Need recommendations for eMail software

Hello all;

Not sure if it's appropriate to post this here, so if no, please accept my
apology in advance.

I've got my web server up and running (Windows NT4, Apache , PHP, MySQL and
Perl). I would like to set up and run my own mail server. I've done some
searching on google and found Xmail, Squirrel Mail, etc.

I would appreciate comments, suggestion, advice, and/or tips on doing this?

TIA.

Charles...

Charles Crume wrote:

> I've got my web server up and running (Windows NT4, Apache , PHP, MySQL and
> Perl). I would like to set up and run my own mail server. I've done some
> searching on google and found Xmail, Squirrel Mail, etc.

> I would appreciate comments, suggestion, advice, and/or tips on doing this?

For a Windows machine, Merak is the best, by far. Merak is an excellent piece
of software with good support, user groups and plenty of FAQS and such.

Yes, it is commercial, and yes, it is moderately expensive. Nonetheless, their
software is well worth the price.

There are other software available which perform a fairly decent job. Most, almost
all, do not offer the features nor security of Merak. Many are unix type specific
and simply won't work on your Windows machine.

A caution is to be careful not to select software which allows "open relay" serving.
This is, software which allows anyone to use your server to send email. If you do,
within one to two days, your server will be a major "spammer" server. Our email
server is "tested" anywhere from ten to twenty times a day to discover if we will
relay email from outside our server.

Security is critical. Do not use software which allows a telnet connection or other
similar connection methods. Choose software which only allows a "pop3" style
connection which is password protected. Do not use fancy webpage interfaces,
and never use a webpage "administrator" interface. Use pop3 - smtp only. All
administration should be performed machine local from your keyboard.

Research and read about how to establish MX records for your server. A related
topic is DNS (Domain Name Server) server software or simply remote DNS servers
which will handle email / MX records for you.

"Simple DNS Plus" is the best DNS software you will find for Windows machines.

For sending email, be sure to use HELO and related styles, with your server
domain fully provided. Do not use cute "nicknames" for your email server; you
will be blocked as a spammer, quite often.

mail.purlgurl.net mail.yourdomain.com

Security is very critical.

Test your both your DNS and email server here:

http://www.dnsreport.com/

Lots of email server tutorials, FAQs and other information can be found through Google.


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