On Tue, Jul 25, 2006 at 04:42:48PM +0530, Vinayak Mahadevan wrote: > I would like to host a mail server for my company using FC 5. What are the > steps I have to follow to do this. If there is a manual for setting up an > email server please give me the link. You've received a lot of feedback on this; let me attempt to give you a bit of overview. There are a number of different configurations you can use for E-Mail, including a range of MTAs (Mail Transfer Agents) such as sendmail, postfix, exim, etc. The proponents for each of these components are vocal and have strong opinions (as do I, but I'm not going to express mine here. Others are doing that, and will probably continue to do so for a week or two.) My only contribution is that you should try to get a feel for how widespread the use of any package or combination of packages is in the community; you *don't* want to be bleeding edge with your only mail server, nor do you want to be tied to an abandoned development line. And you really shouldn't have to pay for a package; there are far too many excellent OpenSource solutions. There is no such thing as an out-of-the-box "mail server". You shouldn't run components of a system if you're not going to use them--for instance, if for some reason you decide to not use IMAP, you shouldn't have a server running for that capability. Go look at some of those guides people are pointing you to. Look at the O'Riley offerings for the different components. Decide what you need to support--IMAP, POP3, whatever--and plan your internal network configuration (e.g., only one server for the company, one gateway server and multiple internal servers--only if you're large enough to require it!) Definitely plan for anti-spam protection; investigate spamassassin, procmail scripts, Pyzor, Vipul, etc., and design their use into the configuration from the start. >From the sound of your query, you're starting from ground zero, or nearly so. Even if you work on this full-time, give yourself enough time to really understand what you're putting in service. Ask questions and discuss. Use a test machine and build a experimental servers that you can wipe. I would be worried if you report you've put something in production in less than 4-6 weeks; you probably won't understand everything you've done. One final bit of advice. Establish a relationship with a professional and reliable Internet Service Provider (ISP) and use their mail servers as your gateway server for the first year or so you're in operation, if not indefinitely. This will greatly mitigate the pain when one or more of your workstations gets owned and starts spewing spam through your server. One client of mine *insisted* that they needed a mail server, and *insisted* that THEIR server be used to send the mail (instead of gatewaying through the ISP.) It took me almost three weeks to get their domain name and IP address off the various blacklists. G'luck, -- Dave Ihnat President, DMINET Consulting, Inc. dihnat@xxxxxxxxxx
