How to set exim to use outside SMTP?

Question

I want my scripts on the server to be able to send emails, but via outside, 3rd party mail service for which I'm paying anyway. I have exim and even dovecot installed anyway, but I suppose i will need only exim for this? However, I have absolutely no idea about emails and how to set it up. Found some tutorials about exim but they seem to be outdated.

Everything I have installed including the OS (Ubuntu) is the latest versions installed just few days ago.

Currently im using this 3rd party email just locally with thunderbird and have all the server information needed.

Answer 1

exim is a complex tool, and you need to have a good grasp of it in order to use it. The definitive guide is The Exim SMTP mail server, written by Philip Hazel, the primary author of exim. You should read it.

That said, what you're looking for is what exim calls a "smart host" - a host that exim can hand outgoing mail to for delivery. In Debian or Ubuntu, you can set a smarthost in exim in either of two ways:

1. Edit /etc/exim4/update-exim4.conf.conf and set

   dc_eximconfig_configtype='smarthost'
   dc_smarthost='<name_of_smart_host>::<port>'
   

   Then run update-exim4.conf.

2. Run dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config, or apt-get --reinstall install exim4-config. Follow the setup prompts, and choose the smarthost option.

Answer 2

I don't know why you'd want postfix or exim for relaying your mails, but if you don't depend on them, you could also look into sSMTP. Quite easy to configure and very lightweight.