Mac OS® X Snow Leopard™ Server For Dummies®

Chapter 14. Running an E-Mail Server

In This Chapter

• Understanding Mail protocols and technologies

• Setting up mail service

• Configuring the DNS server for mail

• Tightening security with Server Admin

• Blocking spam and viruses

• Configuring mail user accounts on the server

• Creating new user e-mail addresses and mailing lists

There are advantages to hosting your own e-mail server over using an outside provider. It gives you flexibility, letting you customize the e-mail options whenever you need to. If you have confidential data in your e-mail, storing your messages on your own server will give you peace of mind.

When using an outside e-mail server, such as an Internet service provider or an off-site host, users in your building that e-mail each other send traffic out through your Internet connection and back. This can slow the Internet connection in organizations with limited Internet bandwidth. Using your own e-mail server keeps internal e-mail traffic off your Internet connection.

This chapter describes setting up e-mail service with all the trimmings, including spam and virus blocking and domain name service (DNS).

Growing Your Own E-Mail

Setting up your own e-mail service isn't all that complicated. There are some things you need to know, however. This section describes the technologies involved. If you're already familiar with mail protocols and DNS, you can skip ahead to the section, "Setting Up Your E-Mail Server."

Mail protocols

There are three protocols used for sending and receiving mail: ...