Setting up your own mail server

[Floppyman]

Hey all,

If cable ever hits my area..would it be possible to setup my own server..you know something along the lines of bebob@bebob.org ? What kind of software would I need for this? Can I use linux. I'm gonna have a secondary machine that will just be running linux..can it be mail server? Would it have to be running 24/7? Any other suggestions? Thanks in Advance!

[mhayes]

Doubt it. You would need a static IP and most IP's don't do that unless you a buy a business service.

[Floppyman]

Won't most cable companies give you the option of a stable IP though? Say I have one where do I go from there? Thanks again.

[Statica]

Flopster:
Linux ships with all you need in terms of a mailserver. In fact with most distribs SMTP & POP3 are standard issue, however you could switch to IMAP for better mail handling.

Now getting your mail globally to bebob.org is trickier, and that is to be handled by appropriate desgnation by your domain registrar. Which means that you should find a way to have your IPs shown up on authoritative records or DNS records.

Having said all that, pretty much most cable internet operators with even half a cranial lobe, will do what it takes to shut down any and all servers. They regularly scan for servers.

& Finally, why would you want to do it? If nothing else its an extra load and a vulnerability. It sounds cool, yes, but if you really needed to serve out data then cable ISP isnt the way to go.

But forget the rationale, if you are really interested post back and I could try to help you out.

[Floppyman]

Oh I was just wondering whether it could be done or not, if it's more troulbe than it's worth I'm not gonna do it. Also how could you really consider a mail server a server? I mean how much bandwidth does sending and receiving messages really take? It's not like I'm running a website or download server. Maybe I just thought this was easier than it really is Thanks again for the replies, much appreciated as always.

[Statica]

Whats the difference between you claiming that you dont use up that much bandwidth versus some other user who will
(a) save on a ton of $$ by running out own domain activities from a user account
(b) maybe even try to make money by running spam mail out from that account?
& secondly, would you like to be on the same node as someone who does that?

Any daemon that serves out data is a server. ISPs clamp down
on servers because there can be no distinction between users who claim they wont serve out too much data versus those that will

Having said that, you could trigger alarms only if you took up a lot of bandwidth.

Originally posted by Floppyman Also how could you really consider a mail server a server? I mean how much bandwidth does sending and receiving messages really take? It's not like I'm running a website or download server.

[Floppyman]

Having said that, you could trigger alarms only if you took up a lot of bandwidth.

Does a mail server use a lot of bandwidth? I mean I would also use it as a Counterstrike (game) server once in a while, which would take a lot more bandwidth.