What is the Best or a good Mail server for Linux?

[CaseSpace]

I am an old Linux user that is newly back. (I used it about 8 years ago). I am overwhelmed at the significant advancements Linux has made! I am in the process of relearning the system and I am setting a box up to run as a Mail,FTP and Web server. I am actively seeking your guidance as to what your considerations are in which are the best Server Software in each of those categories.

I'll be hosting a few personal websites and want mail to correspond to those sites. I will have a static IP so my network will be behind the Linux box at some point. Actually gonna run a FreeSCO router box followed by rest of network.

I will be playing with the network to find the best combination but I definately want the windows stuff behind the FreeSCO router and possibly the Linux machine.

So please answer me this question for now. Which is the best (read "free or cheap") mail server for my box?

BTW I would like it to POP, LDAP, MIME and of course SMTP is nice also!

[baz2]

I don't know if you can get all of that in one package or not. I've not yet set up Linux as a mail server, but I'm looking in to it. qmail seems to be a popular replacement for sendmail but doesn't do POP (that I can see). qpopper seems to be a popular POP3 server for Unix/Linux. Maybe a combination of qmail and qpopper?

[GonzoJohn]

exim is a mighty good MTA that can handle many chores for mail delivery.

http://www.exim.org

[Golden_Eternity]

The issue with getting a pop server to work with qmail is that qmail wants to store messages in Maildir format... You don't have to use Maildir, though, so you can use any pop server you want.

If you do want to do Maildir, qmail comes with qmail-pop3d, its own pop3 server, or Courier pop3d supports Maildir.

[msteller]

qmail with vpopmail and courier IMAP is a good combination. You can get info on vpopmail at
http://www.inter7.com/freesoftware/index.html
This will allow you to setup 1 or more virtual domains, and once learned, is quite easy to manage.

Optional:
qmailadmin - webbased email server admin
squirrelmail - good webmail using IMAP.
sqwebmail - alright but sometimes hard to setup.

[fancypiper]

Common e-mail tools:
sendmail (http://www.sendmail.net/) - postfix (http://www.postfix.org/) - sends mail to local users (and internet when configured correctly)
fetchmail (http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/fetchmail/) - gets mail from internet pop accounts
procmail (http://www.procmail.org/) - sorts and delivers into separate mailboxes
mutt (http://www.mutt.org/) - mail client that sucks less than all the others
Email the Linux Way (http://www.mandrakeuser.org/docs/connect/index.html#mtuw)
Suresh Ramasubramanian's email guide (http://www.hserus.net/dlhowto.html)

[CaseSpace]

Is this one anygood? looks doable and free for home use for 5 or under users.
SurgeMail (http://netwinsite.com/surgemail/)

Thanks for the good ideas so far. Looks like Qmail is second closest if Surge doesn't work.

Reminder...... I am on a static IP and running this as the SERVER (mail, HTTP, FTP) with clients being windows users and a linux workstation on a network that will access this server.

[X_console]

I would really rather trust installing postfix or exim if you're a newbie. They're quite secure mailservers. When you fee more comfortable with how mail servers work, you might consider learning sendmail (not the most secure, but currently the standard in most organizations).

[Cadillac84]

What about a domain name? If I am going to set up a mail server in-house, should I register a domain name as a first step so that I can then assign email addresses to our users like Joe.Jones@MyPlace.com?

Exim looks like a good way to go. The fact that there is an O'Reily book about it is a good sign! Ordered the book from buydotcom and by the time I get other things in order, the book will be here.

Meanwhile, should I get a domain name?

Thanks,
Chuck

[Cadillac84]

D/L Exim right now. Not that big and the U.S. ftp mirror is nice and fast.

Thanks for the tip! Looks like Exim is a tool that big boys use -- not just for newbies.

I've read some of the error msgs in the FAQ and I like the way these guys write! Like the SuSE setup program when you select a package you don't need but you're not sure, and the message pops up, "It makes no sense to install this package with [pkg_x]. You should blah, blah, blah."

One of the error messages is "The message header is ridiculously long."

Cool!

[brendan911]

how can i remove qmail-pop3d without removing qmail so i can set up vpop3d, or how can i make qmail-pop3d work with virtual users/domains?

i have been trying for so long to get a working pop3/smtp server with virtual (non system) users and domains, but i just haven't figured it out yet.

thanks,
brendan911

[Pvt. Kernel]

Does anyone use the Insight MTA from Bynari (http://www.bynari.net)? Any opinions on it?
Thanks...