# Postal v3 on AWS — Reference Templates

Reference configuration, DNS, and observability templates for the FactualMinds guide [How to Set Up Postal v3 on AWS for Production](/blog/postal-v3-production-setup-aws-enterprise-guide/).

## Prerequisites

- Dedicated EC2 instance (Postal minimum **2 vCPUs**, **4 GiB RAM**, **25 GiB** disk per [prerequisites](https://docs.postalserver.io/getting-started/prerequisites))
- Docker Engine + Docker Compose plugin
- MariaDB **10.6+** (Amazon RDS recommended for production — not the insecure dev container from Postal docs)
- AWS outbound **port 25** restriction removed for direct MX delivery ([EC2 limits](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-resource-limits.html))
- Route53 hosted zone + Elastic IP with PTR aligned to `postal.example.com`

## Quick start

```bash
# 1. Clone Postal v3 install helper (official)
sudo git clone https://github.com/postalserver/install /opt/postal/install
sudo ln -sf /opt/postal/install/bin/postal /usr/bin/postal

# 2. Bootstrap config (replace hostname)
sudo postal bootstrap postal.example.com

# 3. Merge RDS settings from config/postal.yml.example into /opt/postal/config/postal.yml

# 4. Initialize and start
sudo postal initialize
sudo postal make-user
sudo postal start

# 5. Start Caddy for TLS (see Postal installation docs)
```

## Contents

| Path | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `config/postal.yml.example` | v2-format config with RDS MariaDB + `dns:` block placeholders |
| `dns/route53-records.example.txt` | Postal DNS template (spf, return-path, routes, track, MX) |
| `observability/cloudwatch-agent.json` | Host and application log collection baseline |
| `production-readiness-checklist.md` | Condensed go-live checklist |

## Related documentation

- [Postal getting started](https://docs.postalserver.io/getting-started)
- [Postal installation](https://docs.postalserver.io/getting-started/installation)
- [postalserver/install](https://github.com/postalserver/install) (v3 — use `install-ubuntu.v3.sh` for lab only)
- [AWS SES consulting](https://www.factualminds.com/services/aws-ses/)