Hi folks, I'm interested in your thoughts on my mail server. Please forgive me for the long message...
I have a server i'm planning to bring online ASAP. My priorities in order are security, features, and performance. My service requirements are fairly standard: - SMTP server - IMAP & POP server - Web mail - Virus scanning My current system is running Fedora Core 1, and when i switch to my Debian box, i'd like to rethink my current mail server strategy. My current product mix is: - SMTP: sendmail - Local delivery agent: procmail - IMAP/POP: dovecot - Web mail: squirrelmail - Mail virus scanner: amavisd - Virus scanning package: McAfee Virus Scan - SSL: stunnel 4.x The things i'd like to do better: - Large email folders (in the hundreds of Mb). - Server side filtering so that IMAP and web mail get the same filters. - Spam filtering. Thoughts i've had so far: - Postfix has probably the best reputation for security of any free mail server as far as i can tell, which is quite a bit different from sendmail's record over the years (although things have been quiet lately). I'm a bit of an ignoramus when it comes to exim - how does it compare? - Postfix seems to be easier to configure than sendmail. After 15 years of sendmail, i still want to puke when i try to read sendmail.cf. Sendmail.mc is OK, but still not as easy on the eyes and the brain as /etc/postfix/main.cf. - When it comes to large email folders, maildir seems the way to go (at the moment on my machine, message deletes can take in the range of 10-20 seconds). dovecot supports maildir, but i haven't investigated whether procmail can do it. - procmail's configuration is almost as hideous as sendmail's, and i'd rather not use it if i don't have to. The only local delivery feature i really need is server-side filters, and i'd like them to be maintainable from a web page or mail client if possible, but this isn't essential. - I've heard good things about Courier as an IMAP server, particularly with respect to maildir. - ClamAV seems to be as good a virus scanning package as any, and is free to boot. - I've also heard good things about MailScanner as a virus/spam filter (certainly it seems to be more polished than amavisd). However, MailScanner in woody doesn't seem to support postfix or ClamAV, and requires exim. This doesn't seem to be a general limitation with the products, but simply with the woody versions of them. With sarge, the situation seems better, and both postfix and ClamAV are supported by MailScanner. - I'm fairly new to apt-get, and i'm not into its advanced features yet. Can i run woody with the sarge version of MailScanner, using pinning for MailScanner until sarge's release into stable? I've read some basic howtos about apt pinning, and made a first attempt at getting a hybrid stable/testing system working, but i'm not sure that i've done it right (i had to do a few apt-get -f install and the like). Another package i'd like to do this with is shorewall 2.x. - MailScanner from sarge references clamav and clamavmodule. Which is preferred/available under Debian? Thanks for listening... -- Paul <http://paulgear.webhop.net> -- He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
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