Absolute newbie in mail setup

[kenny chia]

Hi
I have experience in other aspects of Linux but this is the very first time I will need to setup a mail system which I know very little about.

The mail server will reside behind a gateway. The gateway will be connected to an ISP. The mail server will be a cobalt Qube2.

I know there are issues like MX records, /etc/sendmail, but in general how should I setup a mail server to receive and send mail to others and allow users to download mail using outlook express etc...

Thanks

[U.SivaKumar_2]

Hi,

Please go thru this link.

http://www.pcquest.com/content/linux/handson/101071103.asp

regards,
U.SivaKumar

[U.SivaKumar_2]

Hi,

Please go thru this link.

http://www.pcquest.com/content/linux/handson/101071103.asp

regards,
U.SivaKumar

[Steven E. Protter]

I'm uploading an example configuration that does the following things:

1) Mail for multiple domains.
2) Direct connection to the Internet mailing. It takes care of all inbound mail on my network. For outbound my users have a choice of Exchange or this server.

To make this work you need to either have a working DNS machine locally or a connection to one in /etc/resolv.conf

To accomodate your Microsoft users you will need to authorize either popmail or imap or both.

There are a lot of tasks involved so here are some links that will hook you up.

http://www.sendmail.org

Great setup info there, I learned a lot there.

http://tldp.org

The Linux Documentation Project. Sendmail and DNS howto's there to deal with any specific aspect of your project.

I could write a book about this covering all the ins and outs. If you look back at my questions posted, you'll see a bunch of sendmail ones late last year, all resolved at the above websites or in these forums.

go ahead and start and post specific questions, and I promise you you'll get lots of help.

SEP

[Francisco J. Soler]

I use postfix: http://www.postfix.org/
is more easy to configure than sendmail, is a good substitute.

The configuration file is "human" readable and "human" configurable.

Cheers
Frank.

[Manuel Wolfshant]

I strongly suggest to avoid sendmail and replace it with postfix (http://www.posfix.org ) or with qmail (http://cr.yp.to for the program itself, http://lifewithqmail.com for a "how-to-do-it-yourself like" installation guide)

In order to announce the world about the location of your mail server, you will need an MX (Mail eXchange) record in the zone file describing your domain. This problem should probably be handled by your ISP (assuming your domain is hosted by the ISP). If not, then whoever hosts the domain must provide you with the means to define the MX record. Details on DNS setup and configuration can be found via google, at http://tldp.org (the linux documentation project) and at www.isc.org (http://www.isc.org/products/BIND/bind9.html -> documentation)

As for the actual configuration of the mail server, this depends on the program you choose to use. sendmail uses generally /etc/sendmail/* (several files, depending on the features sendmail is compiled with and on the main configuration file, which in turn refers to a few others). postfix uses /etc/postfix/* (main.cf being the main beast); it includes plenty of comments + solid documentation). and finally, lifewithqmail.com will guide you step by step how to install and configure qmail.