Networking All-in-One For Dummies

Chapter 7

Running Sendmail

In This Chapter

Looking at how email works

Installing and starting Sendmail

Understanding basic Sendmail configuration

Blocking spam with SpamAssassin

Reading email with mail and Evolution

Sendmail, which is a standard part of most Linux distributions, is one of the most popular mail server programs on the Internet. You can use Sendmail as an alternative to expensive mail server programs, such as Microsoft Exchange Server, to provide email services for your LAN. This chapter shows you how to set up and use Sendmail on a Linux server.

Spam artists — unscrupulous marketers who clutter the Internet with millions of unsolicited emails — are constantly on the prowl for unprotected Sendmail servers, which they can use to launch their spam campaigns. If you don’t protect your server, sooner or later, a spammer will coax your computer into spending almost all its ...