Re: debain email setup
> Hi all.
>
> I am looking for advice on setting up a small office with an email
> server on a Debian box. I also need to do some outgoing email
> filtering/blocking.
>
> I have no experience setting up an email server as I've always worked
> on my own and just let my ISP handle the chore. Now I need to setup a
> small office (5 workstations: one Debian, one WinME and the rest
> WinXP) with a Debian box that will act as a mail server for these 5
> workstations. I expect the Debian mail server to periodically check
> for incoming mail on the ISP's mail server and store it for retrieval
> by the windows workstations. I'd also like to have the Debian box
> block one of the workstations from sending mail outside the office, but
> allow that workstation to send mail to the other workstations within
> the office. The ISP hosts the domain that the outgoing emails will use
> for addressing. That is, the ISP hosts "bar.com" and I need the
> workstations to send out mail like: "From: foo@bar.com"
>
> This seems like a simple setup. But, I've been trying to get my head
> around it for a long time and I think I'm more confused than ever.
> I've read the O'Reilly _Sendmail_ book through chapter 23 and now I'm
> not conviced I need something as complex as sendmail.
>
> Is there a standard Debian recipe for this kind of configuration?
> Would you recommend using something other than sendmail?
> Can you point me to a particularly relevent HOWTO that will help?
> Can you help me map my descriptions, above, to some of the common mail
> jargon (smarthost, mailhub, delivery agent, etc.)?
>
> Thanks in advance for any pointers you can provide.
>
> Best,
>
> Eric.
>
Eric, I just set up an e-mail server for my family (5 people), and found
that sendmail is very straight-forward in the Debian package. A good place
to start is here: http://www.aboutdebian.com/internet.htm
If you're not interested in a web server, and simply want SMTP and POP
e-mail, go down to the section on Setting Up A Sendmail E-mail Server. I
didn't bother with smarthost, mailhub or any of that stuff. I simply
followed the directions and the mail goes out (swoosh!) through my DSL
connection with addressing by DynDNS.
After getting that tested and working, I added Squirrelmail (in Debian
Stable) and enabled the spell check, calendar and next & delete plugins.
SquirrelMail gives you a web front end for your mail server. (I'll
probably have to delete SquirrelMail, my PC is old and underpowered).
Anyway - start with the URL I noted above and follow it. You should have a
basic e-mail system running quickly. Please note that I have NOT tested
procmail, SpamAssassin or an anti-virus filter. My windows PC's are
running NAV, so I decided not to go to that level at the mail server.
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