MrGaribaldi
Posts: 2,488 +1
I'm tired of having multiple pop mail accounts on different servers, which means I can only access it at home, and paying a premium for those on my web hotel, so I've decided to put up my own mail server. This will be sitting at a nice 100mb direct connection to the Internet at an ISP (for free ).
But first I have to build, install and get to know the server.
Hardware will probably be a server motherboard with a restart function (in case of power loss), a not too expensive cpu, 1GB ram and 100+ GB hdd.
(Any suggestions for server mobo/cpu/ram combos appreciated, as my knowledge is mostly non-server)
Then I'm wondering what OS to put on this server, and which mail server programs to use.
The OS has to be secure, have a little footprint, be easily remote controlled and be easy to install new programs. (And Windows is out of the question if not on the first demand, then at least on the second)
My knowledge of *nix is rather limited, as I've only used it on the university and then only for simple tasks, so the biggest demand will be that it should be easy to use, which means gui support.
I like the "apt get" function of debian, as it'll be easier to deploy new packages when I decide I want to expand the use of the server (possible web server++), but I've also heard good things about freebsd and fedora core.
As for the mail server suite security is the top priority, with ease of use coming in at a close second.
I'm thinking about going IMAP, instead of POP3 with a webmail interface and using the "leave mail on server" option.
It will have to accept relaying mail, though only by approved users.
It should store mail in such a way that one corrupted email doesn't corrupt all the others, ie. one file for each mail instead of one continuous file for all the mail. This should also make it easier for me to move all my current mail into the webmail. (Or if it has an import function that supports thunderbird, it'd be great!)
I should also be able to create virtual folders and fast searches of both mail and folders. (Hmm, sounds like a mail database is a possible solution, instead of x^n files)
The possibility of anti-virus integration, so that I'm not sending virus laden email, is of course interesting, especially if it's free. And spam blocking would be nice (possibly with an ORBS integration).
I'm sure there are plenty of things I'm forgetting or don't even know about, so any comments about other features are appreciated.
Sorry for making such a large post, but I thought it'd be better to have a complete "how to make a remote controlled mail server from scratch" thread, than to spread it over 3 threads in different sub-fora.
But first I have to build, install and get to know the server.
Hardware will probably be a server motherboard with a restart function (in case of power loss), a not too expensive cpu, 1GB ram and 100+ GB hdd.
(Any suggestions for server mobo/cpu/ram combos appreciated, as my knowledge is mostly non-server)
Then I'm wondering what OS to put on this server, and which mail server programs to use.
The OS has to be secure, have a little footprint, be easily remote controlled and be easy to install new programs. (And Windows is out of the question if not on the first demand, then at least on the second)
My knowledge of *nix is rather limited, as I've only used it on the university and then only for simple tasks, so the biggest demand will be that it should be easy to use, which means gui support.
I like the "apt get" function of debian, as it'll be easier to deploy new packages when I decide I want to expand the use of the server (possible web server++), but I've also heard good things about freebsd and fedora core.
As for the mail server suite security is the top priority, with ease of use coming in at a close second.
I'm thinking about going IMAP, instead of POP3 with a webmail interface and using the "leave mail on server" option.
It will have to accept relaying mail, though only by approved users.
It should store mail in such a way that one corrupted email doesn't corrupt all the others, ie. one file for each mail instead of one continuous file for all the mail. This should also make it easier for me to move all my current mail into the webmail. (Or if it has an import function that supports thunderbird, it'd be great!)
I should also be able to create virtual folders and fast searches of both mail and folders. (Hmm, sounds like a mail database is a possible solution, instead of x^n files)
The possibility of anti-virus integration, so that I'm not sending virus laden email, is of course interesting, especially if it's free. And spam blocking would be nice (possibly with an ORBS integration).
I'm sure there are plenty of things I'm forgetting or don't even know about, so any comments about other features are appreciated.
Sorry for making such a large post, but I thought it'd be better to have a complete "how to make a remote controlled mail server from scratch" thread, than to spread it over 3 threads in different sub-fora.