[CentOS] OT: question on setting up an email server

[Steve Huff]

On Jun 19, 2005, at 11:49 PM, Jimmy Bradley wrote:

> I agree, what I'm trying to do is overkill, but I'm doing it for a
> couple of reasons. First for the learning experience, second,  
> bellsouth
> has problems with their smtp server at the worst times, and being able
> to send and receive email is a critical part of my job. You're  
> right. I
> know nothing about administering a server of anykind, this would be a
> good time to learn. I guess one question I need to ask now is, how  
> do I
> go about getting an unused domain name for my machine? Also, bellsouth
> said that I would not be violating my service agreement.

first off, to find an unused domain name, go to just about any  
registrar's home page (i've had good experiences with GoDaddy (http:// 
www.godaddy.com), but there are other good registrars as well) and  
you should find domain search functionality.  if you don't have a  
fixed IP address, you may find a service such as ZoneEdit (http:// 
www.zoneedit.com) useful.

let's take a step back, though: are you undertaking this project  
because you need better mail service than bellsouth provides, or are  
you doing it to learn how to administer a mail server?  i would  
suggest you pick one or the other: if you're learning, you will  
undoubtedly make mistakes, and that needs to be OK.  if you're  
depending on this mail server to do your job, i'd recommend against  
using it for your learning experiences, because if it's mission- 
critical then when you screw up you're hurting yourself.

if you really want to learn nuts and bolts, stay away from turnkey or  
prepackaged solutions; build the various parts yourself, from source,  
and read all the documentation.  if you want something that'll just  
work, go with qmailtoaster; however, bear in mind that it may be  
somewhat opaque or confusing if you want to set up anything that  
differs from the default configuration.

-steve

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If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an  
improbable fiction. - Fabian, Twelfth Night, III,v