LinuxQuestions.org
Help answer threads with 0 replies.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie
User Name
Password
Linux - Newbie This Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question? If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 07-28-2003, 10:41 AM   #1
DKY
Member
 
Registered: Jul 2003
Posts: 60

Rep: Reputation: 15
questions about a mail server


So, I'm just starting out here, and am wondering if I can have my own mail server. I dont have a static ip though. Instead, I went to a place called no-ip.com where I can update my ip address, and it gives me a whatever.sytes.net name. Can I run a mail server with a whatever.sytes.net name? would my email address be like DKY@whatever.sytes.net? Is that at all possible?
 
Old 07-28-2003, 10:44 AM   #2
MasterC
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Salt Lake City, UT - USA
Distribution: Gentoo ; LFS ; Kubuntu ; CentOS ; Raspbian
Posts: 12,613

Rep: Reputation: 69
Sure is, not a problem. I did it for quite some time til I decided to register my own domain. It's all the same though, just remember your domain is (for example):
dky.no-ip.org The whole thing, even though you are 'sbu-domaining' from their domain, that's your full domain name. So applications seem to think that the dky.no-ip.org is subdomain so you might run into problems there. But Postfix worked fine with it, and of course, I always suggest using Postfix

Cool
 
Old 07-28-2003, 10:47 AM   #3
DKY
Member
 
Registered: Jul 2003
Posts: 60

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
okay, one other question. Why do you suggest postfix over others, and is there a tutorial on setting up postfix on RH9, or is it easy enough for someone who's been so Winoze oriented all his life, lol.
 
Old 07-28-2003, 11:01 AM   #4
MasterC
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Salt Lake City, UT - USA
Distribution: Gentoo ; LFS ; Kubuntu ; CentOS ; Raspbian
Posts: 12,613

Rep: Reputation: 69


Tutorial you ask, and I shall provide:
Old Skool: http://www.redhat.com/support/resour...FAQ/book1.html
Newer:
http://www-dt.e-technik.uni-dortmund.de/~ma/postfix/
And probably the one I'd suggest following is included with the Postfix source itself. Unless you are going RPM in which case you might find some on your distro's site... Lemme check...
Well here's a 10 second line on it :
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/l...witchmail.html

You can also (and if you are into this type of thing I suggest looking into it, it's a great tool for more than just a mail server):
www.webmin.com

Cool
 
Old 07-28-2003, 11:07 AM   #5
MasterC
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Salt Lake City, UT - USA
Distribution: Gentoo ; LFS ; Kubuntu ; CentOS ; Raspbian
Posts: 12,613

Rep: Reputation: 69
Quote:
Originally posted by DKY
okay, one other question. Why do you suggest postfix over others
Hey wait a minute, that's 2 things!

My usual lines
Postfix is considered more secure out of the box than Sendmail. For several people (myself included, but obviously not everyone) it was easier to setup than Qmail but still is able to conform to the more secure Maildir way of delivering mail.
Postfix is also benchmarked around the net compared to Sendmail and others and was considered faster than some (specifically Sendmail).
It's a complete drop in replacement for sendmail, is well documented and is MUCH more easier for one to understand and setup.

Other things I occasionally mention
Postfix's site looks cleaner than Sendmails. Postfix comes as the default MTA on Mandrake (which I consider to be a massive "selling point" for it). Postfix is MUCH more versatile than it's competition. And most importantly:
I always vote on the underdog Sendmail is what everyone considers the "de facto" in mail handling (not everyone, but generalizing is occasionally OK ). However it's flawed in too many ways to count, is too hard to setup for most newbies (heck even a lot of guru's!) and certainly does not play well with others.



Cool
 
Old 07-28-2003, 11:26 AM   #6
xUltra
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Chicago, IL
Distribution: Gentoo
Posts: 9

Rep: Reputation: 0
Anyone here use qmail? It's said to be the 2nd most popular MTA in the world... 2nd to what..? I *hope* not sendmail!!! Anyway I always used Exim and Postfix.... hows qmail?
 
Old 07-28-2003, 11:29 AM   #7
DKY
Member
 
Registered: Jul 2003
Posts: 60

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
I found somewhere that postfix comes with the RH 9 install. and if you go to the main menu/system tools/more system tools/mail transport agen switcher, you can switch from sendmail to postfix. Which I did, but now what? LOL, I'm still looking for how to get started with it. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. If not, I'll figure it out I'm sure.

Thanks for the help Master C
 
Old 07-28-2003, 11:30 AM   #8
MasterC
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Salt Lake City, UT - USA
Distribution: Gentoo ; LFS ; Kubuntu ; CentOS ; Raspbian
Posts: 12,613

Rep: Reputation: 69
Now you um, send mail and recieve it

Check /etc/postfix/main.cf and edit the settings to your needs. Follow some of those guides up there or just check the postfix.org website for info if you get confused. If nothing makes sense, post up a few pieces of what doesn't make sense and I'll see if I can help

Cool
 
Old 07-28-2003, 11:32 AM   #9
MasterC
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Salt Lake City, UT - USA
Distribution: Gentoo ; LFS ; Kubuntu ; CentOS ; Raspbian
Posts: 12,613

Rep: Reputation: 69
Quote:
Originally posted by xUltra
Anyone here use qmail? It's said to be the 2nd most popular MTA in the world... 2nd to what..? I *hope* not sendmail!!! Anyway I always used Exim and Postfix.... hows qmail?
Tried it, was able to send but never got it configured to recieve. Error messages didn't quite make sense to me, and neither did the config files for it. I am sure it's just because I'm used to Postfix and basically "stuck in my ways"

It definitely is well documented on that lifewithqmail.org site, great tool for that mail system. Also, I love Maildir's and was VERY happy to catch onto that early on and setup Postfix from the get go with em.

Cool
 
Old 07-28-2003, 11:34 AM   #10
xUltra
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Chicago, IL
Distribution: Gentoo
Posts: 9

Rep: Reputation: 0
yeah I heard it was confusing
 
Old 07-28-2003, 11:35 AM   #11
MasterC
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Salt Lake City, UT - USA
Distribution: Gentoo ; LFS ; Kubuntu ; CentOS ; Raspbian
Posts: 12,613

Rep: Reputation: 69
It certainly felt solid though, and I was very impressed with it's logging.

Cool
 
Old 07-28-2003, 11:45 AM   #12
DKY
Member
 
Registered: Jul 2003
Posts: 60

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
On the RedHat site, there's this
Quote:
A thorough discussion of what should be in this file is included in the Red Hat Postfix HOWTO.
If I knew where that HOWTO was, I wouldnt be at the RedHat site, now would I.....That's funny!!! LOL
 
Old 07-28-2003, 11:49 AM   #13
MasterC
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Salt Lake City, UT - USA
Distribution: Gentoo ; LFS ; Kubuntu ; CentOS ; Raspbian
Posts: 12,613

Rep: Reputation: 69

http://www.redhat.com/support/resour...news/mail.html

Cool
 
Old 07-29-2003, 08:00 AM   #14
DKY
Member
 
Registered: Jul 2003
Posts: 60

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
In the main.cf, I dont understand this part
Code:
myhostname = host.domain.name
what is host? how do i figure it out.
 
Old 07-29-2003, 08:04 AM   #15
MasterC
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Salt Lake City, UT - USA
Distribution: Gentoo ; LFS ; Kubuntu ; CentOS ; Raspbian
Posts: 12,613

Rep: Reputation: 69
Your hostname is just the name you've assigned to your computer, no more, no less.

You can view your current hostname with:
hostname


If you want to change it, search the boards, I'm always a little off and rusty when it comes to that in other distros, but look in:
/etc/sysconfig/hosts
Or somewhere nearby

You can also temporarily change it with:
hostname newhostname
Where newhostname is then new name you'd like.

But yeah, that's it. Then, the nice part is that you can configure your internal network to recognize that machine by that name within /etc/hosts (don't worry if you dont' understand me I'm rambling ).

Anyway...

Cool
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
a few questions about setting up a mail server sporkit Linux - Networking 12 04-08-2004 05:47 AM
Mail server....quick questions tisource Linux - Software 12 12-15-2003 08:29 PM
Mail server questions linuxnube Linux - Software 0 10-21-2003 11:20 AM
Questions about MySQL and Mail Server Dillweed Linux - Software 2 08-30-2003 12:46 AM
Mail server questions, MTA ?? explorer1979 Linux - General 4 11-27-2002 10:55 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:12 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration