Mail Server on a PII 350??

[blackhawk714]

I have a PII 350 with 64 mb ram ( soon to be 192 ) and would like to have a working mailserver so that I don't have to deal with mailbox sizes and annoyences like that. Any suggestions for which distro and what mail server to use? Thanks a lot guys. :)

[Satanic Atheist]

Depending on the amount of mail you'll be handling, that machine is fine. I ran my entire network on a P133 with 32Mb RAM (only because I sat on the other 32Mb DIMM and terminally buggered it).

Anyway, if you're not too worried aboue security then you can use sendmail - it's installed in most installations and almost completely ready to work out of the box. There are loads of documents on the damn thing as well.

Better is QMail, it's a little more work to set up, but it's faster and more secure than sendmail. I've never used it (got fed up trying to get it started - my alcohol reservoir was running low).

Just use your favourite distro to install it. If this is a standalone server dedicated to mail, then you can scrap almost all of the installation stuff from something small like Slackware. If you want more functionality, then go for something slightly larger. I tend to avoid Mandrake and RedHat/Fedora simply because I see them as "learning" tools whereas Slackware and Debian are more "hands-on" and teach you advanced Linux (with the lack of so many automated scripts).

Good luck with your project.

James

[The Whizzard]

Originally posted by blackhawk714
I have a PII 350 with 64 mb ram ( soon to be 192 ) and would like to have a working mailserver so that I don't have to deal with mailbox sizes and annoyences like that. Any suggestions for which distro and what mail server to use? Thanks a lot guys. :) If you want something up and running ASAP, may I suggest e-smith (http://e-smith.org). Here is the ISO mirrored from ibiblio.org (http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/e-smith/current/iso/smeserver-6.0unsupported.iso).

[blackhawk714]

thanks a lot for the reponses guys. I might try sendmail and see how I like it. If I find it insecure or anything I might just try q-mail. Thanks a lot for the advice guys. I am thinking about putting slackware 8.1 on it. Should I put 9 or 9.1 for any reason? Thanks again. :)

[mdwatts]

Moved to our new '.iso confused - Which Distro?' forum since Installation is meant for distro install issues.

[blackhawk714]

ah sorry bout that mdwatts. :D ;)

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by blackhawk714
ah sorry bout that mdwatts. :D ;)

No problem. We created this forum just for these types of 'which distro' questions. :)

[ph34r]

Debian unstable runs my mail/web server fine (for a few users). Its a 486 sx33 wtih 24mb ram.

[mrBen]

I was going to suggest Debian; the default mail server is exim, rather than sendmail, but I've heard it is easier to set up.

[mhacleth]

I have similar specs. We have about 50 users. Our mail server is running on Mandrake 9.2 with Postfix + Squirrel Mail + AMAVIS (that uses Spamassassin + Clamav).

I am having no problem so far.

Cheers!:D

[Dchakrab]

Apologies for the newbie question...what do you need to set up a mail server? Wouldn't you need a dedicated ip which your domain "points" to?

Could i set up a server that would connect to my isp's mail server at a preset time and "download" the mail for several users, and then have those users connect to that server to check their email instead of getting online? That would be an interesting concept to try out on a network that has limited internet access, and only at specific times.

Thoughts?

Dave.

[PNash]

You dont necessarily need a Static IP to run a mail server, I use Comcast Cable and I leave my Mandrake MNF up all the time and never loose my IP, but when I was using Bellsouth DSL, I would loose my IP about every 6 days, so I started using dynamic dns www.dyndns.org and a client running on one of my machines to update their servers everytime my ip changed. They then proprogated it out to the world, and within minutes I was back up. This wasnt the cleanest way obviously but it worked and I got all my mail.

[Dchakrab]

Anyone have any comments on the mail server set up i was thinking about? Is this possible on an older system? What would i need for it?

Dave.

[catman]

Originally posted by The Whizzard
If you want something up and running ASAP, may I suggest e-smith (http://e-smith.org). Here is the ISO mirrored from ibiblio.org (http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/e-smith/current/iso/smeserver-6.0unsupported.iso).

It would appear that this is exactly what I need to solve my problems here at home!

I have 1 further small problem, downloading a 350 Meg iso, is not really feasible for me on a 56k dial-up modem, because it would take me over 150 hrs to download if not more.

So my next question is, does anyone have it on cd already, and if I paid the postage and cd, send me the cd? :D

[ferrix]

Originally posted by catman
So my next question is, does anyone have it on cd already, and if I paid the postage and cd, send me the cd? :D
You can order e-smith (as well as a number of other distros) from linuxcd.org ... Shipping will take more than 150 hours though :)