[CentOS] Mail Server

[Ron Jones]

>I need to setup a new mail server and before I got my feet wet or losing in the configurations jungle, I really need some advice from the gurus here for what the best software to used for the mailserver base on CentOS 4.x setup.
>
>The objective is, the mailserver will  be easy to setup, maintained and have some 
>1. database backend for storing user info ( mysql? )
>2. spam and antivirus filtering
>3. webbase user administrations
>4. Provide smtp,smtps,pop3,pop3s,imap,imaps service
>
>Any pointer to a good documentations, how-to or links base on CentOS 4.x setup is really appreciates.
>  
>
Ijez,

Ultimately, your requirements should drive your decision

Let me qualify this opinion by disclosing that I am by no means a guru.  
However, when I wanted to set up a mail server for my home domain, the 
installation, documentation and support had to be easy.

Although there may be technically superior solutions out there, I am 
kind of partial to Qmail in either of two flavors (in truth, it's not 
necessarily Qmail itself that sold me, but the individual implementations):

www.qmailrocks.org - this site gives you a step-by-step walk through for 
configuring a Qmail server with anti-virus, anti-spam, web 
administration, smtp/pop/imap; it also provides a squirrelmail interface 
for checking email via the web.

The documentation is very helpful and you learn a lot during the 
install.  Given an existing install of CentOS, I would plan for about 8 
hours for a first-time install.

www.qmailtoaster.com - when my first mail server died (due to 
catastrophic hardware failure), I took the opportunity to switch to 
qmailtoaster.  I'm a bit busy with life away from a keyboard, and the 
qmail-toaster setup had a couple of very strong benefits for me:

First, it is incredibly simple.  Given an existing CentOS installation, 
you can have a Qmail-toaster up and running in less than two hours (most 
of which is download/compile time).  Second, there is a great web-admin 
interface for handling users, domains, and the MRTG add-on (speaking of 
domains, it supports multiple virtual domains).

Features include spamassassin, clamav (antivirus), ezmlm, squirrelmail, 
smtp/pop/imap and etc.

Finally, for me... the best part of the qmail-toaster installation is 
the mailing list, very friendly and helpful, with no haughty "RTFM" 
edicts from the self-appointed, unconfirmed bench.  Consequently, there 
are very few in the way of stupid questions (perhaps when people give so 
willingly of their time and knowledge, there is the subconscious desire 
to search the archives rather than waste their time).

just my $0.02

Another alternative is the recently released Scalix mail server 
www.scalix.com.  I have not tested it, but there is a free 'community 
version' which is a full-featured version of the enterprise install 
(though limited to 5-users).

hth,

Ron Jones
Alpharetta, GA