How can I get email from the system (log messages etc) or other software that might generate email to my IMAP server?

I would like to consider this in a small LAN with 2 servers and a few work stations. One server running the IMAP server (BOB) the other file and print services (TOM) for example. How would I get mail for root etc on BOB into the IMAP server? How would I get mail for root etc on TOM into the IMAP server on BOB?

Any pointers on where I should start looking into this much appreciated.

Thanks,
Spot101.

Two questions:

1) Which MTA are you using?
2) Do you have a personal account that you check on the imap server?

Common practice is to alias root to a human account on the same machine; that will just forward it into your mailbox with everything else.

Hello,

It's indeed depening on your MTA,

but try a
.forward

in your root's homedir.
In .forward you put the mail address you want to send it to.

Or edit /etc/aliases and edit the line that says:

root: me@tom.local.com
Of course change the address to the one you want.

After that run
newaliases
to make the change effective.
Then also the root mail will be sent to TOM-server

Thank you both for you prompt replies.

This is my first time setting up anything like this and I obviously have a lot to learn.

A quick look at /etc/aliases showed that root was aliased to my user account on BOB the imap server. I sent root a quick message using:
from the CL. Typing "mail" again confirmed a new message to root from my user account. Quiting this the message,
appaeared. Cool! I though but how did it get there?
Looking at the mbox file showed that Exim was installed and was doing it's thing. The Debian installer must have installed Exim as part of the server install. So my MTA is Exim!
The IMAP server is Dovecot and is using maildir. /home/myuser/maildir/

How can I set up Exim to send mail there rather than the mbox file?

Up until now I haven't needed an MTA. I have done this:
Receive- getmail > dovecot > client on work station.
Send- client on work station > ISP's SMTP server.

There isn't an exim.conf file in /etc/exim4/ There are loads of config files in /etc/exim4/conf.d/ Where should I look to make the needed changes?

Thanks,
Spot101.

I found this page that helped solve the mbox to maildir problem.
http://edseek.com/~jasonb/articles/e...ier/exim4.html
I needed to make a change in /etc/exim4/update-exim4.conf.conf
I changed: dc_localdelivery=`mail_spool` to dc_localdelivery=`maildir_home`

The next question is how to get mail for root etc on TOM the file & printer server into the IMAP server on BOB?

Would I have an MTA on TOM point to the MTA on BOB?

Much Thanks,
Spot101.

Have you edited /etc/aliases ans run newaliases?
That's the easiestt way to forward root's mail.
If you dont redirect the address, all mail will only be recieved on the local box.

I personally dont have that much experience with exim, but it should work the same.

try as a test: mail -s "test" root@imapserver < /etc/hosts

From what I remeber of exim, it wants to have an outgoing/relaying mail server. It is "somewhere" in exim.conf, but I cant remeber where

Thank you very much for your help. I think I understand how it works a little better now.
I remember something about relaying mail in the exim FAQ but their WIKI seems to be down at the moment.

Getting a little busy right now it might be a week or so before I can set the rest of this up.

Cheers,
Spot101.

This would be a good place to look for anyone setting up a new system.
http://www.exim-new-users.co.uk