By default, our server has an email account called root. This usually where any system-related emails are sent to this email. However, since we’re using Google Apps for our email, we will not receive these emails.

By default, cron and ConfigServer (our firewall) send email to the root account. These emails can be useful, and you may want a way of receiving them. Since we don’t have POP or IMAP setup, and doing so for one email account would be pointless, we need another way of reading these emails. Sure, you could fire up SSH and run the mail command, but that’s far from an ideal way of reading email.

The best way to receive this email is to setup an alias for the root email account. An alias will allow us to direct the email to be send to another email address. By directing to email to an email account we have easier access to (a Google Apps email or your personal email), we’ll be able to easily read any email from cron or our firewall.

To setup an alias for the root account, open the file /etc/aliases. Go to the bottom of the file and look for a line that starts with root:. If you find one, just change the part after the colon to the email address you want to direct the email to. If you don’t find a line like that, create one. On a new line, add root:, then a tab, then the email address you want to direct the email to. Save and close the file. Then run newaliases to reload the aliases file.

There you have it. All email to the root account will now be directed the email address you specified.