A Linux system administrator should have a basic understanding of working with local email accounts. Many services will forward email messages to the local administrator (`root`) containing notifications about tasks and other relevant system information. Understanding how to forward an email on a local system is important in making sure that a system administrator does not miss out on any essential information. This learning activity will assist you in developing the skills necessary to set up local email forwarding on a system and learning how to access that email.
Learning Objectives
Successfully complete this lab by achieving the following learning objectives:
- Set up the Alias
Log into the server, and switch to the
rootuser.sudo su -
Run the following command to add an alias to all mail destined for the
rootuser so that it will instead get sent to thecloud_useraccount:echo "root: cloud_user" >> /etc/aliases
- Re-generate the Aliases Database File
Run the following command to re-generate a new
/etc/aliases.dbfile so that your new email alias rule gets registered:newaliases- Send a Test Email
Generate an email to test your new forwarding rule. You can use the following command to send a copy of the
/etc/servicesfile as an email attachment, along with the subject line "Just Testing" to the local ‘cloud_user’ account:mail -s "Just Testing" -a "/etc/services" cloud_user@localhost < /dev/nullWe are using a null message body, as we are just checking for the attachment.
- Read the Email, Then Remove It
Go back to the ‘cloud_user’ account, and run the mail command to view the
cloud_user‘s email message:mailThe message sent from the
rootuser should be in the list. Press the number corresponding to the message (typically ‘1’) and then press enter. After you have finished reviewing the message (you can press the spacebar to scroll through the attachment), press the Q key to close the message, then press the D key at the ampersand (&) prompt to delete the message. Finally, press the Q key to quit out of the mail application.
