So you want to do something simple like monitor your hard drives S.M.A.R.T status. You go to install the smartmontools package on Ubuntu and your prompted to install Postfix, and your faced with having to setup a mail relay, what a drag.

This is a simple walkthrough on the changes you need to make after Postfix is installed relay all mail generated on your system to an external mail server that requires SMTP Authentication.

When your prompted by the postfix package configuration choose Local Only, the wizard won’t let you setup authentication so we’re going to add the rest manually. Choosing Local Only will only create a basic main.cf for you. Once the install is complete do the following.

Assume Ubuntu 9.04

Add the following lines to /etc/postfix/main.cf

relayhost = [host3.green-light.ca]:587
smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes
smtp_sasl_password_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
smtp_sasl_security_options =

Create a new file called /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd

[host3.green-light.ca]:587  user:password

Give that file proper permissions

sudo chown root:root /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd; sudo chmod 0600 /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd

Create the hash database from your sasl_passwd file.

sudo postmap hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd

Reload postfix with your new settings

sudo postfix reload

Thunderbird turned 3 this month and has definitely matured. We’ve been recommending Thunderbird 2 for years and have been using the developer release of 3  internally for over a year now. It’s great!

If your using Outlook or god forbid Outlook Express (OE is a non stop virus smorgasbord, switch to anything else, today) you’ll want to download Thunderbird 3 and give it a try see the difference. It auto imports all your mail, contacts and settings for you during the setup. It does however take a different approach to “features”.  For instance, if you want a calendar visit the Mozilla Lightening Project to download the necessary add-on.

1. Download and install Thunderbird 3, run through the import wizard to get your mail, address book and settings from Outlook.
2. Visit the Mozilla Lightning Project in your favorite browser, from the nightly section choose which your Operating System, Right click and SAVE the lighning.xpi file to your desktop.
3. Going back to Thunderbird click Tools > Add-ons > Click the “install” button and select the lightning.xpi file.
4. Once the file is loaded you will be asked to restart, when Thunerbird is started back up you will have a calendar built right in.

If you would like an expert to help please call our support line @ 14036689184, support for Thunderbird is free for our hosting customers. For everyone else Remote Desktop Support is only $1.00 a minute, so take advantage of it. If it’s your a first time the first 10 minutes are free

Those of us who work in the Technology field daily see the value of mature Open Source projects every day. They are better designed, with tighter engineering and more robust frameworks and underpinnings.

The French Military seems to agree. When they encountered the need to build additional secure components for use internally Microsoft Outlook just didn’t cut it. I would assume their lack of transparency and the shear manageability of the Outlook/Office bloat had the French Military Software Engineers pulling their stockings up and running straight for the hills.

After branching their own version of Thunderbird into TrustedBird some of the advancements they made have worked their way back into Thunderbird 3, making it better for everyone.

If your using Thunderbird 2 today, you’ll most likely want to upgrade to 3.

1. From Thunderbird Click “Help” > “Check for Update…”  you’ll be prompted through the update process.