enlighten me on email server
 

say if I got a domain name, something.com

correct me if i'm wrong here:

postfix is for picking up mail that I send to my server and relay it out to the internet though my isp

fetchmail is suppose to pick up mail for *@something.com from the internet

procmail is for distributing the mail to the correct user in my server.

and if anyone know any good step by step on how to setup these server.. please..... tell me cause i'm about to :cry:

Hi there,

I think your a bit confused or is it me who is (hehe) after reading your understandings of these services. Ok, so lets start over...let's say you registered a domain name called "www.something.com".

Postfix, exim, sendmail, etc.. - a SMTP server that will handle the delivery of your outgoing mail. You can enable them to use smarthost, relay, etc. However, looks like you are planning on running your own e-mail server right? Well, as long as your ISP does not block outgoing port 25, then you would not need to use smarthost option at all. You can just use your own smtp server as your outgoing mail server.

Fetchmail - (never used so I could be wrong) grabs mail from say your ISP's smtp server or anywhere to your own mail server (www.something.com).

Procmail - Yes, it is a mail delivery agent which acts like a filter. For the "distribute mail to the correct user" is really handled by your smtp server.

Imap/pop - These services must be used for users on your system to view their mail on their e-mail client (eudora, netscape, thunderbird, outlook, etc...)

-twantrd

OH I C..... ok since my isp doesnt let me connect to any other smtp server (jurks) I should probably just skip the postfix part?

The main thing that I want to do is to grab mail that are being send to may domian name so that I guess fetchmail is probably something I need to look into of how to setup. Would u know any good guide in this? I have been looking around but it seem like most of the guides are teaching about how to setup fetchmail picking up mail for a specific mailbox from their isp.

Ziggie, you seem to have these things a bit muddled up. Please don't take this as a flame! :)

Are you sure your ISP blocks you from accessing any SMTP server you want? They might block incoming SMTP (port 25) *to* your computer. Find out exactly what their policy is for port 25 incoming and outgoing.

Fetchmail does not 'grab mail being sent to your domain name.' Your domain name needs to point at an IP address. That IP address needs an SMTP server (like postfix) to accept the mail. If you already have such a server, fetchmail could retrieve your mail from that server. If you don't already have such a server, fetchmail does not do what you are talking about.

Try to state very clearly what it is you want to do, and what you already have set up. I can't tell from reading this if you have an email server, somewhere, for your domain, or not.

"postfix is for picking up mail that I send to my server and relay it out to the internet though my isp" - Please explain what 'my server' refers to. Postfix is for receiving mail and sending mail. It doesn't need to relay mail through your ISP. It doesn't 'pick up' mail if by that you are thinking of POP or IMAP.

If you want to handle mail for yourdomain.com, here's what you do:

Point yourdomain.com at your IP.
Open port 25.
Tell Postfix to accept mail for yourdomain.com.
Use procmail to sort delivery.
Use postfix to send mail.

If you just want to retrieve mail from an account you have on someone else's server, and send mail directly from your box, you:
Use fetchmail to retrieve your email.
Install postfix and use it to send email directly from your box. Keep port 25 closed.

"The main thing that I want to do is to grab mail that are being send to may domian name". Explain this. Is there already a server accepting mail for that domain, or not?

This might be all greek to you. Just try to be more clear about WHAT you want to do. Be careful saying 'the server' , 'my server,' etc., because right now it is very hard to understand you.

thanks clearing up what postfix actually do. All I want to do is create an actual email server that will pick up mail that are being send to my domain, ziggie216.com, and allow me to connect though imap so I can pick it up with my pc.

Here is my mx record

[ziglaptop@linuxbox ziglaptop]$ dig -t mx ziggie216.com

; <<>> DiG 9.2.1 <<>> -t mx ziggie216.com
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 2985
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 4, ADDITIONAL: 5

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;ziggie216.com. IN MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
ziggie216.com. 86356 IN MX 5 mail.ziggie216.com.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
ziggie216.com. 51907 IN NS ns3.no-ip.com.
ziggie216.com. 51907 IN NS ns4.no-ip.com.
ziggie216.com. 51907 IN NS ns1.no-ip.com.
ziggie216.com. 51907 IN NS ns2.no-ip.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
mail.ziggie216.com. 16 IN A 66.166.238.82
ns3.no-ip.com. 41829 IN A 63.215.241.215
ns4.no-ip.com. 38279 IN A 64.39.31.103
ns1.no-ip.com. 37822 IN A 216.66.37.10
ns2.no-ip.com. 46683 IN A 63.215.241.224

;; Query time: 38 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.0.1#53(192.168.0.1)
;; WHEN: Sun Dec 14 01:58:04 2003
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 210


Would u happen to know where I can find an howto site on this or maybe even an example of the config file? I have already search though google and found nothing but junk lately.