Hi
I hope this is the correct place for this but I guess it could be since it's a server I'm talking about.

I'm gonna host a server soon that is supposed to be a webserver & mailserver
and until I know what I'm doing I don't want to buy a domain name yet.

I was thinking of starting using the free version no-ip.com as my DNS and since it seems that they can relay EMails too(I've seen you can set the MX Records)
and if this works I'll buy my own domain and change what I have to do to get this working with that domain.

First I'd like to know what kind of mail I should use?
some say, "go with sendmail, it's there already" others say "get something else sendmail is way to hard to configure and it ain't safe"
I'v been looking around and found QMail(that is supposed to be more secure) and I've heard of Postfix.
Now the question is... what am I supposed to do..

The next question is:
I need a VERY VERY informative documentation of how to fix the rest of it all, the DNS, BIND and all the hassle with the 'MX Record'.
AND how to "migrate" the DNS when I get the domain name.
AND how to secure the EMail so no other than me can use it, don't know the name of it... spoofing?? but that I can use a client to connect to it.
AND what of DNS,BIND,EMail I should backup incase of failure.
I think I know that an EMail Server and a WEB Server should not really be on the same hardware, but this is just for cutting cost.
AND should I use 'VI' to configure it all, 'cos I've heard that some use 'webmin' for that.

I've been reading... don't know how many of these so called HowTo's and none of them make me understand anything nor does it work when I'm doing what they say, and to be sure that I didn't muck anything up, I reinstalled the OS again :P


Where do I start?
DNS or BIND, 'cos I think the EMail configuration gotta be last, right?

The OS I'm thinking of running this on is CentOS 4.4, or a newer if that is out when I get all this fixed.

Bind is DNS, and all you really have to do is back it up and move it into place on the new machine. everything here is a file, so move the config and zone files and whamo done. Email, well its really up to you, I like sendmail and it is secure regardless of what others say.
As for tutorials, google is choked full of them, I typed in "dns bind" and got a plethora of results. I am sure that sendmail will return the same results.

What distro is this going to be running on? Since it is a hosted machine I am taking a guess some flavor of red hat.
{edit] oops just saw that you said CentOS, sorry unfamiliar with that one so I really can't help you there. I can tell you that setting up a caching name server is really really easy, authorative is not that much harder.

Unless I missed it in your post - what type of Internet connection do you have (i.e. cable-modem, DSL, etc)?

I have a great how-to on setting up qmail for virtual domains, apache for virtual web sites, squirrelmail for web mail, proftpd for users to upload and maintain their virtual web sites, no-ip.com's domain names to have no-ip.com manage your dynamic IP, and a web interfaced helpdesk application that uses MySQL.

I used Mandriva 2005 Mini ISO because it was faster to download and burn, and because it ran on my old server, while Mandriva 2007 didn't.

You do a few things on the server itself, but the majority is via Putty/Terminal with Copy&Pasting.

If you are interested, I will post the entire process on here.

Deion "Mule" Christopher

It looks like you need to improve your own library. Before you try anything I would suggest to get yourself several good books on Email and DNS and go through them. Also review the howto's on the Internet - search in Google. Start creating your own notes. This may take a while. Absorb as much as you can and then ask about the sections that are not clear. This is one way of frustrating yourself to death - Shotgun Installations. Linux takes a lot of preparation; there's no Click Next Wizards, so you need to be prepared.