Post #57,500
10/18/02 9:22:25 AM
|
EMail Server
I need some guidance.
I installed a Linux server at my church. Now they would like me to set up email for them. Requirements are simple... Internal email and external email. Some have AOL accounts. No domain. Will be getting either DSL or cable modem for internet access. The ws are a mix of Win95, 98, 2000 and XP.
Where do I go from here, how do I start? Which email client should be used on the desktop? Which email server software? How do I config sendmail, if that's what I should use, to grab mail from various AOL accounts? Should I have them get a domain name, find a host, and then have sendmail grab from there? Have I even asked the right questions?
tia
[link|mailto:jbrabeck@attbi.com|Joe]
|
Post #57,532
10/18/02 11:53:36 AM
|
Don't bother, man.
If they don't have a domain, don't *%^& with sendmail. Use Oddpost or one of the other online "give-me-all-your-passwords" email concentrators.
Many fears are born of stupidity and ignorance -
Which you should be feeding with rumour and generalisation.
BOfH, 2002 "Episode" 10
|
Post #57,559
10/18/02 1:28:06 PM
|
They're expecting me...
to offer advice. If a domain name is what I should recommend, then that's what I can do.
Now, assuming I get a domain name, what's next?
[link|mailto:jbrabeck@attbi.com|Joe]
|
Post #57,608
10/18/02 5:03:12 PM
|
Ah, that changes everything. :)
If they want to standardize on username@ourchurch.com:
1. Get a fixed IP.
2. Get a domain name.
3. Run a sendmail variant (strongly do not recommend sendmail itself: qmail, exim, etc. are better).
4. Let 'em use whatever client they want.
If they still want AOL, etc to be primary accounts:
In my experience, it's best to let the client software do multiple account merging, not the server. You're basically asking the server to pretend to be a client, which rarely works well--might as well have each client do it in its own finicky way. Most MTAs (email servers) want to deal with SMTP communications, not POP3 or IMAP.
Many fears are born of stupidity and ignorance -
Which you should be feeding with rumour and generalisation.
BOfH, 2002 "Episode" 10
|
Post #57,610
10/18/02 5:07:10 PM
|
Fetchmail.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
|
Post #57,616
10/18/02 5:17:52 PM
|
Cool.
|
Post #57,722
10/18/02 9:30:50 PM
|
Sendmail is wery bad ju-ju. Qmail much better choice. :-)
|
Post #57,746
10/18/02 10:57:13 PM
10/18/02 10:58:41 PM
|
Do you need a fixed IP?
Why not a free ddns service like [link|http://www.no-ip.com|no-ip]?
Imric's Tips for Living- Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
- Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
- Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
Edited by imric
Oct. 18, 2002, 10:58:41 PM EDT
|
Post #57,910
10/19/02 11:21:03 PM
|
Re: EMail Server
Joe --
It sounds like you're in one of those discomfiting situations where people aren't clear in what they're asking for, because they don't know what they're asking for.
xDSL or cable modem is OK if you get at least one static IP and the bandwidth provider doesn't mind your running server processes. Some service contracts, especially the cheap ones, have some wacked-out prohibitions against same. This is especially true of cable-modem services.
Given an IP address and the Linux or BSD distribution of your choice, you pick one of the standard Mail Transfer Agent daemons (see: [link|http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/mtas|http://linuxmafia.co...k/linux-info/mtas]) and one or more Mail Delivery Agent daemons (providing mail pickup over IMAP and/or POP3). Answer a few questions for setup, and you're done.
Well, then you start to get the complications: People want to know how to change their mail-access passwords from their desktop machines. You'll be asked to do filtering for MS-Windows malware, and maybe for content. You'll get complaints about spam, as if it were your problem. You'll have some users whose mailboxes grow to absurd sizes, so you'll institute disk quotas to deal with this, and then get complaints from people whose mail bounces because their mailboxes have exceeded quota. You'll probably initially not impose a maximum size on individual mails your MTA will be willing to receive or send, but will get complaints about slow performance caused by the few who send ridiculously large attachments, and so will cap mail size. Whereupon, you'll get complaints from people who file-attach 50MB PowerPoint slideshows without thinking. And so on. Welcome to the world of mail admins.
If you lived here, you'd be $HOME already.
|
