Question

Postfix won't send to external server with same domain name

I’ve seen this question asked quite a few times, but none of the answers are working for me. I’m trying to send email from the server (let’s call it www.server.com) to user@server.com and it is rejected as postfix can’t find the user. It works just fine to send to user@anotherserver.com. I’ve edited the config file (and restarted postfix) about 50 time, but to to no avail (mostly editing the line ‘mydestination = $myhostname’, to remove any variables, add and subtract some of them.

Here’s my anonymised config file:

# See /usr/share/postfix/main.cf.dist for a commented, more complete version


# Debian specific:  Specifying a file name will cause the first
# line of that file to be used as the name.  The Debian default
# is /etc/mailname.
#myorigin = /etc/mailname

smtpd_banner = $myhostname ESMTP $mail_name (Ubuntu)
biff = no

# appending .domain is the MUA's job.
append_dot_mydomain = no

# Uncomment the next line to generate "delayed mail" warnings
#delay_warning_time = 4h

readme_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix

# TLS parameters
smtpd_tls_cert_file = /etc/postfix/smtpd.cert
smtpd_tls_key_file = /etc/postfix/smtpd.key
smtpd_use_tls = yes
smtpd_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${data_directory}/smtpd_scache
smtp_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${data_directory}/smtp_scache

# See /usr/share/doc/postfix/TLS_README.gz in the postfix-doc package for
# information on enabling SSL in the smtp client.

smtpd_relay_restrictions = permit_mynetworks permit_sasl_authenticated defer_unauth_destination
myhostname = www.server.com
alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases, hash:/var/lib/mailman/data/aliases
alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases, hash:/var/lib/mailman/data/aliases
myorigin = /etc/mailname
mydestination = $myhostname
relayhost =
mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8 [::1]/128
mailbox_size_limit = 0
recipient_delimiter = +
inet_interfaces = loopback-only
inet_protocols = all
html_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix/html
virtual_alias_domains =
virtual_alias_maps = hash:/var/lib/mailman/data/virtual-mailman, proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_forwardings.cf, proxy:mysql:/et$
virtual_mailbox_domains = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_domains.cf
virtual_mailbox_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_mailboxes.cf
virtual_mailbox_base = /var/vmail
virtual_uid_maps = mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_uids.cf
virtual_gid_maps = mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_gids.cf
sender_bcc_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_outgoing_bcc.cf
smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes
broken_sasl_auth_clients = yes
smtpd_sasl_authenticated_header = yes
smtpd_restriction_classes = greylisting
greylisting = check_policy_service inet:127.0.0.1:10023
smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_mynetworks, permit_sasl_authenticated, reject_unauth_destination, check_recipient_access mysql:/e$
smtpd_tls_security_level = may
transport_maps = hash:/var/lib/mailman/data/transport-mailman, proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_transports.cf
relay_domains = mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_relaydomains.cf
relay_recipient_maps = mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_relayrecipientmaps.cf
smtpd_sender_login_maps = proxy:mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_sender_login_maps.cf
proxy_read_maps = $local_recipient_maps $mydestination $virtual_alias_maps $virtual_alias_domains $sender_bcc_maps $virtual_mailbox_map$
smtpd_helo_required = yes
smtpd_helo_restrictions = permit_sasl_authenticated, permit_mynetworks, check_helo_access regexp:/etc/postfix/helo_access, reject_inval$
smtpd_sender_restrictions = check_sender_access regexp:/etc/postfix/tag_as_originating.re , permit_mynetworks, permit_sasl_authenticate$
smtpd_client_restrictions = check_client_access mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual_client.cf
smtpd_client_message_rate_limit = 100
maildrop_destination_concurrency_limit = 1
maildrop_destination_recipient_limit = 1
virtual_transport = dovecot
header_checks = regexp:/etc/postfix/header_checks
mime_header_checks = regexp:/etc/postfix/mime_header_checks
nested_header_checks = regexp:/etc/postfix/nested_header_checks
body_checks = regexp:/etc/postfix/body_checks
owner_request_special = no
smtp_tls_security_level = may
smtpd_tls_mandatory_protocols = !SSLv2, !SSLv3
smtpd_tls_protocols = !SSLv2,!SSLv3
smtp_tls_protocols = !SSLv2,!SSLv3
smtpd_tls_exclude_ciphers = RC4, aNULL
smtp_tls_exclude_ciphers = RC4, aNULL
dovecot_destination_recipient_limit = 1
smtpd_sasl_type = dovecot
smtpd_sasl_path = private/auth
content_filter = amavis:[127.0.0.1]:10024
receive_override_options = no_address_mappings
message_size_limit = 0
smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes
smtp_sasl_password_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
smtp_sasl_security_options =
default_transport = smtp
relay_transport = smtp

Any thoughts?


Submit an answer


This textbox defaults to using Markdown to format your answer.

You can type !ref in this text area to quickly search our full set of tutorials, documentation & marketplace offerings and insert the link!

Sign In or Sign Up to Answer

These answers are provided by our Community. If you find them useful, show some love by clicking the heart. If you run into issues leave a comment, or add your own answer to help others.

Accepted Answer

Thanks, both!

Found the answer after googling ‘postfix turn off local delivery’ which led me here: http://serverfault.com/questions/137591/postifx-disable-local-delivery

What worked for me was a combo of this setting:

mydestination = localhost

And commenting out these 3 variables:

#virtual_mailbox_domains = 
#virtual_alias_maps = 
#virtual_mailbox_maps = 

And then restarting postfix.

I did the procedure as described in this article and managed to send email to the domain that is on the same mail server. However, I no longer receive email. Please help me with this.

I can’t see what the name in myorigin is, but I guess it’s yourdomain.com I usually set the following, if the server is just relaying to another place:

myhostname = servername.domain.com
myorigin = servername.domain.com
mydestination =

Where servername is whatever the host name is and domain.com is whatever your actual domain is.

Try DigitalOcean for free

Click below to sign up and get $200 of credit to try our products over 60 days!

Sign up

Become a contributor for community

Get paid to write technical tutorials and select a tech-focused charity to receive a matching donation.

DigitalOcean Documentation

Full documentation for every DigitalOcean product.

Resources for startups and SMBs

The Wave has everything you need to know about building a business, from raising funding to marketing your product.

Get our newsletter

Stay up to date by signing up for DigitalOcean’s Infrastructure as a Newsletter.

New accounts only. By submitting your email you agree to our Privacy Policy

The developer cloud

Scale up as you grow — whether you're running one virtual machine or ten thousand.

Get started for free

Sign up and get $200 in credit for your first 60 days with DigitalOcean.*

*This promotional offer applies to new accounts only.