docker-mailserver/docs/content/usage.md

title
Usage

This pages explains how to get started with DMS, basically explaining how you can use it. The procedure uses Docker Compose as a reference. In our examples, /docker-data/dms/config/ on the host is mounted to /tmp/docker-mailserver/ inside the container.

Available Images / Tags - Tagging Convention

CI/CD will automatically build, test and push new images to container registries. Currently, the following registries are supported:

1. DockerHub (docker.io/mailserver/docker-mailserver)
2. GitHub Container Registry (ghcr.io/docker-mailserver/docker-mailserver)

All workflows are using the tagging convention listed below. It is subsequently applied to all images.

Event	Image Tags
push on master	edge
push a tag (v1.2.3)	1.2.3, 1.2, 1, latest

Get the Tools

!!! note "setup.sh Not Required Anymore"

Since DMS `v10.2.0`, [`setup.sh` functionality](../faq/#how-to-adjust-settings-with-the-user-patchessh-script) is included within the container image. The external convenience script is no longer required if you prefer using `docker exec <CONTAINER NAME> setup <COMMAND>` instead.

Issue the following commands to acquire the necessary files:

DMS_GITHUB_URL='https://raw.githubusercontent.com/docker-mailserver/docker-mailserver/master'
wget "${DMS_GITHUB_URL}/docker-compose.yml"
wget "${DMS_GITHUB_URL}/mailserver.env"

# Optional
wget "${DMS_GITHUB_URL}/setup.sh"
chmod a+x ./setup.sh

Create a docker-compose Environment

1. Install the latest Docker Compose
2. Edit docker-compose.yml to your liking
   • substitute mail.example.com according to your FQDN
   • if you want to use SELinux for the ./docker-data/dms/config/:/tmp/docker-mailserver/ mount, append -z or -Z
3. Configure the mailserver container to your liking by editing mailserver.env (Documentation), but keep in mind this .env file:
   • only basic VAR=VAL is supported (do not quote your values)
   • variable substitution is not supported (e.g. 🚫 OVERRIDE_HOSTNAME=$HOSTNAME.$DOMAINNAME 🚫)

!!! info "Podman Support"

If you're using podman, make sure to read the related [documentation](https://docker-mailserver.github.io/docker-mailserver/edge/config/advanced/podman/)

Get up and running

First Things First

!!! danger "Using the Correct Commands For Stopping and Starting DMS"

**Use `docker compose up / down`, not `docker compose start / stop`**. Otherwise, the container is not properly destroyed and you may experience problems during startup because of inconsistent state.

You are able to get a full overview of how the configuration works by either running:

1. ./setup.sh help which includes the options of setup.sh.
2. docker run --rm docker.io/mailserver/docker-mailserver:latest setup help which provides you with all the information on configuration provided "inside" the container itself.

??? info "Usage of setup.sh when no DMS Container Is Running"

If no DMS container is running, any `./setup.sh` command will check online for the `:latest` image tag (the current _stable_ release), performing a `docker pull ...` if necessary followed by running the command in a temporary container:

```console
$ ./setup.sh help
Image 'docker.io/mailserver/docker-mailserver:latest' not found. Pulling ...
SETUP(1)

NAME
    setup - 'docker-mailserver' Administration & Configuration script
...

$ docker run --rm docker.io/mailserver/docker-mailserver:latest setup help
SETUP(1)

NAME
    setup - 'docker-mailserver' Administration & Configuration script
...
```

Starting for the first time

On first start, you will need to add at least one email account (unless you're using LDAP). You have two minutes to do so, otherwise DMS will shutdown and restart. You can add accounts with the following two methods:

1. Use setup.sh: ./setup.sh email add <user@domain>
2. Run the command directly in the container: docker exec -ti <CONTAINER NAME> setup email add <user@domain>

You can then proceed by creating the postmaster alias and by creating DKIM keys.

docker-compose up -d mailserver

# you may add some more users
# for SELinux, use -Z
./setup.sh [-Z] email add <user@domain> [<password>]

# and configure aliases, DKIM and more
./setup.sh [-Z] alias add postmaster@<domain> <user@domain>

Further Miscellaneous Steps

DNS - DKIM

You can (and you should) generate DKIM keys by running

./setup.sh [-Z] config dkim

If you want to see detailed usage information, run

./setup.sh config dkim help

In case you're using LDAP, the setup looks a bit different as you do not add user accounts directly. Postfix doesn't know your domain(s) and you need to provide it when configuring DKIM:

./setup.sh config dkim domain '<domain.tld>[,<domain2.tld>]'

When keys are generated, you can configure your DNS server by just pasting the content of config/opendkim/keys/domain.tld/mail.txt to set up DKIM. See the documentation for more details.

Custom User Changes & Patches

If you'd like to change, patch or alter files or behavior of docker-mailserver, you can use a script. See this part of our documentation for a detailed explanation.