[GLLUG] Email Server on Red Hat Linux 9.0

Melson, Paul PMelson at sequoianet.com
Fri Oct 31 09:06:10 EST 2003


Sendmail is just for incoming and outgoing SMTP traffic.  In order to
check e-mail stored on a server, you will need a POP3 or IMAP server as
well.  

If you've never used Sendmail before, you may wish to go a different
direction.  I would encourage you to look at Postfix instead.  Postfix
is inherently more secure because, unlike Sendmail, it drops root
privileges almost as soon as it binds to port 25.  Postfix is also
easier to configure than Sendmail.  The sendmail.cf file is a cryptic
set of directives that have no mnemonic basis whatsoever, parts of which
still confuse me.  Also, Postfix is available in RPM format for RH9,
which makes installation just as easy as Sendmail.

As far as the domain goes, if you're using a dynamic DNS service,
there's not much you have to do on your end.  Just configure the
hostname/domain according to how it's registered w/ dyndns.org, and
configure Postfix (or Sendmail) to accept mail for your host.domain
only.  Beyond that, just remember to configure an MX record with
dyndns.org as well, so that you can receive mail at your dyndns.org host
name.

Good luck!

PaulM


-----Original Message-----
From: Seth Bembeneck [mailto:sbembeneck at characterlink.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 11:25 PM
To: 'GGLUG'
Subject: [GLLUG] Email Server on Red Hat Linux 9.0


I have been fooling around lately with web and ftp servers and have
decided to through in an email server.

I have been reading up on sendmail and have a question on domain names.

What is it?

I'm not a member of any domain on my network.

I'll be getting a hostname from DynDNS.org, so to access my web server
you would type in myweb.dyndns.org (just an example).

I want to be able to check the email using Outlook in WinXP. Will
Sendmail allow for that?

Thanks,

Seth



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