adegtyarev.ansible_role_exim4

Ansible Role: Exim4

This is an Ansible role that helps you install and set up Exim4 on Debian or Ubuntu systems.

You can customize your Exim4 installation using different variables.

Usage

To download this role to your Ansible host, use the following command:

$ ansible-galaxy install adegtyarev.exim4

In your playbook, include the role and set your desired options like this:

roles:
  - role: adegtyarev.exim4

By default, this role installs the exim4-daemon-light package, without additional configuration beyond the operating system defaults. The role is designed to work with the Debian package system. You can enable or disable features as needed.

Additionally, the role adds a default Exim user, Debian-exim, to the ssl-cert group so that it can access SSL certificates and keys.

Role Variables

Here are the available variables you can use:

Variable	Default Value	Description
exim4_package_name	exim4-daemon-light	The name of the package to install
exim4_conf_keyvalue	empty	List of key-value pairs for configuration
exim4_conf_values	empty	List of one-per-line values for configuration

For exim4_package_name, you can also choose exim4-daemon-heavy or any other package name available on your system.

Using lists of dictionaries

exim4_conf_keyvalue creates config files with key-value pairs. For example:

exim4_conf_keyvalue:
  - name: hubbed_hosts
    data:
      example.com: mail.example.com
      example.net: mail.example.net

This creates the file /etc/exim4/hubbed_hosts with specified key-value pairs.

exim4_conf_values creates config files with a flat list. For example:

exim4_conf_values:
  - name: local_rcpt_callout
    data:
      - "*@example.com"
      - "*@example.net"

This creates a file /etc/exim4/local_rcpt_callout with the address list.

Maintaining update-exim4.conf.conf

The following variables are used for the /etc/exim4/update-exim4.conf.conf file:

Variable	Default Value	Description
exim4_dc_eximconfig_configtype	internet	Configuration type of the mail server
exim4_dc_other_hostnames	ansible_hostname	Other hosts that can receive mail
exim4_dc_local_interfaces	127.0.0.1 ; ::1	IP addresses to listen on
exim4_dc_minimaldns	false	Minimize DNS queries
exim4_dc_localdelivery	mail_spool	Method for local mail delivery
exim4_dc_use_split_config	false	Use small configuration files?
exim4_dc_mailname_in_oh	true	Internal usage only
exim4_dc_relay_nets	empty	Machines relaying mail
exim4_dc_relay_domains	empty	Domains for mail relaying
exim4_CFILEMODE	644	File mode for the generated file

For smarthost-specific variables:

Variable	Default Value	Description
exim4_dc_smarthost	empty	IP address or host name for the outgoing smarthost
exim4_dc_hide_mailname	empty	Hide local mail name in outgoing mail?
exim4_dc_readhost	empty	Domain name visible to local users

For more information on these variables, check the update-exim4.conf manual page.

The role also has default settings for Exim4 configuration.

You can configure DKIM by simply adding:

exim4_dkim_enable: true

exim4_features_enable:
    - name: 30_exim4-config_dkim
      group: main

To reconfigure an existing Exim installation, add these variables and run Ansible with the appropriate tags:

ansible-playbook -t exim4-dkim,exim4-reconfigure playbook.yml

This will generate a public/private key for signing messages. You need to publish the public key using a TXT record:

dkim._domainkey.example.com IN TXT "k=rsa; p={{PUBLIC_KEY}}"

Where {{PUBLIC_KEY}} is the content of /etc/exim4/dkim.public without the first and last lines.

The following variables can be adjusted for DKIM:

Variable	Default Value	Description
exim4_dkim_keysize	2048	Size of the key
exim4_dkim_canon	relaxed	Method for canonicalization
exim4_dkim_selector	dkim	Key selector string

You can modify these to fit your needs.

Maintaining Exim4 log rotation

By default, this role keeps Debian's log rotation settings. To adjust them, use these variables:

exim4_logrotate_base:
  - name: exim4-base
    path: /var/log/exim4/mainlog /var/log/exim4/rejectlog
    type: daily
    rotate: 10
    create: 640 Debian-exim adm

exim4_logrotate_paniclog:
  - name: exim4-paniclog
    path: /var/log/exim4/paniclog
    type: size 10M
    rotate: 10
    create: 640 Debian-exim adm

For monthly rotation of logs, set it up like this:

exim4_logrotate_base:
  - name: exim4-base
    path: /var/log/exim4/mainlog /var/log/exim4/rejectlog
    type: monthly

Enable or disable Exim4 features

You can enable or disable features in Exim4 as follows:

exim4_features_enable:
  - name: 02_exim4-custom_options
    group: main

  - name: 30_exim4-config_dovecot_lmtp
    group: transport

exim4_features_disable:
  - name: 30_exim4-config_examples
    group: auth

exim4_custom_options:
  - daemon_smtp_ports: "25 : 465 : 587"
  - rfc1413_query_timeout: 0s
  - smtp_banner: "ESMTP server ready $tod_full"

This will enable the 02_exim4-custom_options in the main configuration group and 30_exim4-config_dovecot_lmtp in the transport group, while disabling the 30_exim4-config_examples feature if it exists.

You can use these tags to reconfigure Exim4: