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Re: Building a mail server



On Wed, 30 Jul 2003, Jeffrey Hartmann wrote:

> I run a small server that is used for myself and some friends and family to
> host email, webpages, etc.
> 
> So can anyone give me some idea of what they run, or suggestions of what to
> use that could be configured to do a lot of this stuff?  Ease of install isn't
> really an issue, as I really don't have to do that very often.  Ease of use
> and maintenance is a big issue, as I don't want to have to go through a 50
> step process every time I add a new user.

Locally, I'm running exim as a smarthost on two machines,
courier-imap-ssl, and bogofilter.  This setup is simple, well supported
under debian, and works without a hitch.

My advice is:

	1) Avoid virtual domains, they'd only add unnecessary
		complexity for the small number of users you 
		seem to have.  
		
	2) Use smtp, imap, and pop3 over ssl for additional security 
		- any email client should support it!  
	
	3) Use smtp-auth over pop-before-smtp, its less of a hack.  

	4) Use spamassassin and keep the package up to date - it 
		doesn't require the continual training that bogofilter 
		needs.

	5) Use exim or postfix - both are well supported under debian.

	6) Set the users shell to /bin/false in /etc/passwd to disable 
		login.

	7) Use Maildir, the 'each email is a file, each email folder is 
		a physical folder' paradigm is sound.

	8) Skip an AV scanner, and use 'sanitizer' to remove javascript 
		and mangle/block attachments - that should protect your 
		users from most Outlook/OE viruses.  Also, all of your 
		users should be running AV on their Windows machines.

	9) Either let your MUA's rule sort your email into different 
		folders, or else set up procmail rules for yourself 
		or globally.  [A script to sort different domains into 
		different folders would not be too hard to create]

Forgive the terseness and opinionated reply - I'm more then a tad ill
and have a heck of an ear ache going right now (privately emailed ear 
ache remedies welcomed, btw).

~ Jesse Meyer

-- 
         icq: 34583382 / msn: dasunt@hotmail.com / yim: tsunad

   "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we 
    pretend to be." - Kurt Vonnegut Jr : Mother Night

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