Demo
Demo

Knowledge base

PMTA knowledge base›File§ 1.6.3

The defaults file

PowerMTA default configuration file
The base the main file is laid over

The second main configuration file: the defaults over which the main one is read.

Where it lives. Linux /etc/pmta/config-defaults; Windows c:\pmta\config-defaults.dat.

The main trap is forgetting that the file exists. It is not edited every day and so drops out of sight: when setting permissions, when making backups, when investigating. Yet it defines the node’s state on a par with the main file.
What the Hub does. The Hub does not touch it — it writes the main configuration file, the sending addresses file and the proxy file (/etc/pmta/proxy.txt), and places the signing keys, the certificate and the webhook headers file next to them. So the vendor defaults apply here as they are, and knowing what they contain is useful.
Recommended values

What to check:

What What it should be
location what the manual names
permissions the same as the rest of the configuration
backup together with the configuration directory

Copy it together with the node’s other files — on its own it is rarely remembered.

The order of checks is ours. From the manual come the file’s location and its purpose.
Example configuration
# check whether the file exists and with what permissions
ls -l /etc/pmta/
Listing the configuration directory answers both questions at once — whether the file exists and whether it is protected the same way as the others.
yellow — — directive names, blue — blocks. They are highlighted the same way in the text of the card.
Compatibility
PowerMTA 6.0
described in the manual of this version · platform: any
The vendor does not state the first version for every directive — there is no note here. The name also appears in the 5.0 edition of the manual.
Reference data
Syntax
Not described in this chapter.
Everything here comes from the manual, with the section.
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Related entries

1 relation

Works together with

The node's main configuration fileThe main configuration file, next to which this one lives. § 1.6.3

Referenced from

ConfigurationThe file this output refers to. § 5.6

How to check on the node
Check it together with the other configuration files:
ls -l /etc/pmta/
pmta test config
The first shows presence and permissions. The second — that the configuration as a whole parses: if the file is damaged, it shows up right here.
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What else to read

3 articles

◇Accept, route, deliverA message’s path inside the node: accept, decide where, deliver — and all the settings live between these three steps.◇Four value types the whole config is written inBoolean, domain pattern, regular expression and time interval — defined once in § 3.2 and then used by all directives.◇Reloading settings versus restarting the serviceThe configuration is read at startup, and after that edits are picked up by the reload command — except for the directives the manual marks as requiring a restart.

In the Hub
Cost of a mistake
safe: a wrong value breaks nothing
Scenarios
Configuration lifecycle