Mail Server

[Jakob667]

Hi there

Can someone explain to me exactly what a mail server is? I have somewhat of an idea. I want to setup a mail server.

1. What would be the best distro to function as a mail server, maybe Suse?

2. What program should I use for this, sendmail maybe?

3. The server will need a spam filter and virus scanning, maybe AVG or ClamAV and spamassassin?

The setup that I'm hoping for: I'll have a PC that runs Linux with a few client PC's running Windows XP. The Linux machine (my server) will have a directory named after each of the clients. Every client will only have access to their own directory to store documents etc. Every client has a mailbox, this is where I hope the mail server will do the job of spreading the mail to the client PCs. I'll probably have to google like hell to install and configure the server.

Could you post suggestions and comments, maybe point me in a direction of a nice tutorial.

I'm not asking you to explain me in this forum how to setup a mail server. Just looking for advice.

Regards

[kavalakala]

Mail server is a program which receives or sends mail, and they use SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, port 25). POP (Post Office Protocol) is used to provide mail to user's computers. IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol at port 143) is a kind of same, but with this protocol, the mail and directories are located on remote server.

I wouldn't use any graphical distro as a server. My suggestions are Debian, Slackware and maybe Ubuntu with server install. I personally use Postfix, and I am satisfied with it, but of course you can use sendmail or whatever you want.

And, when you ask this client question, you can set a home directory for each client, where the clients can hold their documents (and connect via samba or whatever). You could provide mail to them via POP.

Good luck!

[marlowe]

depending on what specs you have for the server and how many users you expect will use it at
any given time, something like suse can work just fine.

as far as the actual program to use i would recommend qmail. you can check out www.qmailrocks.org for a step by step guide to installing it on a number of distros.

[winter]

yes qmail is excelent for a mail server, its the hardest to set up but its extreamly secure....unlike our beloved sendmail