[CentOS] system smtp server question

[Jeff Larsen]

On Feb 6, 2008 12:03 PM, nate <centos at linuxpowered.net> wrote:
> Joseph L. Casale wrote:
>
> > Currently I have postfix setup with maps so that root on server A has mail
> > sent from root at server-a.fqdn<mailto:root at server-a.fqdn> and that is relayed
> > to my production box. It just seems like it is an additional service to
> > manage on so many hosts?
>
> I'm not aware of any other method, and as for managing, it's typically
> set it and forget it. Forward all mail to a central server, no other
> configuration needed on the local systems.
>
> my postfix config for this purpose is 8 lines, and could probably
> be cut down even further, haven't tried though
<snip>

Same here, I don't like having mail daemons running on 30+ virtual
machines, but I do it anyway, with postfix similar to Nate. I'm
obsessive-compulsive when it comes to minimizing the footprint of a
virtual machine, but I've given up on this one. An advantage to having
outbound mail handled by a local daemon is the queuing of failures.
When your mail server or network is temporarily down, you don't want
to lose messages. Think of your typical fat-client mail program like
Thunderbird. If it can't reach the outbound server, you're done,
message failed. With postfix handling the transfer of messages, it
queues it up and delivers it as soon as possible with no intervention.
Any attempt at getting mail off a Linux box without a local daemon is
ultimately going to be much messier and higher maintenance than
running a local MTA.

My $0.02,

Jeff