How difficult is it to run your own email server?

[Mike Garfias]

I agree with everything Darrin wrote, but would add a few things:

On Debian, its all very easy.  Make sure you have your apt sources  
set to download from the security tree, and update it somewhat  
frequently.
Use Postfix/Dovecot - not only are they easy to setup, but they have  
a good reputation for security (The dovecot guys will even pay you if  
you find an exploit in their code).


On Oct 5, 2007, at 8:50 AM, Darrin Chandler wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 05, 2007 at 08:36:55AM -0700, Mark Phillips wrote:
>> 1. How difficult is it to maintain am email server?
>> A couple of articles/forums recommend using a third party for email
>> since keeping an email server secure is hard and a takes lots of  
>> time.
>> Keeping on top of all the types of attacks and exploits people  
>> come up
>> with, and then install patches to prevent them from taking over your
>> server and using it for nefarious activities is a full time job.  
>> Is this
>> true?
>
> For your needs it is NOT a full time job. If you spend some time  
> picking
> the tools you'll use and then check the history of the distro to  
> see how
> well they maintain those packages you'll probably see that keeping  
> up to
> date is not too hard.
>
>> 2. What combinations of MTA, MDA, MUA's do people use?
>> I have run across several articles that combine Postfix, Courier or
>> Dovecot, and SquirrelMail or Qmail, MySQL, ClamAV, and SpamAssassin.
>> Which is better (i.e. easier to install & maintain) Courier or  
>> Dovecot?
>> What other combinations are better? How much time does it take to  
>> keep
>> all these pieces secure?
>
> You're opening a can of worms. There are people using all manner of
> software in various combinations. Some will tell you horror stories
> about whatever they're not using. And the worst part is it's all true
> and everyone is right.
>
> That being said, I believe dovecot is easier out of the box than
> courier.
>
>> 3. How much hardware do I need?
>> I plan on using the funambol server for syncing the blackberry,  
>> and that
>> requires a P4, 1.8 GHz, 200 MB disk space, and 512 MB of RAM. How  
>> much
>> more do I need for email? Could my email server fit on the same  
>> machine
>> or a separate machine? The funambol server is a J2EE application  
>> (tomcat
>> & mysql) (http://www.funambol.com/).
>
> For a few users your hardware needs will be quite modest. That  
> depends a
> lot on what all you put in the chain. SpamAssassin + ClamAV + whatever
> will use a lot more resources. If you can use greylisting then that  
> will
> block most of the spam up front and allow you to use a heavier email
> stack on the back end.
>
> General advice: running a small email server is not a full time job  
> and
> is entirely practical. But it's not a decision to be taken lightly. It
> will involve a fair amount of time to learn your way around, get  
> all the
> pieces working together, make sure you're not allowing relaying, etc.,
> etc. After you get everything working you really, really need to  
> keep up
> to date with patches. Keeping up to date is not hard, and not time
> consuming, but it must be done. IOW, this is a small committment,  
> but it
> IS a committment.
>
> -- 
> Darrin Chandler            |  Phoenix BSD User Group  |  MetaBUG
> dwchandler at stilyagin.com   |  http://phxbug.org/      |  http:// 
> metabug.org/
> http://www.stilyagin.com/  |  Daemons in the Desert   |  Global BUG  
> Federation
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