Laravel Forge MailHog Install Guide

MailHog is a great email testing tool that can enable end-users to see email without the server actually sending the email.

In this guide I'll show you how to install MailHog on a Laravel Forge Server. The installation was done on Ubuntu 24.04 but should be similar for other Ubuntu versions.

If you want to learn more about MailHog, here is their GitHub repo: https://github.com/mailhog/MailHog

When you're done with the installation, you'll have an `SMTP` server running on port `1025` and a web-based email client running on port `8025`. Sweet.

Preparation

MailHog seems to need a fairly new version of Go, so on some Ubuntu servers one has to first set up the "back ports". You may skip this step and try installation below first and look at the output...if it's obvious that Go doesn't want to install MailHog due to version issues, come back here for some `apt` love.

forge
sudo -i
add-apt-repository ppa:longsleep/golang-backports
apt update
apt -y install golang-go
lang-bash

Installation

apt -y install golang-go
go install github.com/mailhog/MailHog@latest
lang-bash

If you want to test it, you can use the command below:

~/go/bin/MailHog &
lang-bash

You should see something like the following:

[1] 242137
root@forge:~# 2024/08/07 08:32:34 Using in-memory storage
2024/08/07 08:32:34 [SMTP] Binding to address: 0.0.0.0:1025
[HTTP] Binding to address: 0.0.0.0:8025
2024/08/07 08:32:34 Serving under http://0.0.0.0:8025/
Creating API v1 with WebPath:
Creating API v2 with WebPath:
lang-bash

To continue with this guide, you'll want to `kill` the process output above as just now we're adding a Linux service for automatic startup and this won't work if you are also listening on those ports.

Allowing firewall access and securing the MailHog interface

Navigate to your Forge server, `Settings -> Network -> Firewall Rules`, and add a firewall rule to allow port `8025` to view the email interface from the outside.

Next, use the commands below to set up a `username:bcryptpw` mapping file. Change `username` and `secret` to your desired preference:

apt install apache2-utils
htpasswd -nbB username secret > /root/go/bin/mailhog.security

Create a Service

Next, install it as a service:

# cat /etc/systemd/system/mailhog.service
[Unit]
Description=MailHog service
[Service]
ExecStart=/root/go/bin/MailHog -auth-file=/root/go/bin/mailhog.security
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
lang-bash

Enable the service for automatic startup, and then start it:

systemctl enable mailhog
service mailhog start
lang-bash

Remember to update your `.env` file to port `1025` to access the MailHog SMTP service:

MAIL_PORT=1025
lang-php

Go here to see the email interface running: https://forge-server-ip:8025