Mail Servers,

BoomAM

BoomAM

BoomAM

Soldato
Joined
5 Jul 2003
Posts
16,206
Location
Atlanta, USA
Hi.
Is there a way i could setup a 3rd computer in my house, that would access/download my email for me, and allows the same email, in the same inboxes and with the same rules, to be access from any of my other two computers. So that they would be accessing it remotely.
Similar to a setup you would have at a large organisation, where all the email is stored/sent/recieved on one main server, but can be accessed as if it was local from any machine on the network.

Thanks in advance. :)
 
Yes, it's what I do.

Build it as a linux box, and put an imap server on it. I use gentoo linux with courier-imap over ssl, and it works very well for getting my mail internally and externally. Also, you can run spamassassin on the box and do your own spam filtering, which is v. useful.

Once done, you just need to configure a utility like getmail to regularly go and download all your mail from your providers pop services. Probably set it to go every 10 mins or so.
 
How powerful of a system do i need to do that then?
Would an old SoA system do?
Memory?
HDD? I take it that that would be dependant on how big i want my emails to be?

Would it be possbile to 'intergrate' my email from outlook into the server?
 
BoomAM said:
How powerful of a system do i need to do that then?
Would an old SoA system do?
Memory?
HDD? I take it that that would be dependant on how big i want my emails to be?

Would it be possbile to 'intergrate' my email from outlook into the server?
Click to expand...

An old pentium machine running a small linux install with no GUI would be more than adequate HDD size would be dependant upon the amount of emails you wish to store, a small install with just the mail software would be very small and would probably use less than 100MB if no unneeded software was used.
 
BoomAM said:
How powerful of a system do i need to do that then?
Would an old SoA system do?
Memory?
Click to expand...

I used to run it on a 466Mhz s370 Celeron with (IIRC) 512MB of RAM.
The most strenuous part (unless you're talking thousands of emails an hour) is SpamAssassin.

HDD? I take it that that would be dependant on how big i want my emails to be?
Click to expand...

Pretty much.
 
Thinking about it.
Would an IMAP server function well enough if the system was also acting as a proxy?
I was thinking that my old XP1800, with a gig of mem, 40Gb HDD & 3 network cards would make a nice little file/proxy/mail server.

The only problem would be the physical layout:
net1.JPG

Would connection like that be possible?
The WAG354G would be providing my ADSL & WiFi connection, with a 100Mbps connection to the main/proxy/file server, with that having 2 gigabit connections to my main PC & Laptop.
The only problem would be having the WiFi clients go through the server before it goes to the net?

Possible?

Then my only problem would be making the 'server' silent.
 
BoomAM said:
The only problem would be having the WiFi clients go through the server before it goes to the net?.
Click to expand...

It's hardly a problem, except it's also going to be using the 100Mbps connection between the server and router.
 
tolien said:
It's hardly a problem, except it's also going to be using the 100Mbps connection between the server and router.
Click to expand...
Cant see that as being a problem to be honest, bandwidth wise.
Any reasons why it would?

So would a 'server' with these specs:
XP1800.
1Gb Mem.
40Gb HDD.
100Mbps LAN to ADSL/WiFi.
2x Gigabit LAN to main computer/laptop when wired.

I'd probably add a large HDD at a later date to use it as a file server. Prehaps set it up as an iTunes server?

Are there any guides that i should be looking at for this kind of thing?
 
Why plug everything into the server? get a switch (or use your router's) and just plug everything into that. Don't bother messing around with a proxy unless you're sure you need a web proxy. With the server plugged into the switch, any other client on the network will be able to see it just fine...
 
Am i correct in thinking that a web proxy will effectivly end my need for firewall software?
As i understand it, the proxy will only open the ports that i give it, so as long as i give it the common ports & the ports i use for my torrents, i should be pretty much alright with outbound protection? The NAT on my router provides more than good enough inbound protection.
 
Odd.
I dont think i'll bother with a proxy server then.
Any guides around for the Mail server then?
 
Last edited:
In reply to the bit you deleted (:p) - they must have a firewall somewhere. A proxy doesn't block anything per se (beyond your web filtering, but that's a different story).

Depends on your server (and distro) of choice. There's Qmail, Postfix, Exim etc.
 
I wanted to do this when I got my Macbook, but I wanted to do it on a Windows 2000 Server box instead of a Linux box.

Anyone know how to do this on a Win2k Server box (so that I can then access my emails from Mail.app on my mac, and Thunderbird on my Windows XP Laptop) ?
 
JonRohan said:
Could I pimp clarkconnect? Its got the firewall, proxy, mail server and file server functions. Might be worth taking a look at.
Click to expand...
You could.
But it costs. And considering it doesnt really do anything that any other Linux distribution can do, its a little pointless for me. ;) :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom