Email aliases file in Linux

Question: How do I manually setup email aliases in Linux?

Answer: Generally speaking, there is probably no reason for you to modify your aliases file manually. In some cases, however, a script will require you to edit the file, and it is important to know where it is and how to access it.

On a dedicated server, the Sendmail or Postfix aliases file is almost always located in /etc/mail/aliases. To edit the file, you can use vi or my preference, nano.

$ su

# vi /etc/aliases
or
# nano -w /etc/aliases

The aliases file is rather simple to use. It is presented in columns with the aliases on the left and the file or mailbox that it points to on the right.

For example,

billing: callcenter

You must edit the file as root and then run the following command also as root:

# newaliases

Photo Source: Flickr