Need information on building and running an Email Server

[Mr.Guvernment 0]

Hello,

 

Recently our company has gotten sick of our email provider constant issues and problems, and i had brought up the idea of running out own email server.

 

We do have someone who is familiar with this, but they are away right now so this is why i am asking around.

 

So some questions.

 

1. Hard specs for a server - Something that could handle anywhere from 400 to 700+ plus emails a day. (that is likely more then we do)

- Inet connection speed?

- Hardware specs

 

2. Software needed - What exactly is needed to get an email server up and running, and will handle about, i would say.. 400 to 700 emails a day?

 

 

3. Software availible - Is MS Exchnage server the only option, what else is availible and trust worth?

 

ALL information is appreciated as i wil be doing alot of reasearch on this.

[clutch 1]

What else do you want it to do besides handle email? If that's all you are looking for, then Exchange/Notes Server is complete overkill. You could use something like MDaemon from Deerfield or the app from ArgoSoft that CyberGenX pointed out earlier today. If you want a full on collaboration application, then state what you want it to do.

[Mr.Guvernment 0]

kew kew

 

okay, to my knowledge. - this is all new to me! so soryr if i do not put in too much detail.

 

we need to run an email server, which will allow us to send /receive emails via this server.

 

Basically we want to avoid a 3rd party and do it all ourselves.

 

we would, i assume, need our own POP3 server (incoming / outgoing), as well some way to manage out email address and accounts, be able to add new acocunts and such if needed.

 

 

basically take full control over our companies email from the company that is hosting them right now.

 

i am not sure what is involed in that exacltly. I have began reading up on some web sites, so i am slowly learning.

[AndyFair 0]

If you're wanting to run your own e-mail server, you need to make sure that you get the MX record for your internet domain modified so that it points correctly to your mail server, and not to your ISP's.

 

Since you'll need a server with a permanent Internet connection, you'll also need to make sure that it's properly firewalled, and properly segregated from the rest of the LAN.

 

Can't help with software, I'm afraid - I use MDaemon, but it collects from a POP account from my ISP.

 

Rgds

AndyF

[clutch 1]

MDaemon will work great if you want to host directly in addition to the queue hosting that Andy mentions (it's not a bad app, but the argosoft one is free so that's worth a look too). Since you're not needing to share calendaring or any other info, just go with a cheaper alternative like MDaemon.

 

Also, make sure that not only mail.yourdomain.com is setup as an MX record, but as an A record as well for your mail server. Some DNS configs/email servers are setup incorrectly and go for the A record first. This way, you have both bases covered.

[Mr.Guvernment 0]

Hey all

 

thnx for the info

 

 

well, we have a server that we can use, that is on a T3 backbone of an ISP, or connects directly to it, as well the sever is behind 2 cisco routers of our own (i dunno why 2)

 

but yeah, so now it just seems to get the software,

 

Ms Exchange has dropped in prive, or it seems, not very expensive for the Exchange server 2000. The price of the sftware is not too huge of a factor, for everytime our email provider goes down, we lose money. I am thinking around $1,000 US range, possibly more if there is reason to spend more.

 

I took a look @ Merek, looks good, but is the same price as Exchange.

 

 

This MX, what is that..lol

 

this is what i was wondering.

 

Our email Hosts, have that domain mail.ourcompany.com

 

will they simply reroute things to us? cause if so, then if they have problems, then it will affect us? as that is what we are trying to avoid.

 

We are trying to be basically a self sufficient email server....

[AndyFair 0]

OK, some definitions:

 

An A record, is a pointer or alias record. So, for example, you could have mail.yourdomain.com pointing to the same address as yourdomain.com...(I think I've got that right, it's a while since I've had to think about things like definitions!!)

 

A MX record is the Mail Exchanger record. This tells the world (via the various DNS servers around the world) what your mail server IP address and name is so that you can receive e- mail.

 

The whole point of this is that some e-mail servers are lazy, and automatically try mail.blah.com as the first option, rather than looking up the MX record for a domain.

 

Bear in mind that your ISP is likely to charge you for transferring the domains to yourself, as well as the cost of registering the domains to your own IP addresses - but if it's costing you $1000 every time your ISP crashes, then this cost is negligible!! Also, the cost of Exchange vs mDaemon vs argosoft is also negligible, so go for whichever option suits you best!

 

Rgds

AndyF

[clutch 1]

In order for me to get MS Exchange Enterprise Edition (this edition to support larger databases) with 50 CALs, it will cost us about $10,000US. So, you might want to make sure you are getting what you need and everything with it.

[clutch 1]

Quote:

Also, the cost of Exchange vs mDaemon vs argosoft is also negligible, so go for whichever option suits you best!

Rgds
AndyF

I would love to know where you shop, as a free one from Argosoft vs. the cheapest baseline MS Exchange is about $3K US never seem to be negligible where I go...

[AndyFair 0]

Quote:

Quote:

Also, the cost of Exchange vs mDaemon vs argosoft is also negligible, so go for whichever option suits you best!

Rgds
AndyF

I would love to know where you shop, as a free one from Argosoft vs. the cheapest baseline MS Exchange is about $3K US never seem to be negligible where I go...

What I meant is that compared to $1000 per e-mail outage caused by the ISP, the cost of any e-mail server software will have paid for itself in the first year - so in that respect, the overall cost of the software is neglible with regard to the savings made...

Of course, looking at the cost of the various packages on their own, it's a totally different picture - $88 for Argosoft Pro, $2000 for mDaemon unlimited users, and thousands of dollars for a fully-fledged Exchange server...not much of a choice, is there?

AndyF

[Mr.Guvernment 0]

well guys, thnx for the info, explinations helped, found a m8 who is a pro with email servers, so he is going to do some consulting for us

 

fingers crossed!