Rick and David: Thanks for responding and for the tips. Looks like I've got some reading to do.
Before I go any further with my configuration, I want to clarify something: When I said the word "firewall", I was referring to the iptables daemon that runs on the system, not a separate hardware device. You might have already known that, but I wanted to make absolutely sure. Iptables currently has ports 80 and 22 open, for http and ssh respectively. Does this information have any bearing on the discussion? Thanks, Matt --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Send vox-tech mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, > visit > http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech > or, via email, send a message with subject or body > 'help' to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it > is more specific > than "Re: Contents of vox-tech digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. mail server config question (Cylar Z) > 2. Re: mail server config question (Rick Moen) > 3. Re: mail server config question (David > Rosenstrauch) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2006 22:12:24 -0700 (PDT) > From: Cylar Z <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [vox-tech] mail server config question > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 > > Hey Linux gurus... > > I'm operating a system that runs Fedora Core 5. It > uses Postfix as an MTA. > > I'm able to send mail to, and receive mail from, > other > email addresses outside the system - configuring the > MTA was a snap. (I didn't even have to open a port > for > it in my firewall.) Currently however, I am only > able > to send or receive mail by using the "mail" command > at > the prompt. > > I'm wondering - is there some sort of "yahoo-like" > web > interface I could install on my system? I'm not > talking about a pop/smtp client like Outlook or > Squirrelmail (which I am guessing is Outlook's Linux > counterpart). If possible, I'd prefer to avoid > setting > up the POP3/SMTP functionality this would require, > mostly because I've looked at the documentation for > Postfix and can't see a way to do that without > leaving > an "open relay" that spammers could exploit. > > So this is what I'm looking for: I want to be able > to > go to my server's webpage, log in securely, and > view/send mail via a web interface. Ideally this > could > be reached from a public computer running Internet > Explorer only, without special software or > configuration. Basically, like I do right now with > Yahoo mail. Any ideas on how to get started? Do I > need > SSL, for instance? > > I realize I'm probably talking about something > called > an MUA (the other half of the email delivery > equation) > but I am in need of your suggestions and guidance. > > Thanks, Matt > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2006 22:37:07 -0700 > From: Rick Moen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [vox-tech] mail server config question > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Quoting Cylar Z ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > > > I'm not talking about a pop/smtp client like > Outlook or Squirrelmail > > (which I am guessing is Outlook's Linux > counterpart). > > Actually, it's not. SquirrelMail is a Web front-end > to an IMAP daemon > (which you must also furnish). More about that > below. > > > I'm able to send mail to, and receive mail from, > other email addresses > > outside the system - configuring the MTA was a > snap. (I didn't even > > have to open a port for it in my firewall.) > Currently however, I am > > only able to send or receive mail by using the > "mail" command at the > > prompt. > > The primitive "mail" console program is the simplest > example of an MUA, > by the way. > > My personal preference, which most people don't > share: By preference, my > mail never leaves my MTA box. Instead, I SSH to > that box and read using > my favourite console-type MUA, "mutt". To ensure > that "mutt" remains > exactly the way I left it, I run it under GNU > screen. > > > I'm wondering - is there some sort of "yahoo-like" > web interface I > > could install on my system? [...] If possible, I'd > prefer to avoid > > setting up the POP3/SMTP functionality this would > require, mostly > > because I've looked at the documentation for > Postfix and can't see a > > way to do that without leaving an "open relay" > that spammers could > > exploit. > > 1. Yes, there's an entire category of Yahoo-like > Web front-end programs > to reach your mail. SquirrelMail is one. More at: > "Webmail" on > http://linuxmafia.com/kb/Mail/ . > > 2. I think you're suffering a bit of category > confusion. While it's > true that (to my knowledge) all existing webmail > programs for Linux > expect to speak to a POP3 or IMAP daemon rather than > reading a raw local > mail spool via the filesystem, that has nothing to > do with Postfix. > Postfix is an MTA -- an SMTP daemon. You would need > a separate piece of > software -- a Mail Delivery Agent -- to offer up the > IMAP or POP3 > services a webmail program expects to talk to, to > pull down inbound > mail. Yes, outbound mail would have to be handed > off from the webmail > program to Postfix (your MTA), but that would be > done locally, exactly > the same way /usr/bin/mail does. > > Your concern for security is commendable, anyway. > Let's talk about > that: You might, for example, pick an IMAP daemon > like Dovecot, _but_ > configure it to be reachable from the loopback > network interface only, > _not_ from anywhere else. You would then configure > a webmail program > such as SquirrelMail to poll its incoming mail from > host "localhost", > rather than from the public hostname. > > > > I realize I'm probably talking about something > called > > an MUA (the other half of the email delivery > equation)... > > /usr/bin/mail is an example of an MUA. > /usr/sbin/postfix is an example of an MTA. > /usr/sbin/dovecot is an example of an MDA. > > You'll find more about this in other documents on > http://linuxmafia.com/kb/Mail/ . I hope that helps. > > -- > Cheers, > Rick Moen "vi is my shepherd; I > shall not font." > === message truncated === _______________________________________________ vox-tech mailing list [email protected] http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
