Linux Mail Server Setup and Howto Guide

This guide will show you how to setup an email server accessible using a POP3, IMAP or web browser client. It will also show you how to include virus scanning and spam tagging in the mail server. If you have an existing Active Directory or LDAP infrastructure, the last section will show you how to integrate it into your email server so you won’t have to maintain two sets of user accounts.

How to install Linux

You can use either Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 or CentOS 5. RHEL 5 can be purchased from Red Hat and comes with support. CentOS 5 on the other hand can be downloaded here.

1. How to install CentOS 5.

2. How to setup CentOS 5.

To simplify our administration tasks, log in as the user root and specify your root password. This is not the recommended way of administering a Linux box, but for the tasks at hand it is the most efficient way.

How to install SMTP, POP3, IMAP and Webmail service

Postfix will be providing the SMTP service, Dovecot will provide the POP3 and IMAP service, while Apache and SquirrelMail will provide the Webmail service.

1. How to install and setup Postfix SMTP server.

2. How to install and setup Dovecot POP3 and IMAP server.

3. Configure Postfix SMTP Authentication using Dovecot SASL.

4. How to install and setup SquirrelMail WebMail.

5. How to configure the firewall.

How to create mailboxes, aliases and distribution groups

To create a mailbox, just create a new user account.

How to setup a mailing list or proxy address in Postfix.

How to assign a mailbox quota in Postfix.

Install Webmin if you want a web-based interface to manage your mail accounts.

How to add antivirus and antispam filtering

We will be using Clam AntiVirus for virus scanning, SpamAssassin for the spam tagging and MailScanner to integrate them into Postfix.

1. How to install MailScanner.

2. How to install Clam AntiVirus (ClamAV).

3. MailScanner, ClamAV, SpamAssassin and Postfix Integration Guide.

You can greatly reduce the volume of spam and viruses reaching your mail server if you are willing to give up something. If you are willing to have your mail delayed (time), install Postgrey. If you are willing to spend (money), get the Barracuda Spam Firewall.

Before deploying your new mail server, see Mail Server Checklist to ensure your new mail server will have a good sending reputation and can be trusted.

How to integrate Active Directory/LDAP

Integrating Active Directory/LDAP into your mail server will turn your Linux email server into a lean and mean Exchange like machine. And you won’t have to deal with Linux system accounts or edit configuration files for common tasks like creating mailboxes and mailing lists. And finally, you can provide your users with standard address book.

Active Directory/LDAP virtual users in Postfix and Dovecot.

How to use the Active Directory Distribution Group in Postfix.

How to add Active Directory/LDAP into the SquirrelMail Addressbook.

Using Winbind to integrate Active Directory user accounts.
Another way to integrate Active Directory into your mail server. I highly recommend using the virtual user solution above instead of this one.

How to support multiple domains

To simplify administering multiple domains, the domains and mail accounts will be stored in MySQL and will be managed using Postfix Admin, a web based interface for handling domains, mailboxes and aliases.

How to install Postfix Admin.

MySQL virtual users in Postfix and Dovecot.

RPMforge is a third party RPM repository for Red Hat Enterprise Linux or CentOS. Adding the RPMforge repository will give you access to an extensive library of precompiled binaries. This article describes how to add the RPMforge repository in Red Hat Enterprise Linux or CentOS 5.

The SquirrelMail Retrieve User Data plugin retrieves a user’s name and e-mail address from a configurable source like LDAP, MySQL, Linux system accounts and other sources. Users do not need to configure Squirrelmail before writing their first mail.

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This articles describes how to use LDAP authentication in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 or CentOS 5.

This article will show you how to configure Postfix and Dovecot to handle multiple domains stored in MySQL. Postfix Admin is used to manage the domains, mailboxes and aliases in MySQL. See How to Install Postfix Admin to setup the MySQL database that will be used by Postfix and Dovecot.

Postfix Admin is a web based interface used to manage mailboxes, virtual domains and aliases. This article will show you how to install Postfix Admin to simplify management of mailboxes, domains and aliases.

Fedora Directory Server (FDS) is an enterprise-class open source LDAP server for Linux. FDS is very mature and very powerful, below are some of its features.

Fedora Directory Server have the capability to synchronize with Active Directory. But this capability is not perfect. I’ll discuss below the problems you may encounter when using the synchronization feature.

This article is describes how to use the plug-ins installed in Fedora Directory Server. We will use the Distributed Numeric Assignment plug-in, a plug-in that automatically assigns unique uid numbers to new user entries as they are created, as an example.

This article is a very basic guide in using the Fedora Management Console to manage the Fedora Directory Server.