Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

[bgavin]

I'm looking for a recommendation for a mail server running on FC7.

It will support a dozen users and should have spam and virus filtering. POP3 access for sure, Web mail access is a plus. The intent is a stable mail server for small groups of Windows users.

I think I want to run SpamAssassin, etc. Don't know about the antivirus. QMail looks attractive due to resistance to invasion.

[willawake]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

is this a corporate installation : is there budget
or has to be free?

if you had said windows i would have said http://www.altn.com/

[bgavin]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

Non-corporate.

I'm looking at FC7, easy maintenance, stable mail solution for small business clients (read: no money).

I want to take their limited budget and put it all in my pocket, not in Microsoft's pocket.

[linuxguru]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

Postfix is the best Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) for Linux. It's released under a free software license, but not under the GNU GPL. It does need some expertise to configure it, but it's well worth the effort to learn it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postfix_(software)
http://www.postfix.org/

Also, IMHO, FC3/4/5 are more stable and reliable for server use than F7. Postfix on FC3 would be the way to go for overall stability, with a slight slowdown in performance/boot times compared to later versions of Fedora.

[Topcat]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

www.merak.com

Not cheap, but works great. Had versions for both win and *nix.

[Rainbow]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

postfix+dovecot

[bgavin]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

Interesting comment about FC3 being more stable. I've been running FC3 as a DNS machine since it came out. All it does is work...

What happened with later Fedora that introduced stability issues?

[ edit ]

Also, where is a top notch forum that has a focus on mail servers under Linux?

[bgavin]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

I spun up FC3 Final from the DVD .iso, installed it, and it fails to update right out of the box. I took the default installation, and "yum -y update" pukes with some missing key bug.

I installed FC5 and didn't have the problem with yum updates. I remember having the same problem on the FC3 that is running my DNS machine. I still cannot do updates on it for some arcane reason.

[willawake]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

imho http://www.centos.org/ is better for servers as it not so cutting edge as fedora

[bgavin]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

I'm downloading the CentOS v5 DVD torrent now. It should be done when I get back from the morning client visit.

I stuck with Fedora because it works right out of the box (except FC3). I'm not a Linux geek, so I have to dig for everything in the distributions that are more geek oriented.

All I want to do is build a stable and simple mail server. I did notice that there is a QMail Toaster available for CentOS. I also noticed that CentOS v5 has many of the required packages already in place (PHP, MySql, etc).

[willawake]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

well its all redhat linux basically. Fedora is the most cutting edge for the enthusiasts and then redhat enterprise linux (RHEL) is designed for stability. innovations done in Fedora get incorporated in RHEL when they are considered mature enough for enterprise use. Centos is basically free RHEL. I think you will like it. I see most linux webservers offered run centos.

[bgavin]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

I was impressed by the web site. I did have to laugh... IBM is a big contributor (I spent almost 25 years there)... hopefully they are "hands off" other than writing a check. CentOS has a lot of the QMail requirements as part of the standard package. It should be better integrated, than would be a series of add-on packages.



I'm also impressed by QMail's record of not being hacked. There is a toaster available for QMail on... CentOS. I also noticed the toaster scripts start life as CentOS scripts, then tweaked down to FC3, etc.

I tried a copy of RHEL, but found it protected, wanting money, etc, so I went with Fedora. If CentOS is RHEL without the debit, I'm willing to try it out. My clients have a limited budget, and I want it in my pocket, not a vendor pocket.

[willawake]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

If CentOS is RHEL without the debit, I'm willing to try it out.

it is

[bgavin]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

I installed it with the Server option, then did a successful YUM update. So far, so good. I have it running under VMWare Workstation, and it runs fine.

After I did all the updates, I backed up the VMWare file to a ZIP for safe keeping. I can restore it back anytime. Ya gotta love VMWare.

[bgavin]

Re: Recommend Fedora Core 7 Mail Server

I have QMail Toaster up and running on CentOS 5. I have tested a basic send and reply to an account on the machine, but have yet to test the admin and POP functions.

This was a test project under VMWare, so I will have to rebuild it on a real machine. This is a lengthy installation process. It takes many hours to download source and compile the projects. The installation script requires manual intervention to say "yes" to continue compiling every project. I can modify this to a fully automated script.