| JP Vossen on 16 Oct 2007 18:19:51 -0000 |
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> Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:02:41 -0400 > From: "Brent Saner" <brent.saner@gmail.com> > Subject: [PLUG] unraveling the arcane art of mailservers? > > i've done a fair bit of reading over the past two days, but i'm still > having some problems understanding a lot of stuff. > > 1. exim? postfix? qmail, mta? i have no idea what i should use- well, > i know what i want to use, i just have no idea how to implement them, > and what they need to integrate. i'm not even entirely sure where to > start. I use and vote for postfix. It was *designed* with security in mind (unlike sendmail). It's easier to configure than sendmail (but then, what isn't?). It's popular, actively developed, and there are resources. Having said that, I've only used Postfix and sendmail, so my first-hand knowledge is limited. I read somewhere that exim is the Debian default only because Postfix wasn't ready at the time they had to make the decision. I don't know if that's really true or not though. I just checked out http://shearer.org/MTA_Comparison and that looks very handy. Also: http://www.google.com/search?q=exim+postfix+site%3Adebian.org esp. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/1999/07/msg00773.html http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2003/07/msg01087.html
My general process when I'm in your shoes goes something like this: 1) Search the package repo for the distro I'll be using (for me, Debian on the server, Ubuntu on the desktop, CentOS for work). 2) Eyeball the packages found and see if any jump out at me. 3) See what books (ideally O'Reilly) exist for the products, how recent they are, and how stable the products are (i.e., older books for pretty stable products (like 2003 for Postfix) are OK). 4) Google around and ask people (i.e., PLUG :). 5) Pick one and buy the book. 6) Ideally, read the book then implement it, but that can't always fly. :-) I have and like this one, though it's getting pretty old and IIRC doesn't cover things like graylisting (apt-get install postgray). http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/postfix/index.html Postfix: The Definitive Guide Postfix: The Definitive Guide By Kyle D. Dent Postfix: The Definitive Guide eases readers from the basic configuration to the full power of Postfix. It discusses the interfaces to various tools that round out a fully scalable and highly secure email system. These tools include POP, IMAP, LDAP, MySQL... In Print. Published December 2003 http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1593270011/index.html Book of Postfix By Ralf Hildebrandt, Patrick Koetter Developed with security and speed in mind, Postfix has become a popular alternative to Sendmail and comes preinstalled in many Linux distributions as the default mailer. The Book of Postfix is a complete guide to Postfix whether used at home, as a mailrelay... In Print. Published March 2005 http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2003/08/21/postfix.html ONLamp.com -- Postfix: A Secure and Easy-to-Use MTA By Glenn Graham Glenn Graham demonstrates installing and configuring Postfix, a small and secure MTA. Context: ...Postfix: A Secure and Easy-to-Use MTA by Glenn Graham 08/21/2003 On March 3rd, 2003, Internet Security Systems, in cooperation with the Department of... [August 21, 2003] http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2004/01/22/postfix.html ONLamp.com -- Troubleshooting with Postfix Logs By Kyle D. Dent Kyle Dent, author of Postfix: The Definitive Guide, discusses Postfix logging in general, how to find all relevant information in the logs, how to increase the amount of logging when more information is needed, and a few configuration guidelines that... Context: ...Troubleshooting with Postfix Logs by Kyle D. Dent, author of Postfix: The Definitive Guide 01/22/2004 Postfix provides a number of ways to get... [January 22, 2004] http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/sendmail3/index.html Sendmail, Third Edition By Bryan Costales The new edition of sendmail has been completely revised to cover sendmail 8.12--a version with more features and fundamental changes than any previous version of the Unix-based email routing program. Because the latest version of sendmail differs so ... In Print. Published December 2002 http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510299/index.html sendmail, Fourth Edition A classic O'Reilly title since 1993, sendmail now covers Versions 8.10 through 8.14 of this email routing program, including dozens of new features, options, and macros. This edition also takes a more nuts-and-bolts approach than its predecessors. It... Upcoming release scheduled for October 2007 http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/exim/index.html Exim: The Mail Transfer Agent [Read it on Safari] By Philip Hazel Exim is the default mail transport agent installed on some Linux systems; it runs on many versions of Unix and is suitable for any TCP/IP network with any combination of hosts and end-user mail software. It is open source, scalable, rich in features, ... In Print. Published July 2001 http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/qmail/index.html qmail [Read it on Safari] By John Levine qmail concentrates on common tasks like moving a sendmail setup to qmail, or setting up a POP toaster, a system that provides mail service to a large number of users on other computers sending and retrieving mail remotely. The book fills crucial gaps... In Print. Published March 2004
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