Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2006 11:26:27 -0600 From: Greg Groth <ggroth@gregs-garage.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: small mail server Message-ID: <458AC3C3.5040703@gregs-garage.com> In-Reply-To: <45891D18.8010205@chamonix.reportlab.co.uk> References: <45891D18.8010205@chamonix.reportlab.co.uk>
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Robin Becker wrote: > I'm looking for some advice on using one of our existing freebsd 6.x > servers as > a mail server for a small number (<20) of users. > > Our existing provider gives us > > 1) pop3/IMAP for reading mail > 2) SMTP for sending, but we need to read mail before using smtp; I guess > this implies we don't need to authenticate directly. > 3) web based interface for adding users and redirections etc etc > 4) spam filtering (presumably based on their large user mail volume). > 5) white/grey listing > 1. If your users save a lot of mail on the server, check out Dovecot (or any of the IMAP servers that use Maildir). I started with IMAP-UW, but the response time on web frontends for users with large Inboxes was dismal. IMAP-UW is simple as an anvil as far as getting it up and running, Dovecot requires a tad more work. While setting up either one of these is trivial, converting existing formats to another (Mbox to Maildir) is not, choose wisely now, and save yourself a headache down the road. 2. Pick your poison. I've been using Sendmail for years and find it simple for small installations such as mine, and found Postfix confusing simply because of my familiarity with Sendmail, YMMV. 3. a. IMHO, simplest web front end for email - Squirrelmail b. My personal favorite web front end for email - Horde c. Web front end to add users, only Webmin comes to mind. (Webmin is for server administration only. There is a companion for users called Usermin that has an email frontend, but I didn't care for it all that much - YMMV) 4&5. spamassasin. White listing is a breeze. I never tried grey-listing, although it's my understanding that spamassasin can do this as well. A couple of other things that you may not have thought about regarding off-site access. Currently we need to allow our users to be able to send remotely. In order to do this, we needed to do two additional things, set up SASL for SMTP authentication was the first - so we didn't have an open relay. Second - we ran into an issue with the ISPs of certain users blocking the SMTP port. We installed stunnel for SMTPS, which isn't currently being blocked, and no issues so far. Another thought is to investigate any software you plan on installing with the email client your users have on their desktops. I currently have everyone using Thunderbird, which plays nice with everything I've installed on the server. Clients such as Outlook can have issues with certain software, and workarounds have to be implemented. Once you choose an MTA or IMAP server, google around and make sure you know what you're getting into in regards to your mail client. Best regards, Greg Groth
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