Setting up a mail server?

[AirWolf]

Hi all.

I have searched and read a few of the other threads on this topic.

First off, I've never done this before, so go easy on the suggestions/explanations.

Our current setup:

ADSL --> SMOOTHWALL --> SWITCH --> 2 pcs
                            |
                            |
                          APN
                            |
                            |
              REST OF PCS ON NETWORK

So, ideally should the mail server be before or after the Smoothwall?

This will not be a dedicated mail server with static IP, but basically to pre-fetch mail.

All pcs are currently using Outlook Express.

The main reason my boss wants this server is to cut down on the spam getting to individual pcs.

Which mail server is best suited for the above?

 

[hilton]

How many users?

Fighting spam and having a mail server are normally two separate issues.

If you are prefetching the mail, I assume you mean using fetchmail to collect email off a POP3 server somewhere?

You don't want to wait until all the mail arrives at your premises before you start to filter spam.

 

[AirWolf]

How many users?

Fighting spam and having a mail server are normally two separate issues.

If you are prefetching the mail, I assume you mean using fetchmail to collect email off a POP3 server somewhere?

You don't want to wait until all the mail arrives at your premises before you start to filter spam.

Maximum 15 users at any one time. Yes, I would like to fetch mail from the POP3 server.

 

[hilton]

Then look at SME Server (http://contribs.org)

 

[mh348]

Why don't you look into using Google Apps.

 

[Ry4n]

In your case I'd get your mail hosted with anti spam by a ISP or something because to implement a Mail server with a good anti spam server will be a fairly costly process and you'd probably want to get support with that.

So, ideally should the mail server be before or after the Smoothwall?

Yes the sever should be patch into the switch.

If you where to setup a mail server you'll have all mail for your @domain to point at the external IP of your ADSL router if it isn't static visit www.dyndns.com to setup a DNS name to point your mail.
Then foward the relevant port of the mail server you choose and configure the relevant firewall policies and routing to point to the anti spam server which will point at the mail server. There are loads of choices of what mail servers to choose I can suggest Fedora or Redhat linux and as for Anti Spam I use ClearSwift Mimesweeper for SMTP I duno of any others, Im sure there are loads.

GL HF!

 

[gregmcc]

Why not use google mail - you can setup OE to pop mail off it.

 

[ambo]

Hi AirWolf

Doing spam filtering after it has reached your local network is really too late. If you are getting so much spam that your boss is complaining then you probably need to find a new company to host your domain. Most decent hosts have spam filtering

 

[Happy Camper]

Zimbra FTW++

 

[spiderz]

linux mail server + Evolution email

 

[AirWolf]

See the thing is our domain host does have spam filtering, however if you have the setting very high, the odd business related email gets deleted as well.

I've noticed that some other companies send you a message saying that your email was blocked / not delivered and if it is business related you should contact the administrator to get is released.

I was thinking along the lines of something similar, where all the emails get fetched and sorted, with only the perceived legitimate emails getting through while all emails still stored on the server, and spam could be sifted through for legitimate emails and deleted automatically after say 5 or 10 days.

Also we already have some file sharing options on our network already, it would be better to move all of those files onto this server for one point of back up.

I hope I'm making some sort of sense with my explanation .

 

[ambo]

I've noticed that some other companies send you a message saying that your email was blocked / not delivered and if it is business related you should contact the administrator to get is released.

Thats called backscatter. You will be sending far more invalid emails than legitimate ones and that makes you as bad as the spammers.

Basically - its not a good idea.

 

[graviti]

Zimbra FTW++

++

 

[Ivork]

For a windows solution Mercury is my favorite and comes with a host of spam fighting tools which work incredibly well.

That said, as has been previously mentioned, if you plan on popping the mail from the isp then you wasting your time (and bandwidth). All the serious spam fighting tools, greylisting, blacklisting etc all takes place on the smtp side of things.

The only spam tools you’ll be able to use will be something that scans the text of messages for keywords – and we know how useless that is these days. They always add a whole pile of legit words at the bottom of the message to confuse the scanner and make the % spam words less – or even put the advert text into an imbedded picture.

 

[rurapente]

Why don't you look into using Google Apps.

+10.

I've had less downtime on emails with GMail than some companies have with clustered Exchange servers and more

Plus its free until you really start hitting it, you get full control of your domain and users, calendar sharing, domain user imports and much more.

PS - you dont have to use Gmail interface either, they support pop and imap with ssl. Plus you can send through their SMTP servers on diff ports, and you get a really monster spam filtering engine.

 

[AirWolf]

Why don't you look into using Google Apps.

+10.

I've had less downtime on emails with GMail than some companies have with clustered Exchange servers and more

Plus its free until you really start hitting it, you get full control of your domain and users, calendar sharing, domain user imports and much more.

PS - you dont have to use Gmail interface either, they support pop and imap with ssl. Plus you can send through their SMTP servers on diff ports, and you get a really monster spam filtering engine.

I'm using Google Apps for my personal domain .

Only one question: does the domain hosting and email service go together or can they be seperated ie. email by Google Apps and domain by current host?

 

[rurapente]

together. i can go to apps.mycompandomain.com and get to my apps and shared docs, as can any user on my domain.

unless u mean web hosting? thats fine, just point http://yourdomain.com and http://www.yourdomain.com to your hosting company and set MX records to google and set webmail.yourdomain.com or whatever to the gmail login pages, and apps.yourdomain.com to your google apps page.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Hey Wolfy

hope I'm not too late with this.

If the mail server is a plain POP3/SMTP server, then you can put it in the DMZ.

If it's a Microsoft Exchange server, then you'll need to put it in the GREEN segment.

Our mail filtering is done by cozahost, they also will spool the emails should our adsl line go down or whatever Mr Murphy likes doing. So we don't need to worry about filtering emails as they do it. So far we haven't had any deleted business emails yet.

Sure, when a new spam/scam thing comes through, we get like 2 or 3 of the stuff before it is picked up by cozahost and blocked.

No viruses in emails so far.

I'm very satisfied with their service so far.

HTH

Libs

 

[AirWolf]

together. i can go to apps.mycompandomain.com and get to my apps and shared docs, as can any user on my domain.

unless u mean web hosting? thats fine, just point http://yourdomain.com and http://www.yourdomain.com to your hosting company and set MX records to google and set webmail.yourdomain.com or whatever to the gmail login pages, and apps.yourdomain.com to your google apps page.

Sorry, that's what I was referring to.

Hey Wolfy

hope I'm not too late with this.

If the mail server is a plain POP3/SMTP server, then you can put it in the DMZ.

If it's a Microsoft Exchange server, then you'll need to put it in the GREEN segment.

Our mail filtering is done by cozahost, they also will spool the emails should our adsl line go down or whatever Mr Murphy likes doing. So we don't need to worry about filtering emails as they do it. So far we haven't had any deleted business emails yet.

Sure, when a new spam/scam thing comes through, we get like 2 or 3 of the stuff before it is picked up by cozahost and blocked.

No viruses in emails so far.

I'm very satisfied with their service so far.

HTH

Libs

Thanks. I will check it out. For now I'm leaning towards Google Apps.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

@Airwolf - Google Apps should do the thing for you. Then the more productive types can also work from home without the need to setup VPN's or email forwarding rules...

The only issue which I have with cloud applications is that it depends on telkom's mood, as well as the adsl line. If it's down, then you're stuck.

Maybe you can look at having a router with fallover to 3G (or something else) before the Smoothie? So whenever the adsl goes down, it'll switch over to another connectivity option to keep the people connected.