody confim that?

Fairly sure there was a version of EXIM on earlier versions of the firmware (Sparc and OSv4). No idea if the newer OS's have it though.

Do follow up here, or via PM, if you succeed. It's something that has always interested me.

There used to be a thread where the pro's and cons were discussed somewhere, but I can't seem to find it now...

Status Update:

I'm successfully managed to install fetchmail as standalone and fetch all POP3 email accounts properly, even with TLS (SSL) enabled.

fetchmail -c
fetchmail: WARNING: Running as root is discouraged.
3 messages (1 seen) for XXXXX at mail.XXXX.xex (3911 octets).
8 messages for rxxs.vxx@gxxxx.xx at pop.xxxx.com (312680 octets).

I also can confirm that exim4 is installed

root@ReadyNAS:~#  exim -bV
Exim version 4.72 #1 built 31-Jan-2011 18:52:00
Copyright (c) University of Cambridge, 1995 - 2007
Berkeley DB: Berkeley DB 4.8.30: (April  9, 2010)
Support for: crypteq iconv() IPv6 GnuTLS move_frozen_messages DKIM
Lookups: lsearch wildlsearch nwildlsearch iplsearch cdb dbm dbmnz dnsdb dsearch nis nis0 passwd
Authenticators: cram_md5 plaintext
Routers: accept dnslookup ipliteral manualroute queryprogram redirect
Transports: appendfile/maildir/mailstore autoreply lmtp pipe smtp
Fixed never_users: 0
Size of off_t: 8
GnuTLS compile-time version: 2.8.6
GnuTLS runtime version: 2.8.6
Configuration file is /var/lib/exim4/config.autogenerated

or at least can be upgraded to, I forgot to write down the previous exim4 build version installed, but it's already present as an SMTP mailer. I guess it's used to send service messages from NAS.

Also I can use exim to verify a remote mailbox, like

exim -bv mx@yahoo.com

and test the routing

exim -bt mx@yahoo.com

but right at the moment exim fails when it comes to local mailboxes. To be continued...

Status Update:

I've managed to bring the local mailsystem to live. The thing is exim needs to be run as a daemon, this can be accomplished by:

Installing the the exim4-base package, it seems to install an exim4 adjacent to an existing exim installation

root@ReadyNAS:~# apt-get install exim4-base

Run the installer for the exim4 MTA (details on how to config will follow soon)

root@ReadyNAS:~# dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config

Test if the exim server is running (used default values):

root@ReadyNAS:~# ps waux | grep exim
9        10569  0.0  0.4  11888  1108 ?        Ss   15:23   0:00 /usr/sbin/exim4 -bd -q30m

If exim4 server is not running try:

root@ReadyNAS:~# /etc/init.d/exim4 restart
Stopping MTA for restart: exim4_listener.
Restarting MTA: exim4.

Now test local mailbox accounts

root@ReadyNAS:~# exim -bt root
R: system_aliases for root@readynas
R: system_aliases for mail@readynas
R: userforward for mail@readynas
R: procmail for mail@readynas
R: maildrop for mail@readynas
R: lowuid_aliases for mail@readynas (UID 8)
R: local_user for mail@readynas
mail@readynas
    <-- root@readynas
  router = local_user, transport = mail_spool

To be continued...

Update Status: Sweet sound of success....

I'am very pleased to anounce, that it is indeed possible to to host a (simple) mailserver server stack on the the ReadyNAS Duo V2 without any major complexites except for the configuration part.

My setup on NAS Duo V2: fetchmail + exim4 + maildrop (not incroporated yet) + spamassasin (not incorporated yet) + dovecot + Roundcube. Maildrop is not crutial to run on a single consolidation mail account system like mine, spamassasin is optional because I've got a good provider doing that spam job for me.

Processorder of mail reception

* Collect all email data from various accounts with fetchmail.
* Fetchmail as system-wide daemon delivers all mails (SMTP piped) to exim.
* Exim processes the mail (actually no special filter installed) and drop all mails to the fetchmail user mail box.
* Spamassain (bypassed)
* Maildrop (bypassed)
* Dovecot acts as IMAP(S) and POP3(S) server gives remote access to the mail accounts (via PAM-Auth), mails are stored in INBOX and SEND accordingly.
* Roundcube on the NAS acts as an GUI-IMAPS client and gives web-access to the mail accounts and their management, restricted to the local network.

Mail delivery
Use the PHP-SMTP client of Roundcube to send data, Exim is now needed to run, as it's managing exclusively the local mail serivce, (normaly no extra server or service needed to use SMTP via PHP), so without running Exim a login to Roundcube via Dovecot IMAP would not be possible, at least not for me.

and this is it, all nice and wind.

The configuration is mostly standard, except for a few FQDN issues, network access, special user and mail accounts, als well as the fetchmail mail list.

Now I'm a proud user of my own WebMail-IMAP-Mailbox system doing the job of my VM (Virtual Machine) stuff, anyway during testing period I've decided not allow fetchmail to delete mails from my various account's, but to collect and delete them at an irregular intervall by my old VM-Mailclient. If someting went wrong on my new mail system I can rely on a working backup system, but as futher and further the new system prooves to be fully functional I'll cut that end loose some time.

If there are further interists in a How-To IMAP/POP3 a Duo V2 I would spend time to write one.
Happy NAS