Mail Setup

[Scot L. Harris]

On Sun, 2004-09-12 at 04:44, Robert Slade wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I've tried goggle and the howtos but all I have managed to do is get
> confused. 
> 
> What I am trying to do is setup a mail server that can handle up to
> about 20/25 users, some on my network and some external. Currently most
> are managed using mercury under W2k, but I would like to setup a
> dedicated mail server to do the job. The other factors are multiple
> domains and the need to support Webmail and as the users will be using
> Windows, a virus checker, spam suppression and I that am new to Fedora/
> Linux.
> 
> I have had a 'play' with postfix and that looks OK as a MTA, my real
> problem is what next? There are a number of howtos (and books) covering
> mail setups but I have not been able to find anything that discusses the
> relative merits of the different MTUs etc. 
> 
> For fear of starting a my MTU is better than yours argument, what is the
> best setup to support the above and where can I find documentation on
> how to set it up?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Rob
> 
First step is to select the MTA you plan to use.  Postfix should be
good.  I have more experience with sendmail but I believe you can do
everything you want with Postfix just fine.  You then need to sort out
how the users will get their email.  For that you will most likely use
POP3 or IMAP.  Most clients can use either of those.  There are two main
packages that provide those services, dovecot or cyrus imapd.  Dovecot
is probably the easiest to install and configure for a server your
size.  

Clamav will scan for windows viruses.  Spamassassin is highly
recommended for controlling spam.  Another great spam fighting tool is
greylisting.  You will have to search out a package to implement
greylisting with postfix.  For sendmail I use milter-greylist for this
service.  With greylisting 99% of the spam is never accepted by your
server.  The remainder is generally caught by spamassassin.  

Squirrelmail will provide web based email.

You should implement this in stages.  First get the MTA configured and
working.  Then get dovecot setup and your user clients sending and
receiving email.  Configure squirrelmail and get that working.  Then add
in clamav followed by spamassassin and greylisting.  

Taking it one piece at a time should let you get each part working while
keeping the variables to minimum if you have to trouble shoot something.

As for documentation sign up for mailing lists for each package you
select or review the archives of those mailing lists.  There is usually
an official web site for each package also which will normally have a
number of documents and how to's for each package.  

Good luck!
   
-- 
Scot L. Harris
webid at cfl.rr.com

You may be sure that when a man begins to call himself a "realist," he
is preparing to do something he is secretly ashamed of doing.
		-- Sydney Harris