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oemPro comes with a very flexible bounce tracking module which can be processed in two ways:

• Piping
• POP3/IMAP

In this manual, Piping method installation is described.

What is piping?

Piping is a push method within your MTA (Mail Transfer Agent) which directly transfers the incoming email to a script. In this manual, piping installation for Qmail, Sendmail, Exim and Postfix is described.

Piping method is more stable than POP3/IMAP method because received email is directly dispatched to defined script.

We strongly recommend all Unix based server owners to prefer this method instead of POP3/IMAP.

Requirements

To setup piping for oemPro bounce handling, you will need following access types to your server:

• SSH access (root level) or access to your cPanel (if available)

Step 1: Oempro Configuration

The first step is to change permission of bounce handling CLI (Command Line Interface) module:

In the above screenshot, we assumed that your oemPro is installed under /virtualhosts/collaboration/oemprov3620/. Please change this to your oemPro path.

The above command sets bounce_cli.php as executable lets it to be executed through the shell.

Step 2: Learn Your PHP Path

In order to run PHP scripts through shell, you need to enter the path of PHP CLI (Command Line Interface) to the top of PHP scripts. In this step, we will learn where your PHP CLI is installed.

This image shows that php is installed under /usr/bin/php directory. The first line of bounce_cli.php must match this path:

Step 3: Setup Piping on Your MTA

In this manual, we will describe how to setup piping for the following MTAs:

• Qmail
• Sendmail
• Exim
• Postfix

Addition to this, we will also describe how to setup piping for the following environments:

• Plesk
• CPanel

Qmail Piping Setup

In Qmail, you need to define piping in alias file which is usually found at:

/usr/local/qmail/mailnames/yourdomain.com/bounce/.qmail

The above alias file is for bounce@yourdomain.com email address.

Edit this file (see below) and enter the full path to bounce_cli.php file with a prefix of “|” (Pipe) character.

That’s all. Your alias file is set and now oemPro will immediately receive all emails arriving to bounce@yourdomain.com.

Sendmail Piping Setup

Aliases of Sendmail is located in /etc/aliases file.

We assume that you are going to create a piping for bounce@yourdomain.com.
Edit /etc/aliases file and to the bottom of this file, insert the following line:

bounce: ”|/virtualhosts/collaboration/oemprov3620/bounce_cli.php”

See below:

Important: There may be some other lines in this file. Do NOT change anything in this file other than your new line.

Some Sendmail systems are configured with SMRSH (Sendmail Restricted Shell) to prevent third party script execution. If you receive bounce messages with SMRSH failure message, then you will need to configure your Sendmail in the following way:

1. Learn your SMRSH path:
   
2. Create a symlink for bounce_cli.php
   
3. Update alias file
   

Now, you have configured your Sendmail with SMRSH.

As a final step, you will need to load your new aliases:

Exim Piping Setup

Aliases of Exim MTA is located in the following file:

/etc/valiases/yourdomain.com

Edit this file and add the following line to your alias file:

Bounce:”|/virtualhosts/path/to/oempro/bounce_cli.php”

As a final step, you will need to load your new aliases:

Postfix Piping Setup

Aliases of Postfix MTA is locatd in the following file:

/etc/postfix/aliases

Edit this file and add the following line to your alias file:

Bounce:”|/var/path/to/oempro/bounce_cli.php”

As a final step, you will need to load your new aliases:

PLESK Control Panel Piping

If you have a PLESK control panel provided by SWSoft on your erver, you need to follow these steps in order to setup piping:

1. Change CHMOD to 755 of httpdocs of your domain
2. Edit /var/qmail/mailnames/yourdomain.com/qmail-bounce file and set the content to:
   “|/var/path/to/oempro/bounce_cli.php”

That’s all for PLESK control panel.

CPanel Control Panel Piping

If you have a cPanel control panel on your server, please follow these steps in order to setup piping:

1. Login to your cPanel, click “Aliases and Forwarding” link
2. Click “Add Forwarder” link
3. Type “bounce” and select your domain. Then write the following command next to this email address:
   |/path/to/oemPro/bounce_cli.php
4. Click “Add a new Forwarder” button.

Things You Shouldn’t Forget

• You shouldn’t have a POP3 mailbox corresponding to alias you have set.
• If you are configuring through PLESK control panel, be sure that you have set CHMOD of httpdocs directory of your domain to 755 (executable)

Having Problems with Piping Setup?

If you are having problems setting up piping on your mail server or if your server paths are different than described in this manual, please contact your hosting provider to get a help for piping setup.

15th Aug 2007, Posted by Cem Hurturk under Bounce Detection and Handling, Mailing List Management