Setting Up A Home Linux (Mail + File) Server

daveirl

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dahamsta

daveirl wrote:

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It will.

should I install the GUI and set up the machine not to boot it on start up?

It's actually very difficult to set up a Mandrake box without X - most of the drak* sysop tools won't install without XFree86/Xorg, which is absolutely ridiculous - but no, you don't need a GUI unless you want one. Install Webmin (urpmi webmin), that'll do everything you need from a web-based "GUI".

On the File Server aspects, do I just need to install Samba and then I'll be able to share the contents of the server with the Windows machines on the network?

Yes. And you can share and mount Windows folders too of course, which can be very handy.

Is it possible to do what I'm suggesting with sendmail etc.?

Yes. Fetchmail and procmail are your friends here.

adam

Civilian_Target

Just a couple of other things - adam seems to have covered most stuff but...

P350 isn't too specific - you really need RAM - I wouldn't serve files without at least 128Mb, it'll just be slow.

Samba will do the biz for you - as long as you're not on a domain.

Mandrakes not ideal for what you're doing - but it should work so if you want to use it - go for it.

Linux is very scalable - I have a P120 w/64mb operating as a router and a webserver with no issues and good pace - so you should be pleased with your setup.

daveirl

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dahamsta

daveirl wrote:

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I can't check now cos my server's offline, but I think Fetchmail on Mandrake can be run as a daemon. (It can always be run as a daemon, but afaik it's set up ready to go on Mandrake, whereas it isn't in other distros.)

So then if my understanding is right fetchmail gets the mail and passes it on to procmail for processing where it'll do all the filtering and sorting stuff I want done.

Yip.

Is there anything I'm missing? Any pitfalls I need to stay away from?

There will be, but that's half the fun of it!

adam

dahamsta

BTW...

download my mail from a load of different POP3 accounts and filter it and send it on to different email accounts of mine.

Why send it on? Why not just filter it into IMAP folders and keep it local?

adam

versa

Hi daveirl,
Have you had a look at the Lycrois SME Server from www.contribs.org I have it running here at home acting as a web, mail, ftp, and file server, it was running on an old PII350 with 128 ram and it has all the functions you seem to be looking for.

daveirl

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dahamsta

daveirl wrote:

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I think Cyrus stores messages in individual files, in which case you'll need to run a convertor, which you should be able to find pretty easily with Google (try "cyrus mbox convert").

I used to use UW IMAP (which uses mboxes) but it seemed to be getting bogged down a little with my mail store, which is quite big. So I converted to Courier as a trial, which stores messages individually, and that seems to have improved things. There are issues though, most notably with complex procmail rules because procmail is primarily developed with mbox in mind.

When I get a chance I think I'll move my Courier daemon to another port, and use that for long-term storage, and switch back to UW IMAP on 143 for the short-term stuff. Might want to consider that yourself if you have complex procmail rules in mind.

Course I don't need to tell you that that's the beauty of Linux. Try doing than on Windows for free...

adam

daveirl

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dahamsta

daveirl wrote:

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It came recommended. A colleague of mine is a Linux integrator and although he spends most of his time working with extremely large installations*, he uses Courier in mid-sized installations and for his own systems.

adam

*Using Exim, because it can use disparate storage mechanisms. Like MySQL. How cool is that?

dahamsta

versa wrote:

Have you had a look at the Lycrois SME Server

That actually looks pretty good, I'd nearly use that for small office setups meself. Ta for the link. I would add, though, that for someone that wants to learn and/or play with Linux, doing it from scratch with a standard distro is by far the best - and most fun - way. You'd be amazed what you'd pick up along the way.

It can be very frustrating at times, but there's nothing like finally getting something working just the way you want it... and immediately changing your definition of "just the way you want it" so you can tweak some more.

adam

daveirl

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dahamsta

Is Cyrus a standard Mandy package? If not throw it away for the moment and use something standard. UW IMAP should work out of the box, for example, just install imap2003 (or similar) and enable it in Extended Internet Services on the Networking tab in Webmin.

Get the standard stuff working first, then play.

adam

digitalninja

man.
stop wasting your time and just get debian+samba+exim+courier.

dahamsta

digitalninja wrote:

stop wasting your time and just get debian+samba+exim+courier.

You forgot to mention Firefox. :rolleyes:

maxheadroom

daveirl wrote:

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Gentoo isn't *hard* its just a bit time consuming to set up. Here's some docs from gentoo's site on how to set up what you're after - maybe you can adapt some of this to Mandrake (or maybe they'll convince you to switch over...)

Virtual Mailhosting System with Postfix Guide
qmail/vpopmail Virtual Mail Hosting System Guide
Gentoo Samba3/CUPS/Clam AV HOWTO

daveirl

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dahamsta

daveirl wrote:

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What do you mean by that though? Was the daemon running, or, if it's run via xinetd, is it enabled there?

To be honest I don't really understand the whole rpm thing. I understand building packages from source perfectly but I know rpms should be easier but I don't really get it. Are they just equivalent to installers in Windows?

I suppose so, yeah.

Will they add startup scripts to init.d automatically?

Official RPMs should, yeah.

How do you know what to configure after you've installed one?

Most RPMs should work out of the box, or - as with UW IMAP - they simply need to be enabled.

When I build from source I control every step so I get what's going on but installing rpms I get confused with where I start configuring.

Building from source is great when you need to tweak things, but if standard setups are ok, it's really taking the long way around.

adam