Redirect email without storing on ISPConfig Server

I followed this tutorial almost a year ago and got a server up and running on Digital Ocean. Websites, email, the whole thing. I could not have done it without this tutorial.

I'm really struggling with a problem however that, on the surface, should be crazy simple to do. After working on it for 2 weeks on and off I am at a loss on how to proceed. Hopefully somebody here will know how to fix my issue.

My goal is to redirect the email for one users mailbox to another server entirely. So the mail comes in, is not stored but is redirected to the other server. The only way I have found that this can be achieved is to write a custom ruile inside that users mailbox settings.

In the Custom Rules area of that mailbox, I have this code.

require ["fileinto", "redirect"];

# Redirect all messages for "[email protected]" to "[email protected]"
if address :is :localpart "to" "tom" {
redirect "[email protected]";
stop; # Stop processing other Sieve rules for this message
}

As the email is being processed by the server, it makes the claim that it can not use the redirect command. There appears to be an error with the Sieve script. The error indicates that the redirect action is not recognized as a Sieve capability. This means that the Dovecot Sieve plugin might not be configured properly to handle the redirect action.

This is where I'm lost. I've learned a lot through this process, but I'm also getting to the point that I just need to get this working again.

Below is my dovecot.config file contents in case it helps.

Thanks, and sorry this ended up being so long.

GNU nano 4.8 /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf Modified
# Do not change this file, as changes will be overwritten by any ISPConfig update.
# Put your custom settings in /usr/local/ispconfig/server/conf-custom/install/dovecot_custom.conf.master.
# To start using those changes, do a force upgrade and let it reconfigure your services. (ispconfig_update.sh --force)
listen = *,[::]
protocols = imap pop3
auth_mechanisms = plain login
disable_plaintext_auth = no
log_timestamp = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S "
mail_privileged_group = vmail
postmaster_address = [email protected]
ssl_cert = </etc/postfix/smtpd.cert
ssl_key = </etc/postfix/smtpd.key
ssl_dh = </etc/dovecot/dh.pem
ssl_min_protocol = TLSv1.2
ssl_cipher_list = ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY13>
ssl_prefer_server_ciphers = no
mail_max_userip_connections = 100
# previous mail plugin line
mail_plugins = quota

# new mail plugin line
# mail_plugins = $mail_plugins quota sieve

passdb {
args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf
driver = sql
}
userdb {
driver = prefetch
}
userdb {
args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf
driver = sql
}
plugin {
quota = dict:user::file:/var/vmail/%d/%n/.quotausage

# no longer needed, as 'sieve' is in userdb extra fields:
sieve=/var/vmail/%d/%n/.sieve

sieve_before=/var/vmail/%d/%n/.ispconfig-before.sieve
sieve_after=/var/vmail/%d/%n/.ispconfig.sieve
sieve_max_script_size = 2M
sieve_max_actions = 100
sieve_max_redirects = 25
}
service auth {
unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth {
group = postfix
mode = 0660
user = postfix
}
unix_listener auth-userdb {
group = vmail

 

Do not create that mailbox when you do not want the e-mails stored on your server. Create "Email Forward" in ISPConfig Panel Email tab.

 

Interesting. I'll have to read more about that. It doesn't make sense to me that you can receive email without there being an email box, but I'll check the manual for more details. I appreciate your answer Taleman.

 

Thank you. I guess it just shows how green I am on this particular topic. But how you just explained it makes more sense. I appreciate your input Till.

 

Just a follow up that your suggestion was exactly what worked. It was a new concept for me to get my head around, having the ability to forward a message that has no mailbox to first receive it

I appreicate the help.