[plug] Mail Server/Gateway (Min Specs, other feedback)

Tim White weirdo at tigris.org
Thu Jun 10 11:16:31 WST 2004


I think that I may have finally convinced my dad to use a Linux box for a 
gateway/mailserver.
The primary functions of the box would be:
         * Dialup and disconnect modem through CGI (Already functional)
         * Run fetchmail to get lots of emails from different pop accounts 
and do local delivery
         * NAT routing for internet access for all machines on network 
(With transparent proxy that supports cache, and blacklists for sites/urls)
         * Firewall to protect internal network
         * POP3 and IMAP server for approx 6 - 10 users
         * SMTP server with queues so that the mail is queued until connected
         * apt-proxy
         * Testing web server for internal network
I was wondering what the minimum specs for a box like this would be. The 
box I hope to use has the following specs
* AMD i486 (66 Bogomips. From memory a 133 Mhz)
* 32Mb EDO ram (100Mb Swap)
* 4Gb HDD (IDE)
* 10Mbs Ethernet
* Running Debian 3.0 with a 2.4.18(bf2.4) standard kernel. I will update 
the box from the Debian security server before it is used.
It currently hosts a webserver (testing for internal network) and a POP3 
server. The pop3 server is Cyrus which I find slow and will probably revert 
back to qpopper. I am also looking at using iptables for NAT and firewalling.

What I am asking the list is:
Are these specs enough for the 6-10 users?
How well will they scale with email accounts with 70Mb++ of emails? (Email 
access for clients will probably be IMAP only with POP  for a few accounts)
Suggestions as to what apps to use for these services (POP, IMAP, proxy, 
SMTP (with queue))
Web resources that will help me set up SECURELY the following:
         * iptables with NAT (and transparent proxy)
         * iptables to block all incoming traffic
         * iptables NAT so that FTP servers that want to authenticate 
internal machines can
         * IMAP server setup
         * fetchmail and some sendmail script for sending queued mail and 
receiving mail from external servers when connected [1]
Thanks
Tim
[1] I know that fetchmail will fetch from external pop servers and deliver 
to local SMTP but how do i do sending of queued messages?


weirdo AT tigris DOT org (MSN Enabled) | ICQ# 255176389 | Riverton, Perth, WA
--- Computer languages are the only real universal languages  




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