Best Linux Mail Server ???

[mtbse]

Hello, can any one suggest me the best Linux Mail Server and possibly the helping guide links. I shall be thank full to you.

[Roxoff]

There are four main Open Source mail transport agents, Postfix, Exim, Sendmail and Qmail. I like Sendmail, it's horrible to set up, but once done you never need to touch it. Having said that, I'd recommend Postfix for new installations these days.

Each of these have different strengths and weaknesses - so it depends what you're trying to achieve. But you might want to check out this page at Wikipedia which compares mail transport agents

Of course, they're just the mail back-end system that will shunt your email around the place, they don't let you do much with it. You probably want to look at Dovecot or Courier to do your POP3 or IMAP access.

Then you might want a mail reader front-end, perhaps a web service like Squirrelmail or similar.

These are mostly included on that wikipedia page I linked above.

[Mudgen]

With great sorrow, I support what Roxoff says.

I've been doing sendmail since it bumped mmdf off the map, and it's never been easier to set up than it is now, with m4 configuration built in. But postfix makes more sense for building a skill set and for new installs. I like Dovecot over Courier, hands down. Squirrelmail is solid and easy to set up out of the box, but quite limited. And the add-ons can work just well enough to drive you crazy.

[jschutten]

Workt a wile with smeserver 7 easy to install and easy to use.
google smeserver and have fun.

[bcsi]

@mtbse
To get a truly meaningful answer you first have to specify:
a) The environment you'll be running in.
b) The email volume (numbers and storage required).
c) Number of users.
d) mbox or maildir mailboxes.
e) The added features you want to add (spamassassin, black lists, etc.)
f)Your level of expertise at being a MTA admin.

For simple home use, why are you setting up your own MTA?

For a small office, see above or use postfix (it's simple to set up, just answer a few questions on a deb install).

For a medium office postfix, exim, qmail or sendmail will all do the job. I've got experience with postfix, exim and sendmail. I personally like exim as it's relatively easy to set up, very versatile and has great community support (exim.org). I don't use the rpm's or deb's and always compile from source. Sendmail is very powerful but a bear to learn and set up properly. The O'Reilly book is over 2 inches thick!

For an isp you darned well better know what you're doing and since you're asking the question on this forum I suspect you don't. That wasn't a put down, just an observation. That last thing the Internet needs is another mis-configured MTA.

Cheers.