Re: [TCLUG:16017] Dedicated Linux e-mail servers: good experiences, anyone?

[Ben Beuchler <insyte@emt-p.org>]

On Wed, Apr 12, 2000 at 09:19:10AM -0500, Carl Patten wrote:

> > When you say "simultaneous users", do you mean 50 accounts or 50
> > people simultaneously retrieving their mail?
> 
> 50 people simultaneously retrieving e-mail.  They're addicts :)
> 
> > If you mean 50 accounts, you will be fine with pretty much any box you
> > have left laying around, as long as you run a nice lightweight MTA
> > like qmail.  I certainly wouldn't even consider spending the cash for
> > something as spiffy as a NetWinder or Qube.  Unless appearance is more
> > important than cost...
> 
> Hey, cute counts, but I'm more interested in improving performance on
> our main app server by moving the disk-banging e-mail to a separate box.
> I'll have to look closer at qmail.
> 

You'll find it well worth your time.  It installs like a dream on any
platform with a decent C compiler, is incredibly easy to configure, and
has yet to have a single security exploit.  In fact, there's a standing
offer of a $1000 cash prize for a repeatable exploit.  Never claimed, of
course.

The single best source of info on the net for setting up qmail is David
Sill's "Life With qmail":

http://web.infoave.net/~dsill/lwq.html

Inter7 will do a complete install and setup over the net for $200 and they
also supply some of the best 3rd part software for qmail:

www.inter7.com

And, of course, the home page:

www.qmail.org

The nice thing about qmail for your setup is that it is incredibly
lightweight so would not be much of a drag even with a ton of pop
sessions.  You might want to consider switching to IMAP.  I'm not sure,
but I believe multiple IMAP sessions are easier on the box than multiple
POP sessions.

> > If you're talking 50 simultaneous POP sessions, then again stick with
> > a nice lightweight MTA and just pile on the RAM.  64 should be more
> > than adequate.
> >
> > In either case, I don't see any reason to spend the cash on a brand
> > name box when local mail tends to be such an undemanding task.
> 
> The other reason I discovered to avoid name-brand is that they have a
> tendency to yell "warranty void" if you do stuff like install a
> different MTA.
> 
> Thanks for the input!
> 
> -- Carl Patten

Have fun...

Ben

-- 
"There is no spoon"
	-- The Matrix