Kunnskapsbase

Overview

Amavis manages notification routing for detected viruses, spam, banned file attachments, and malformed headers through specific configuration variables. By default, these variables are undefined:

# $newvirus_admin = undef;
# $virus_admin = undef;
# $spam_admin = undef;
# $banned_admin = undef;
# $bad_header_admin = undef;

However, Debian and Ubuntu distributions override this behavior by setting virus notifications in /etc/amavis/conf.d/20-debian_defaults:

$virus_admin = "postmaster\@$mydomain"; # due to D_DISCARD default

This article outlines the procedure to disable virus notification emails across supported Linux distributions.

Prerequisites

• Sudo or root access to the server
• A command-line text editor (e.g., nano, vim)

Distribution-Specific Configuration Files

The location of the Amavis configuration file varies by operating system:

• AlmaLinux/CloudLinux/RHEL: /etc/amavisd/warden.conf
• Debian/Ubuntu: /etc/amavis/conf.d/99-warden

Procedure: Disable Virus Notifications

1. Open the appropriate configuration file for your operating system using a text editor.
2. Navigate to the end of the file and locate the final line, which contains 1;.
3. Add the following directive immediately before that line:

$virus_admin = undef;

Apply Changes

4. Save the file and exit the text editor.
5. Restart the Amavis service to apply the configuration changes. Execute the command corresponding to your distribution:

// AlmaLinux/CloudLinux/RHEL
systemctl restart amavisd

// Debian/Ubuntu
systemctl restart amavis

Troubleshooting

• Service fails to restart: Verify the syntax of the edited configuration file. Ensure the added line is placed directly before the final 1; statement and contains no trailing spaces or typographical errors.
• Virus notifications persist after changes: Confirm that the correct distribution-specific configuration file was modified. Inspect other files within the Amavis configuration directory for conflicting overrides.