Running your own mail server is not as bad as people may think, and has its advantanges. In order to do it, you would need a static IP address, an MX record on a DNS, a router that forwards to the local computer that acts as the smtp mail server.
The hard part is initial set-up, which involves a learning curve and a block of time devoted to getting everything humming along. Once the system is going, it's pretty hassle free. Still there is a good bit of Linux/network expertise required. I'm using a postfix MTA smtp mail server that interfaces to dbmail. dbmail hand everything off to a postgresql database. My system is configured so it will only forward email coming from the local network to avoid exposing the system to hacker, who are constantly looking for mail servers they can hijack into open relays. If the members of the local network are on a remote computer, they can access their email using squirrelmail, a web interface that uses apache web server running locally on the same computer as the mail server, so my system uses both a web server and mail server. LOL dbmail also has a web based gui that makes it easy to add new users, set quotes, etc. I also have mailman installed and running. I have pop3 turned off in my config files, so my mail server is imap only. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBMail_IMAP_and_POP3_server Regards, LelandJ On 09/14/2011 08:29 AM, Ted Roche wrote: > On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 7:51 AM, Allen<[email protected]> wrote: > >> To be honest Ted I'm not comfortable with Linux full stop. I don't get the >> time to learn basically, so what would be best is the simplest version to >> get to work. > Ubuntu. > >> What I'm after is setting up a mail server to get rid of MS exchange. > This is an FAQ, and it is not a simple answer. Exchange does a bunch > of things that no other mail server does, and it does a lot of things > differently than any other (Perhaps you've heard "MAPI Bad, SMTP > Good?" That's not just snarky, it's years of painful experience.) > > I can't advise you on mail servers, other than to say I strongly > discourage people from running their own mail servers for the same > reasons I advise them not to generate their own electricity: it's not > their job, they don't have the skills, they don't want to be on-call > 24/7, and it takes their focus away from their real jobs. > > I help my clients set up their email with someone who does this for a > living. After griping and moaning, most clients have found Google Apps > for Business to be an acceptable substitute. The free version is > sufficient for small organizations, while the paid version is cheaper > than maintaining Exchange. (I think Malcolm may have a suggestion, too > :) > >> I want >> to be able to use multiple domains much as I can with IIS for web sites. > It's easy enough to do this with Apache or one of the other web > servers, but again, I host my dozen or so domains on a hosted provider > who rents me a VM cheaply and is a lot better at keeping it on the > Internet than I can be out here at the edge of civilization: we've > lost power many times in the past weeks, due to storms, filled the > basement (formerly, "the only water-cooled data center in > Contoocook!") with water, and lost the telephone poles on the street, > dropping DSL and dialtone. My domains have been up 24/7, snuggled > securely in a data center in an undisclosed location, with redundant > power and redundant internet connectivity. Why would I try to > duplicate that? (I do admin the box -- it's running CentOS -- but I've > had about 10 years practice at this point.) > >> Also a mailing list server like mailman. I did have the latter set up before >> but that was a while ago. And also maybe for mono for cross-platform stuff. > So, is this a production mail server, a development box, or a beta > test platform? > _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
