Mailserver for me & my friends

[fourhead]

Hi,

I'm running a small virtual server, and I'm planning to add mailserver functionality to it, besides the current Apache install. The server currently hosts 6 domains, and there won't be more in the near future, also, each domain would not have more than a few e-mail addresses.

So what I'm looking for is a small, simple, reliable mailserver that enables me to filter out spam (with bogofilter or something), to scan mail for viruses (clamav, f-prot etc.), and I want my friends to be able to access their mail with POP3/IMAP just as they like. If possible I don't want to use a database, that will make things too complex and to name it I have (almost) no idea about databases So what would you recommend? Postfix? QMail? Sendmail? Exim? Courier? Anything else out there? Which of those would integrate best with a webmailer like Squirrelmail or does the mailserver used not matter here?

I'd appreciate any comments on this!

Tom

[Double Click]

Well ... I use qmail for my mailservers - more or less according to the installation of the qmail how-to on the www.gentoo.org under the doc section. It does use a database as well but there is really not much to it.
The installation instructions are quiet flexible, so if u decide u want to add something different or leave it out it should not cause anu issues. Squirrelmail also works fine with qmail - although I could not imagine it could not with any other MTA since it is really a breeze to set up.
I did my first Gentoo/qmail installation according to that guide and it really worked like a charm - and coming from me that really means something
You also mentioned that you have a few domains with a couple of e-mails for each so vpopmail with mysql will work just fine - don't be scared about the database part - it really intergrates niecly and you won't need to touch the database at all after the installation. In fact I have removed the web based e-mail administrator module and use the command prompt soley for user managment - i think it is faster.
As for the spam and virii filtering I really don't know what to say - haven't really dug into it .... sorry.

Hope this helps a little bit at least.

Cheers

[cselkirk]

That is a question to fuel heated mailserver debates for some time, it's something I'd rather not touch on as I don't have the time to repond to the question adequetly.

That said I am a big fan of qmail, having sworn off sendmail in '97. I won't make too much of a personal case for it's use but I will say that over the years of using it I have yet to encounter a situation that qmail was not suited, or addaptable to. As one example of the pleasure it has given me, I was delighted recently when booting an old IBM RS6000 (ppc) that (at least directly after boot and login) this specific linux machine, running cron, sshd, and qmail, was using only a 6MB footprint.

For your requirements stated above, qmail, courier-imap, vpopmail (or vmailmgr) and either squirrelmail or IMP would suit. A setup of this type is described in the qmail/vpopmail Virtual Mail Hosting System Guide.

HTH
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[fourhead]

I did read in this forum that qmail is not actively maintained anymore. Is that true? I really don't know if to choose Postfix or QMail. I've read good things about both of them, but this qmail thing scared me - but from both your answers it sounds good

Tom

[cselkirk]

qmail may nolonger be maintained by it's author but it has a large number of contributors, in terms of code, support, and documentation. It also has a large userbase, according to a certain qmail webpage the "second most popular mail server on the internet" .. but I won't qualify that statement, I'm not sure I could say what the first would be.

qmail is the mailserver behind many large mail toasters (some major names) and as such there is an investment (from all it's userbase but significantly large organizations who can pay for someone to work on the code), in maintaining qmail as a "supported" mailserver.

I could wax lyrical .. ya, but I'm too punk .. heh
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[wmartino]

You might look into doing a secure Postfix mail server. Here is a great how-to, it will get you on your way. It is broken up into to two parts.

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Email_System_for_the_Home_Network
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Email_System_for_the_Home_Network_Part_2
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