Getting Started

Set Timezone

Ensure the timezone is set correctly in your machine. From an SSH/Console prompt, run the following command to set your timezone where ZONE is your preferrred timezone (Example: sudo timedatectl set-timezone EST)

sudo timedatectl set-timezone ZONE

You can get a listing of all the time zones by running the following command:

sudo timedatectl list-timezones

Access Hermes SEG Administrator Console

Using a browser, access the Hermes SEG Administrator Console at https://<IP_ADDRESS>/admin/ where <IP_ADDRESS> is the IP address of your server.

If you have recently rebooted your system, you may get a 500 Internal Server Error when attempting to access the Hermes SEG Administrator Console. This usually means that the Authentication Server has not initialized yet. This error usually goes away on its own. Wait a couple of minutes and try refreshing your browser again.

Username: admin
Password: ChangeMe2!

Set System Settings MySQL Database Credentials

If this is a brand new installation, Do NOT fill in Postmaster E-mail Address field yet. If this is a system restored from backup, DO fill in the Postmaster E-mail Address field with an email address that contains a domain that your system relays e-mail.
Do NOT fill in the Admin E-mail Address field yet.
Fill in the MySQL Hermes Database Username you set during installation.
Fill in the MySQL Hermes Database Password you set during installation.
Fill in the MySQL Ciphermail Database Username you set during installation.
Fill in the MySQL Ciphermail Database Password you set during installation.
Fill in the MySQL SysLog Database Username you set during installation.
Fill in the MySQL SysLog Database Password you set during installation.
Fill in the MySQL Opendmarc Database Username you set during installation.
Fill in the MySQL Opendmarc Database Password you set during installation.
Click the Save Settings button (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Set Network Settings

Navigate to System --> Network Settings.
Set the Network Mode drop-down to Static.
Fill in the Host Name field. Ensure you enter only the name without the domain part. For example, if the FQDN of your Hermes SEG appliance is going to be smtp.domain.tld, then in the Host Name field you will simply enter smtp without the domain part.
Fill in the Primary Domain Name field. For example, if the FQDN of your Hermes SEG appliance is going to be smtp.domain.tld, then in the Primary Domain Name field you will simply enter domain.tld.
Fill in the Hermes SEG appliance IP Address, select the appropriate Subnet Mask for your network, fill in the Gateway and DNS1. If applicable, fill in DNS2 and DNS3 fields.
Click on the Submit button. Once the settings are saved, they will not take effect until you click on the Apply Settings button.
Click on the Apply Settings button (Figure 2).

Figure 2

If you changed Hermes SEG IP Address, your browser will most likely time out. Remember, to access the Hermes SEG Administrator Console Web GUI at https://<NEW_IP_ADDRESS/admin/ where is the <NEW_IP_ADDRESS> is the IP you set above.

Setup Relay Domains

In order for Hermes SEG to deliver email, you must first set the domain(s) that Hermes SEG will process email for along with their corresponding email server(s). You can add as many domains and email servers as required. An email server can be configured as an IP address or a Host Name as long as the Hermes SEG can reach it over Port TCP/25. Multiple domains can be pointed to the same email server if necessary.

From the Hermes SEG Administrator Console, navigate to Gateway --> Relay Domains (Old Web GUI).
Under the Relay Domain Destination Type, select whether you are adding an IP Address Destination to an email server or a Host Name Destination to an email server.

If you are adding an IP Address Destination

In the Relay Domain field enter the domain name, in the IP field enter the email server's IP address, in the Port field enter the email server's port number (if other than 25) and click the Add button (Figure 3).

Figure 3

If you are adding a Host Name Destination

In the Relay Domain field enter the domain name, in the Host field, enter the email server's Host Name part of the FQDN address (without the domain part), in the Domain field, enter the email server's domain part of the FQDN address, in the Port field enter the email server's port number (if other than 25), check the MX Lookup checkbox if necessary and then click the Add button (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Set System Settings Postmaster & Admin E-mail Address

From the Hermes SEG Administrator Console, navigate to System --> System Settings (Old Web GUI).
Fill in Postmaster E-mail Address field with an email belonging to a Relay Domain you setup above.
Fill in the Admin E-mail Address field with an email of domain outside of the system (i.e. a domain that the system does not relay email Ex: someone@hotmail.com).
Click the Save Settings button.

Setup Relay IPs & Networks

In addition to inbound email, if the email server(s) you added will also be sending outbound email through the Hermes SEG (recommended), you must allow their IP address(es) to send (relay) email through the Hermes SEG.

From the Hermes SEG Administrator Console, navigate to Gateway --> Relay IPs & Networks (Old Web GUI).
Ensure IP Address is selected and the under the IP Address field enter the IP Address of the email server that you want to allow to send email through the Hermes SEG, under the Note field, enter a short description identifying the email server (ensure that you don't use any spaces or special characters in the Note field) and click the Add button (Figure 5)

Figure 5

Repeat as necessary for every email server that you want to allow to send outbound email through the Hermes SEG.
As you add entries, you will notice that each entry shows up under the Permitted Relay Ips/Networks to be added section (Figure 6)

Figure 6

After you are finished adding all your permitted email servers, you must apply the settings in order for the changes to take effect. On the bottom of the page, click on the Apply Settings button (Figure 7)

Figure 7

Initialize Pyzor

Pyzor is a collaborative, networked system to detect and block spam using digests of messages. Vipul's Razor is a distributed, collaborative, spam detection and filtering network.

Hermes SEG uses both of these components for better spam detection. Both of these components must be initialized before Hermes SEG can use them.

From the Hermes SEG Administrator Console, navigate to Content Checks --> Initialize Pyzor (Old Web GUI) and click on the Initialize Pyzor button. Wait for successful completion before proceeding further (Figure 8).

Figure 8

Initialize Vipul's Razor

Before attempting to initialize Vipul's Razor, ensure the Hermes SEG has outbound Internet access. Initialization can take a few minutes to complete, so please be patient.

From the Hermes SEG Administrator Console, navigate to Content Checks --> Initialize Vipul's Razor (Old Web GUI) and click on the Initialize Razor button. Wait for successful completion before proceeding further (Figure 9).

Figure 9

Clear Bayes Database

The Bayes Database tries to identify spam by looking at what are called tokens; words or short character sequences that are commonly found in spam or ham.

On a new Hermes SEG installation, it's always best to ensure a clean Bayes Database before you start processing email.

From the Hermes SEG Administrator Console, navigate to Content Checks --> Clear Bayes Database (Old Web GUI) and click on the Clear Database button. Wait for successful completion before proceeding further (Figure 10).

Figure 10

Add Internal Recipients Manually

Hermes SEG requires a listing of Internal Recipients in order to process incoming email and deliver that email to the correct recipient mailboxes which are located on an email server(s) which were previously specified on Setup Relay Domains section above.

Hermes SEG also supports automatic import of recipients via AD/LDAP but that feature is only available with a Hermes SEG Pro License. If you have a SEG Pro License and you wish to utilize AD/LDAP Recipient import, please see Add Internal Recipients Automatically with AD/LDAP Directory of this guide below.

From the Hermes SEG Administrator Console, navigate to Gateway --> Internal Recipients
Click the Create Recipient(s) button (Figure 11):

Figure 11

In the Add Internal Recipient(s) page, in the Recipient(s) field, enter an e-mail address each in each own line, select the appropriate options in the SVF Policy to Assign, Quarantine Reports, Quarantine Report Frequency, Train Bayes Filter from User Portal, Download Messages from User Portal, PDF encryption, S/MIME Encryption, S/MIME SIGNATURE, PGP Encryption drop-downs and click the Submit button (Figure 12):

Figure 12

Set Encryption Settings

From the Hermes SEG Administrator Console, navigate to Encryption --> Encryption Settings (Old Web GUI).
Fill in Encryption by e-mail subject keyword field or leave it set to default [encrypt].
Select whether you wish to Remove the e-mail subject keyword after encryption or leave it to default Yes.
Fill in the Secure Portal Address. The address should be the Internet accessible FQDN of the Hermes SEG system followed by /web/portal/. Ex: https://hermes.domain.tld/web/portal/
Fill in the PDF Reply Sender E-mail field. This must be an email address with a domain that Hermes SEG relays email. Ex: postmaster@domain.tld
Click the button for the Server, Client and Mail Secret Keyword fields to generate random keywords, or set your own 10-character minimum uppler/lower case letter/number keywords.
Click on the Save Settings button and after the settings are saved, click the Apply Settings button(Figure 13).

Figure 13

Set Antispam Settings

From the Hermes SEG Administrator Console, navigate to Content Checks --> Antispam Settings (Old Web GUI).
Fill in the User Portal Address field. The address should be the Internet accessible FQDN of the Hermes SEG system followed by /users. Ex: https://hermes.domain.tld/users
Click the Save Settings button and after the settings are saved, click the Apply Settings button (Figure 14).

Figure 14

Change admin System Account Password

Navigate to System --> Change Password.
In the System Users screen, click the icon next to the admin Username (Figure 14).

Figure 14

In the Edit System User screen, set the Set User Password drop-down to YES, enter a new password in the User Password field that appears and click the Submit button (Figure 15).

Figure 15

Change the Ciphermail admin Account Password

Navigate to https://<IP_ADDRESS>/ciphermail/ where <IP_ADDRESS> is the IP Address of your machine and login with the following default credentials (Figure 16):

Username: admin
Password: admin

Figure 16

Once logged in, click on the Admin entry on the top menu and on the Administrators page, click on the admin username (Figure 17).

Figure 17

In the Edit Administrator: admin page, enter a new password in the first Password field and then verify it in the second Password field and then click on the Apply button at the bottom of the page (Figure 18). Passwords must be at least 8 characters long, they must contain letters, numbers and special characters.

Figure 18

Recommendations

Add Barracuda and Zen Spamhaus RBLs

In order to use the Barracuda RBL you must first register for a free account. Goto http://www.barracudacentral.org/rbl and register for a free account.
From the Hermes SEG Administrator Console, navigate to Content Checks --> RBL Configuration (Old Web GUI).
Under the Select the type of entry section, ensure Block List is selected. Under the Block List field enter b.barracudacentral.org, under the Weight field enter 3 and then click the Add button.
Repeat Step 3 to add zen.spamhaus.org with a weight of 3 also (Figure 19)

Figure 19

Finally, click on the Apply Settings button on the bottom of the page to apply the RBL changes (Figure 20)

Figure 20