Linux mail server recommendation please

Zenith74

Hey guys,

I'm looking to setup a small mail server for a company but would like to hear people's recommendations on what route to go.
Firstly here are the requirements -
- They have multiple domains, I'll have MX records for them all pointing to this Linux server.
- Webmail is required but only for when people are out of office.
- The PCs in the office are all Windows based, running Outlook 97/2000.
- To try and centralise backup etc. I may want to have their mail stored on the server (similar to Exchange mailboxes) as opposed to using local PST files.
- HTTP front end for adding email addresses etc. to the various domains.
- Userbase is small, 50 users max.

They're really the only specific requirements.

This is one of my first ventures into Linux, I setup one or two mail servers in the past to play with but nothing for customers. I've always used Red Hat so will go with that again. Next question is what MTA to go for? I had QMail going before following the QMailRocks guide but QMail seems quite complicated, it went down once and that was it, I couldn't figure the problem out. However it was quite straight forward to get up and going initially, and the likes of vqadmin and qmailadmin were exactly what I'm looking for as far as the HTTP front end are concerned. Squirrelmail ain't half bad either, if a bit basic looking.
Recently I setup a mail scanning gateway with postfix and spamassasin/clamav. It was a bit more difficult to get going but seemed quite clear how it worked so I was able to do basic problem solving and monitoring. However are there equivalents to vqadmin and qmailadmin etc. for postfix or is editing config files the only way to go with it?

Does storing the mailboxes on the server make sense? If so do I use IMAP with Outlook?

On a slightly different note, what's a good way of going about backup a Linux server on a regular basis (with a DAT drive say)? Something that will just run every night and provide some easy way of a user checking to make sure the backup ran. Does it make sense to back up the whole system, or just the mailbox folders, log files and config files? Can these be easily restored after a rebuild?


Any tips would be great,
Thanks very much,
Phil

Capt'n Midnight

Have a look at this
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=238014
summary
MDaemon is about 1/10th the price of microsoft exchange and can run on a workstation
outlook does NOT like imap

MDaemon also stores all mails a individual message files - backup/restore/date recovery/moving between queues (MTA message transfer agent?) is just drag n' drop.

SendMail is a linux solution and as one person said "there are guys who charge large amounts of money to look at you logs if there is a problem. they charge even more if you want them to talk to you after reading the logs"

osmethod

Firstly here are the requirements -
- They have multiple domains, I'll have MX records for them all pointing to this Linux server.
dovecot or cyrus or pop3d
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-list/2005-January/msg03320.html

- Webmail is required but only for when people are out of office.
squirrelmail
http://www.squirrelmail.org/

- The PCs in the office are all Windows based, running Outlook 97/2000.
97 will not run imap... you'd need Outlook 98 for imap support. Outlook 200 supports imap as does OE.

- To try and centralise backup etc. I may want to have their mail stored on the server (similar to Exchange mailboxes) as opposed to using local PST files.

Imap does a fine job here

- HTTP front end for adding email addresses etc. to the various domains.
Webmin or webcyradmin

They're really the only specific requirements.
Next question is what MTA to go for?...Recently I setup a mail scanning gateway with postfix and spamassasin/clamav.

Sounds good... also consider messagewall
http://directory.fsf.org/email/spam/MessageWall.html

Does storing the mailboxes on the server make sense? If so do I use IMAP with Outlook?
Yes

On a slightly different note, what's a good way of going about backup a Linux server on a regular basis (with a DAT drive say)?

Typically a script with dd or copy and tar running as a cron job..
This will give you some clues http://www.linux-backup.net/Copy/

Does it make sense to back up the whole system, or just the mailbox folders, log files and config files? Can these be easily restored after a rebuild?

Yes

If your internal servers are 2003 with AD I'd consider handing off user creation/authentication using LDAP on the linux box.

Sophos (Installs on nearly all Oses) have a nice AV, installed directly on linux...including a lightweight mail scanner "mail monitor"...

Another nice tool for W2k upwards is SFU3.5 (services for unix - Free!) which when installed can be setup to do nfs sharing/mounts. Another source of backups..

I'd install the sshd daemon to allow for remote access to the box...

Don't forget security....!

osmethod

Jaden

I know it's not Linux, but Mdaemon seems to be what you want.

I use it in several locations. Runs on a bog standard Win2K machine. We use both POP3/SMTP and IMAP. We have at least 5 different e-mail clients - Outlook 98/2000, Mozilla, Thuinderbird, Eudora and Webmail.

Mdaemon can handle multiple Domains (I have 11 in here), IMAP at a Snap, authentication can be done against a Domain controller.

Spam and Antivirus are second to none. We have users in here who've NEVER seen a Spam message, or recieved a suspect attachment.

Remote admin is easy too.

I'd consider it. Every time I'm asked to set up a mailserver, I end up using MDaemon. Yer talking 30 minutes tops to get up and running on their 30 day free trial.

Google Zen Software, they distribute for Ireland & UK.

Bringing this back on topic, my mailserver is the only Windows server I have. Firewall, PDC, FTP, MySQL, RAS, DHCP, VPN, Webproxy and File servers are all Linux (Redhat/Mandrake mix). The mail stuff is the only one where a non Linux solution was better in the long run. If they ever ported MDaemon to Linux, I'd move in a heartbeat.

I live for the day when I can say that the server room is Microsoft free. Costs Down, Security up, nerd kudos in orbit.....

mneylon

You could use postfix with dovecot etc.,

Red Alert

I'm currently using sendmail/procmail/spamassasin, looking to integrate ClamAV as i don't have budget for sophos on that PC. I'm thinking of going to a totally QMail system tho'.

Zenith74

Thanks for the replies!!

MDaemon looks good alright, I'll certainly consider it for future installs but this guy really wants a Linux server in there, it's just one of those things .

I used SquirrelMail before but after following some of the links posted above I came across OpenWebMail which appears to have a much nicer interface (important to users used to Windows ). If I could persuade them to only use webmail it would be great, but I think Outlook will have to hang around .

dovecot or cyrus or pop3d

Is there any reason you'd recommend one of these over postfix or qmail? Or would I want to run postfix in combination with cyrus maybe?

Bit of a conflict on the IMAP query I see, does this indicate that Outlook "supports" IMAP but not too well? It's a small company so they have no real in-house IT, so low maintenance is TOP priority. If IMAP with Outlook will cause grief (anybody got any experience?) I'll persuade him out of it and stick with POP and local PST files, or maybe put the PSTs on a Samba share.

Somebody asked about authentication above - they're currently just on a peer-to-peer windows network, so there is no centralised authentication or storage believe it or not, and this is the way they want to stay.


Sorry if these seem like very basic questions, as I said I'm just getting into the Linux server area really, but jumping in head first is probably the quickest way to learn I reckon .

Again thanks very much for the replies, they were very informative!

dahamsta

It befuddles me why someone would come into the Unix forum and recommend a Windows mail server in response to a specific request for a Linix mail server.

They have multiple domains, I'll have MX records for them all pointing to this Linux server.

virtusertable in Sendmail, not sure about other mail servers but they all handle multiple domains.

Webmail is required but only for when people are out of office.

You're spoiled for choice in this department. Imp, Twig and Squirrelmail are my three favourites, with Squirrelmail being my default for some time now.

The PCs in the office are all Windows based, running Outlook 97/2000.

Not a problem, but see notes on IMAP.

To try and centralise backup etc. I may want to have their mail stored on the server (similar to Exchange mailboxes) as opposed to using local PST files.

As mentioned, IMAP support in Outlook can be kludgy, although to be fair to Outlook, IMAP supports tends to be kludgy in most clients, or at least the ones I've tried (TBird on Win32/Linux, Opera Mail, Kmail, Evolution).

My experience is that it's really only a major issue on messy mailboxes with large folder hierarchies. An alterative is to use POP3 and configure the clients to leavea copy on the server, but cleaning up would be non-trivial (albeit not incredibly difficult to a sysop with good mail server experience). Personally I'd just recommend that users keep their mailboxes tidy, and if their mail becomes unresponsive because of that, tough.

- HTTP front end for adding email addresses etc. to the various domains.

Webmin. Piece of piddle.

- Userbase is small, 50 users max.

You don't need something heavy-duty like Exim then, unless you want the mail stored in an database.

This is one of my first ventures into Linux, I setup one or two mail servers in the past to play with but nothing for customers. I've always used Red Hat so will go with that again. Next question is what MTA to go for?

I tend to go with defaults in distros, and in Red Hat's case that's Sendmail. Some will tell you that Sendmail is a bitch to configure but I've always wondered what these people are using for comparison, because all of the servers I've used have been equally bitchy, that it was just a matter of getting used to the configuration.

Recently I setup a mail scanning gateway with postfix and spamassasin/clamav.

I highly recommend OpenProtect for (relatively) small installations like this, it's a bundle of MailScanner, ClamAV and SpamAssassin that's very easy to install and configure. Google the name for details, you'll find that downloads on openprotect.sf.net.

I'll leave the backup stuff to someone else.

HTH,
adam

dahamsta

Zenith74 wrote:

Is there any reason you'd recommend one of these over postfix or qmail? Or would I want to run postfix in combination with cyrus maybe?

dovecot and cyrus are IMAP servers, pop3d is a POP3 server. Mail is delivered by the MTA, these servers handle user interaction to the mail that's been delivered.

I'd recommend trialling IMAP for a month or two, I can't see it that big an issue.

adam