modoboa/doc-ng/installation/amavis.md

---
title: manual step to install amavis component on modoboa
description: This guide describe how to install amavis on the modoboa platform
head:
  - - meta
    - name: 'keywords'
      content: 'modoboa, installation, amavis, mysql, postgresql, quarantine' 
---

# Amavis

## Quick Amavis setup

By default, amavis doesn\'t use a database. To configure this behaviour,
you first need to create a dedicated database. This step is a bit manual
since no *ready-to-use* SQL schema is provided by amavis. The
information is located inside README files, one for
[MySQL](http://www.amavis.org/README.sql-mysql.txt) and one for
[PostgreSQL](http://www.amavis.org/README.sql-pg.txt).

Then, you must tell amavis to use this database for lookups and
quarantined messages storing. Here is a working configuration sample:

```ini [amavis]
@lookup_sql_dsn =
    (['DBI:<driver>:database=<database>;host=<dbhost>;port=<dbport>', '<dbuser>', '<password>]']);

@storage_sql_dsn =
    (['DBI:<driver>:database=<database>;host=<dbhost>;port=<dbport>', '<dbuser>', '<password>]']);

# PostgreSQL users NEED this parameter!
# MySQL users only need this parameter is email addresses are stored
# using the VARBINARY type.
$sql_allow_8bit_address = 1;

$virus_quarantine_method = 'sql:';
$spam_quarantine_method = 'sql:';
$banned_files_quarantine_method = 'sql:';
$bad_header_quarantine_method = 'sql:';

$virus_quarantine_to = 'virus-quarantine';
$banned_quarantine_to = 'banned-quarantine';
$bad_header_quarantine_to = 'bad-header-quarantine';
$spam_quarantine_to = 'spam-quarantine';
```

Replace values between `<>` by yours. To know how to configure amavis to
allow quarantined messages release, read this `section
<amavis_release>`{.interpreted-text role="ref"}.


::: info
Amavis configuration allows for separate lookup and storage databases
but Modoboa doesn\'t support it yet.
:::

::: info
`$sql_partition_tag` should remain undefined in `amavisd.conf`. Modoboa
does not support the use of `sql_partition_tag`, setting this value can
result in quarantined messages not showing or the wrong messages being
released or learnt as ham/spam.
:::

## Connect Modoboa and Amavis

You must tell to Modoboa where it can find the amavis database. Inside
`settings.py`{.interpreted-text role="file"}, add a new connection to
the `DATABASES` variable like this:

```python{5-9}  [settings.py]
DATABASES = {
    # Stuff before
    #
    "amavis": {
    "ENGINE" : "<your value>",
    "HOST" : "<your value>",
    "NAME" : "<your value>",
    "USER" : "<your value>",
    "PASSWORD" : "<your value>"
    }
}
```

Replace values between `<>` with yours.

### Cleanup

Storing quarantined messages to a database can quickly become a
perfomance killer. Modoboa provides a simple script to periodically
purge the quarantine database. To use it, add the following line inside
root\'s crontab:

```txt
0 0 * * * <modoboa_site>/manage.py qcleanup
#
# Or like this if you use a virtual environment:
# 0 0 * * * <virtualenv path/bin/python> <modoboa_site>/manage.py qcleanup
```

Replace `modoboa_site` with the path of your Modoboa instance.

By default, messages older than 14 days are automatically purged. You
can modify this value by changing the `MAX_MESSAGES_AGE` parameter in
the online panel.

## Release messages {#amavis_release}

To release messages, first take a look at [this
page](http://www.ijs.si/software/amavisd/amavisd-new-docs.html#quar-release).

It explains how to configure amavisd-new to listen somewhere for the
AM.PDP protocol. This protocol is used to send requests.

Below is an example of a working configuration:

```txt{1,2,10}
$interface_policy{'SOCK'} = 'AM.PDP-SOCK';
$interface_policy{'9998'} = 'AM.PDP-INET';

$policy_bank{'AM.PDP-SOCK'} = {
    protocol => 'AM.PDP',
    auth_required_release => 0,
};
$policy_bank{'AM.PDP-INET'} = {
    protocol => 'AM.PDP',
    inet_acl => [qw( 127.0.0.1 [::1] )],
};
```

Don't forget to update the `inet_acl` list if you plan to release from
the network.

Once amavisd-new is configured, just tell Modoboa where it can find the
*release server* by modifying the following parameters in the online
panel:

| Name                   | Description                                  | Default value            |
| ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | :----------------------- |
| Amavis connection mode | Mode used to access the PDP server           | unix                     |
| PDP server address     | PDP server address (if inet mode)            | localhost                |
| PDP server port        |  PDP server port  (if inet mode)             | 9998                     |              
| PDP server socket      | Path to the PDP server socket (if unix mode) | /var/amavis/amavisd.sock |
                      
### Deferred release

By default, simple users are not allowed to release messages themselves.
They are only allowed to send release requests to administrators.

As administrators are not always available or logged into Modoboa,
a notification tool is available. 

It sends reminder e-mails to every administrators or domain administrators.
To use it, add the following example line to root's crontab:

```txt
0 12 * * * <modoboa_site>/manage.py amnotify --baseurl='<modoboa_url>'
#
# Or like this if you use a virtual environment:
# 0 12 * * * <virtualenv path/bin/python> <modoboa_site>/manage.py amnotify --baseurl='<modoboa_url>'
````

You are free to change the frequency.

::: info
If you want to let users release their messages alone (not recommended),
go to the admin panel.
:::

The following parameters are available to let you customize this feature:

| Name                         | Description                                    | Default value              |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- |
| Check requests interval      | Interval between two release requests checks   | 30                         | 
| Allow direct release release | Allow users to directly release their messages | no                         |
| Notifications sender         | The e-mail address used to send notitications  | <notification@modoboa.org> |

## Self-service mode {#selfservice}

The *self-service* mode lets users act on quarantined messages without beeing authenticated. They can:

- View messages
- Remove messages
- Release messages (or send release requests)

To access a specific message, they only need the following information:

- Message's unique identifier
- Message's secret identifier

This information is controlled by *amavis*, which is in charge of
notifying users when new messages are put into quarantine. 

Each notification (one per message) must embark a direct link containing the
required identifiers.

To activate this feature, go the administration panel and set the
**Enable self-service mode** parameter to yes.

The last step is to customize the notification messages amavis sends.
The most important is to embark a direct link. Take a look at the
[README.customize](http://amavis.org/README.customize.txt) file to learn
what you're allowed to do.

Here is a link example:

    https://<modoboa_url>/user/selfquarantine/%i/%R?secret_id=[:secret_id]

## Manual SpamAssassin learning {#sa_manual_learning}

It is possible to manually train [SpamAssassin](http://spamassassin.apache.org/)
using the quarantine's content. By train, we mean:

- Mark message(s) as spam (false negative(s))
- Mark message(s) as non-spam (false positive(s))

This feature is available to all users (from super administrators to
simple users) but not enabled by default.

### SpamAssassin configuration

For better performance and to enable the per-user level, SpamAssassin
must store bayes information into a SQL database.

Create a new database and a new user/password (using your favorite
database server) and edit the default configuration file
(`/etc/spamassassin/local.cf`{.interpreted-text role="file"}) 
to add the following lines inside:

::: code-group

``` perl [PostgreSQL]
bayes_store_module    Mail::SpamAssassin::BayesStore::PgSQL
bayes_sql_dsn         <DSN>
bayes_sql_username    <db username>
bayes_sql_password    <db password>
```

``` perl [MySQL]
bayes_store_module    Mail::SpamAssassin::BayesStore::MySQL
bayes_sql_dsn         <DSN>
bayes_sql_username    <db username>
bayes_sql_password    <db password>
```

:::

Replace values between `<>` by yours. Possible values for `Driver` are
`PgSQL` or `MySQL` (non exhaustive list). The syntax for `DSN` depends
on the driver you choose. Please consult the official documentation.

### Enable the feature through Modoboa

Manual learning is disabled by default. You can activate it through the
administration panel (*Modoboa \> Paremeters \> Amavis*). There two
learning levels:

1.  Global: available to administrators only. A single (global) bayes
    database is shared between everyone.
2.  Per domain: available to administrators and domain administrators.
    Each domain can have a dedicated database.
3.  Per user: each user can create its own database to customize the way
    SpamAssassin will detect spam.

The domain and user levels are not activated by default, dedicated
parameters are available through the panel.

::: info
Domain and user databases are only created the first time someone calls
the learning feature through the quarantine.
:::

::: warning
A bayes database needs to reach pre-defined thresholds before it can be
used by SpamAssassin. The default values are **200** spams and **200**
hams.
:::

You will find other paramaters related to this feature. You won\'t need
to change them most of the time, unless SpamAssassin is hosted on a
different machine than Modoboa. (in this case, `spamc` will be used
instead of `sa-learn`).