Hello all...

I am a newcomer in this forum and (relatively) newbie in the Linux World so forgive me in advance for the questions I might come with.

Here's the picture. Sorry If I'm verbose, but like this, one can understand the problem.

At work (a small architectural firm with 7 people) we have a fujitsu server box with Free BSD on it running SAMBA and 15 PC running either W2Kpro or XP pro (don't even tell the boss about Linux...). The system is somewhat crappy, with absolutely NO support from the company that sold and installed the server.

As the self-designed (who else anyway?) network admin of the whole thing I managed through this year 2003-2004 to learn SAMBA and fix the config (no more crashes every 2 days) but now I want to turn to Linux for the following reasons:

1-No support of our server UPS under Free BSD which resulted twice on our server crashing after the UPS went off after a looong power outage during the weekend. The UPS had no way to tell FreeBSD to shutdown through the cable as the server software is not FreeBSD compatable, but IS Linux compatible.

2-The amount of support is far less complete under FreeBSD for newbies than for Linux

3- There is currently no DHCP server on our box, nor mail server and I want to be able to use Webmin rather than manually edit the DNS config files each time a new Laptop is connected...

So the firm purchased Linux Mandrake 10.0 because I read that a mail server was included and had the opportunity to use the 9.0 which was fine.

So here's the question (at last!):
Once I'll be switching to linux, I want to setup a mail server with the following configuration:

We have currently an ADSL internet connection through an ethernet modem (Alcatel speedtouch) on a Dlink internet router, itself plugged on a switch. The server is connected to the switch and hence should be able to acces the internet through the router. We have currently a dynamic IP adress.

So How can I set up the server to offer to users say 20 email adresses with at least 100Mo of capacity with our own domain with a dynamic IP?. I've spent hours searching for clues but I still don't catch it.

I definitely need a step by step procedure, starting by

1-how to obtain a domain name like thebestfirmoftheworld.fr (yes I'm french!) and what to do with my ISP and the dynamic IP: I guess it won't agree for me to setup a server?

2- What to do once I have this name domain, knowing that currently i have with my ISP 5 adresses like architect1@wanadoo.fr and I want to have say 20 adresses like architect1@thebestfirmoftheworld.fr, though we are still with our ISP?
Do I need to setup a DNS in a particular way and How? What is the use of the MX record?

I'll be using Postfix (comes standard with Mandrake) and so I need to configure it, add antivirus and probably an antispam (for this part I've found some howtos on the net).

Thank you in advance for reading this far.

Best regards.

Jacques Z.

Some people will disagree, but I advise against running your own mail server until, or unless, you can obtain a static address.

While we run our own mail server, and port forward to it (having only one static IP for the company), we did not host our own mail until we were able to get service with a static IP. Dynamic redirection sounds great, but in practice, it can be a kettle of worms unless you are just playing with a personal website for friends and family.

Now...having said all that, if you use a third party to host your mail, and if you want to use something like fetchmail to retrieve it from the third party mail server to provide a local POP3 server for your users (maybe the ADSL pipe is a bit plugged up, and you transfer huge files as email attachments), then that's perfectly doable -- and that is technically a mailserver, although it is more of a satellite mail server.

But I wouldn't put my company's mail server on a dynamic IP now, later, or ever.

Hmmm, sounds interesting, I hadn't thought about this.

So If I understand it, your advice would be to buy a "mail package" somewhere along with a domain name and the adresses I need and simply get the mail from time to time from these guys back on our server using fetchmail (I'll go and check this) and setup a local POP3 server using... what software?

And so the Outlook clients (or maybe the web client) should get the mail from our satellite server, Am I correct?

Thanks for your quick response anyway

JacquesZ

bughead1 is right, you could easily get your mail running for around 7 dollars for a domain name from somewhere like http://www.godaddy.com/ and setup your mx records on your dns server for mail on your ip address. my Dynamic address has only ever changed 2 times in 3 years but it's a big difference between my friends not being able to send me mail then it is when one of the architects don't get plans or details for a project that could affect you monitarily. when that time does come that the address changes that one email that you don't receive before you correct your dns could possibly would pay for that years server hosting or static address and then you have to worry about losing the client if it was an important email.


Just my 2 cents.

d check this) and setup a local POP3 server using... what software?

And so the Outlook clients (or maybe the web client) should get the mail from our satellite server, Am I correct?

Thanks for your quick response anyway

JacquesZ [/B][/QUOTE]

Well, every company's mail needs are different. But virtually every major Linux distribution comes with the tools to build a very basic mail server. For example, I had a branch office situation at a rural site where only dial up was available. Using Slackware (could have just as easily used RedHat, Debian, etc.), and "Fetchmail," I set up contrab entries for each account to poll the mail server at the main office every few minutes. Slackware comes with Sendmail, and a pop3 demon you run from inittab.

You might need something different...you may want IMAP; you may need virus scanning; you might want spam blocking. But what I just described is sufficient for a basic satellite mail server at your location -- a satellite mail server that will periodically (and automatically) poll your third party hosted mail server around the clock.

The advantage to this, was of course, that with a tiny pipe, several users trying to download their mail at the same time would plug up the Internet connection, and since there was often 5 to 10 MB worth of mail per user (large pdf attachments mostly), the delays were interminable. Plus, having an smtp server on site, meant the desktops could quickly hand off large outgoing emails. Putting a large drive (and booting from a floppy) into an old 486SX for experimentation proved to be such a quantum leap in performance that I still haven't bothered to replace it after two years.

In your situation, however, the ADSL line may provide enough bandwidth that you don't really need an on-site smtp/pop3 server. A third party host for email may be enough.

One caveat: If you do decide to put a satellite mail server in your LAN, and then decide to provide virus scanning/IMAP/spam blocking/web mail, etc., don't even think about running an old. slow, box like I did. Even with only a handful of users, these services need fast disks, powerful processors, and more RAM. Start with a P3 if you are into recycling yesterday's hardware like I am. Anything will work for a basic mail server running Sendmail and a pop3 demon -- but these other services will require more substantial hardware.