Configure Postfix to send mail on Ubuntu Linux server

The below is my experience to successfully configure Postfix service on Ubuntu Linux server to send mail via an external SMTP server.

Precondition

You should know the address and port of your SMTP server, whether or not your SMTP server supports to use fake e-mail address to send mail without account/password authentication. Generally, The rule of SMTP server requires real e-mail account.

1. Install

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install -y mailutils

During installation, you can select the default and enter when asked some questions. If you have already installed Postfix on your Linux server, can skip above steps.

2. Configure Postfix

Postfix (main.cf) is now set up with a default configuration. If you need to make changes, edit /etc/postfix/main.cf (and others) as needed. To view Postfix configuration values, see postconf(1). After modifying main.cf, please be sure to run 'systemctl reload postfix'.

2.1 configure relayhost address in Postfix configuration file

Edit /etc/postfix/main.cf

relayhost = [SMTP_SERVER_IP]  #The default port is 25

Or specifiy SMTP server address and port simultaneously

relayhost = [smtp.example.com