[TriLUG] mail server

Jon Carnes jonc at nc.rr.com
Mon Oct 14 10:46:05 EDT 2002


Sendmail only handles smtp (port 25 tcp).  SMTP is a mail transport
protocol - it moves mail from one site to another site across the
internet.  Sendmail has nothing to do with POP or IMAP.

Once mail is delivered to the proper server, it is stored in a mail
spool for the local user - generally /var/spool/mail/<username>.  SMTP
servers like sendmail only put mail *into* the spool.  

To get the mail out of the spool, you need to login to a postal service
on the server. POP is a post office protocol (port 110 tcp). 

A simple POPd (and IMAPd) can be found in the University of Washington's
IMAP package.  This is the default used by Red Hat.

Unlike Sendmail, the POPd is not run as a stand alone daemon.  POPd is
generally run out of inetd or xinetd.  When you install the IMAP package
from Red Hat, it will automatically add the proper xinetd activation
file.  You will have to go into the /etc/xinetd directory and edit that
file to turn on POP.  After that, you will have to run the xinetd
service.

This particular POP daemon works great and can handle quite a load with
very limited resources.

I hope this helps - Jon Carnes
===
On Mon, 2002-10-14 at 10:28, mark at thefowles.com wrote:
> Can anyone recommend a good email server for linux, or a good step by step for configuring sendmail to handle pop3?
> 
> Thanks,
> Mark
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