Re: email servers

[Carl Fink <carl@fink.to>]

On Thu, Mar 30, 2006 at 02:01:31PM -0700, ChadDavis wrote:
> Hello.
> 
> I'm pretty unfamiliar with email servers.  I need to install a server in my
> local network to use for development of another application.  I just need a
> mail server available for the application.  I read some of the online
> documentation and became a bit confused about what constitutes a server.
> Postfix is on the system.  What does it do?  I don't think it has anything
> to do with my email client, correct?  My email client talks to my ISP's POP
> server for incoming mail, and my ISP's SMTP server for outgoing mail.  It
> seems like what I need is a SMTP server locally.  Is the postfix such a
> thing?  If not, what is an easy one to install.

Postfix is not an e-mail client, correct.  The Unix world refers to Mail
Transfer Agents (MTAs) and Mail User Agents (MUAs).  Your client is the MUA,
Postfix is an MTA.  What Postfix does is accept mail from somewhere (usually
local clients like yours, but also sometimes other servers or remote
clients) and send it on to other servers, either in your local network or
via the Internet.  On the other side, Postfix can accept mail from other
servers and put it in a user's local mailbox where it can be read by the
client (MUA).

So yes, Postfix is an SMTP server.
-- 
Carl Fink                                         carl@fink.to
   "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your
   government when it deserves it."
                      - Mark Twain