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

[Jimmy Bradley]

I'm really doing it for the learning part of it. If Bellsouth's smtp
server is down when I need to send an email, I just turn to either
yahoo, or hotmail, and write and send my email from there.
  The machine that I'm using is a Dell Poweredge 2300 with 3 9.1 scuzzy
hard drives. The machine was givien to me, and it's somewhat outdated.
All it has in it is a 500mghrtz single processor, so if I do something
wrong and the machine implodes, I'm not out any cash.
Thanks for your concern.
Jimmy
 
On Mon, 2005-06-20 at 00:03 -0400, Steve Huff wrote:
> 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
> 
> ---
> If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an  
> improbable fiction. - Fabian, Twelfth Night, III,v
> 
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