I've been thinking of doing this for a while, and testing with a unused domain name I have. Does anyone run their own email on a server box at home?

Ideally I'd be looking to run it on Windoze, as I've got a Win2k Server box setup that I could use. Would be nice to have something with POP, IMAP and perhaps web access features as well?

Just seeing if anyone has experience of running from home really, packages to use (cheap, or free if possible!). I was thinking of using an eval copy of Exchange 2003 but not sure if this is overkill? Don't have A.D. setup on the Server box, and it's not on a domain (as I only use it for folder shares at present) so not sure if an Exchange install would basically mean starting from scratch on the Win2k install too?

I'd be interested to hear of anyone with a Linux-based setup as well. Again, a Linux distro is something I've been meaning to tinker with, so if someone can recommend a decent email server program and a distro that's quite easy to get to grips with, all the better

Any ideas, suggestions welcome

Cheers

Steve

I could recommend Suse Linux as a fairly easy distro to get to grips with, it comes with a whole host of stuff for setting up email etc.

I haven't actually set up a mail server on it, but have done the whole intranet server thing a few times.

(Otherwise, http://fedora.redhat.com/ is a red hat sposored open source one you can dowload easily... I havent used it though)

Good luck

K

You can get an evaluation copy of Windows SBS which has Exchange Server included. It also supports POP3 which Exchange Server doesn't as standard.

Think it's a six month trial - I got my copy direct from the Evil Empire -gratis.

I run my own mail server - and have done for a couple of years. I use Mailenable Standard edition which is free and supports POP & SMTP but unfortunately not IMAP.

It's easy to set-up and has been very reliable and uses little resources.

I did toy with Web Access for when I was in the South Atlantic using a service called Desknow which again is free and fairly straightforward to set-up, although you do need a web-server running on the box as well.

Thanks for that so far guys. Might even go for a two-pronged approach with Windoze and Linux, see how each one fairs

simontreen - that was the app I'd heard of, but I couldn't remember the name of it sat in work! Cheers, I was hoping someone had used it and could let me know how they got on setting it up

Might give that a go. I do have Apache configured on the box from a while ago, so web access to mail does sound like it should be possible.

Will try and have a go - it's just finding the time to fiddle about with it now

thanks

Steve

I run Courier IMAP/POP3 at home on a Gentoo Linux based server. Webmail interface using Squirrelmail and Bob's a distant family member...

Exchange 2000 and 2003 require active directory , so you would need to set up a domain controller as well (it can be the same server) , but exchange 5.5 will work on it's own.

Yeah, what he said.

I'll be setting up a SBS 2000 (Windows, ISA & Exchange) at home soon got the box sitting ready to go as soon as I find time....

Only thing I was going to say was if your going to use SMTP email (which is a bit nicer than POP3 collection) then you will need a static IP address from your ISP. Demon and PlusNet and some others do this as standard, then whoever hosts your domain name, just get them to update the MX and pointer records so mail comes directly to your SMTP server.

If your servers only got a single NIC on the LAN then you'd also need to setup SMTP (Port 25) forwarding on your router.

"...have you tried windows xp server and microsoft exchange front end emulator?" The word of our new IT Manager.

"...have you tried windows xp server and microsoft exchange front end emulator?" The word of our new IT Manager.

WTF??!??!?!

"...have you tried windows xp server and microsoft exchange front end emulator?" The word of our new IT Manager.

Not exactly sure what he means by 'XP Server'? Perhaps 2003 Server :confused:

Steve

Exchange 2000 and 2003 require active directory , so you would need to set up a domain controller as well (it can be the same server) , but exchange 5.5 will work on it's own.

Yeah, that's what I was imagining. Was going to go through the process of AD when I installed 2k Server on the box, but it wasn't worth it really as I only have a few machines connecting to it, and the operations carried out on it wouldn't benefit from AD and a DC setup

So not worth it for me really, going through the install again. Just want to install something and have a play round. Might be able to lay my hands 5.5 though, which might prove useful.

In response to the other post, I've got a static IP already, so yes, I can make use of SMTP. Are there any DNS requirements to worry about, for what I want to achieve? That's where my network knowledge falls down really, so I wasn't really sure about that aspect

Cheers,

Steve

I've tried many different e-mailservers over the years - winroute, kerio mailserver (very good but not cheap), exchange (no need to comment on this) and i'm now using mailenable - the freebee version. Doesn't give webmail access, but is very stable.

Not exactly sure what he means by 'XP Server'? Perhaps 2003 Server :confused:

Steve

Nope, he meant XP server. :eek:

Very worrying indeed. Especially when he mentioned 'Exhange front end emulator', isn't this known as Outlook?

Yeah' date=' that's what I was imagining. Was going to go through the process of AD when I installed 2k Server on the box, but it wasn't worth it really as I only have a few machines connecting to it, and the operations carried out on it wouldn't benefit from AD and a DC setup

So not worth it for me really, going through the install again. Just want to install something and have a play round. Might be able to lay my hands 5.5 though, which might prove useful.

In response to the other post, I've got a static IP already, so yes, I can make use of SMTP. Are there any DNS requirements to worry about, for what I want to achieve? That's where my network knowledge falls down really, so I wasn't really sure about that aspect

Cheers,

Steve[/quote']

You would need to get your MX record for the domain changed to point at the public IP address.

For your internal DNS , nothing of note needs to be changed.

Nope' date=' he meant XP server. :eek:

Very worrying indeed. Especially when he mentioned 'Exhange front end emulator', isn't this known as Outlook?[/quote']

Extremely worrying, if he's in charge of IT-related stuff! Would someone like to explain exactly was XP Server is?!

And yes, sounds like a very fancy name for Outlook! I'm sure it's been called worse :P

Steve

Nope' date=' he meant XP server. :eek:

Very worrying indeed. Especially when he mentioned 'Exhange front end emulator', isn't this known as Outlook?[/quote']

I think he hasn't got a clue what he is talking about to be honest.

Does he claim to have any IT qualifications?

You would need to get your MX record for the domain changed to point at the public IP address.

For your internal DNS ' date=' nothing of note needs to be changed.[/quote']

Thanks, I've already been sorting MX records with my domain hosting company, as I needed some details changed for an FTP server I was running, so I know that's not a problem. And good news about DNS, cheers

Steve

I've tried many different e-mailservers over the years - winroute, kerio mailserver (very good but not cheap), exchange (no need to comment on this) and i'm now using mailenable - the freebee version. Doesn't give webmail access, but is very stable.

Thanks bpm - sounds like mailenable's ahead at the moment then. I've even found some setup guides tonight for the program, that I printed off last time I meant to have a go at this

Steve