Home IMAP server

[Dotan Cohen]

On 27/12/06, Jeffrey F. Bloss <jbloss at tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> Dotan Cohen wrote:
>
> <snippage>
>
> > Assuming that I go with the IMAP server on my home machine, I'd need:
> > (please correct me if I'm wrong)
> >
> > 1) A static IP (which I have)
>
> This isn't absolutely necessary. The typical solution for dynamic IP
> addresses is to use an automatic DDNS redirect service like Yi.org or
> DynDNS.com. Even with a static IP and your own domain, you might want
> to consider a free redirect unless you can reconfigure your domain MX
> to use your home server directly. Something you might not want to do
> for a number of reasons.

I'd use the static IP for connecting the laptop to the home machine
only. Email addressed to me will wind up in myu POP3 box on the
webserver, and from there I'd pull it down.

> Either way there's some other minor considerations that make having a
> "name" assigned to your home mail server preferable to accessing it by
> IP. Most of them have to do with incoming mail and SPAM/RBL stuff which
> may or may not be an issue depending on whether or not your mail server
> has any public exposure.

No name will be assigned to my home machine, and as far as those
sending/receiving mail from me, there will be no difference at all.
The MX records will still point at the webserver and the mail will
still come from there.

> > 2) The machine must always be turned on (which it is)
> > 3) Fetchmail, which would pull the email from the server and store it.
> > Then the IMAP server (dovecot for example) would make the mail
> > available to both Kmail running locally, and Kmail on the laptop.
>
> I would *strongly* urge you to include an SMTP server in the
> configuration. It's possible to have Fetchmail do local mail delivery
> with the -mda (?) switch, but this raises certain security and
> functionality issues you might want to research.

Er, I thought that was the whole idea of Fetchmail! So what you are
saying is that Fetchmail will get the mail from the server, then and
SMTP server (name of this program?) will devliver it to the IMAP
server (dovecat), which will serve to multiple Kmail instances.

> Opinions vary on this of course. I'd suggest some Google time and
> searches on things like 'fetchmail without SMTP' and 'fetchmail IMAP
> support'. I think you'll come away with the opinion that it's generally
> better to have the proper tool for the proper job. ;)

Yes, lots of time on google has been invested in this!

> > 4) I'd continue sending email via SMTP on the server. That means that
> > sent mail will only be available on the machine that it was sent from.
>
> Here again I would probably want to use the local mail server for
> outgoing delivery. It keeps things "centralized" and under your control.
> Configuring most SMTP servers to relay mail through a "smart host" like
> your domain account's mail server is a snap compared to everything
> else. And you can still send directly through your domain/Gmail
> accounts from KMail if you want, using different profiles. KMail does
> allow multiple send profiles, right? It's been a while....

I'll look into that, but I'd like to know what it the advantage of
adding yet _another_ link to the chain. The outgoing mail remains
simple. Why make it complicated as well?

> > 5) If I continue using bogofilter in Kmail, it will only filter the
> > mail on that machine. Or, is there a way to have bogofilter in the
> > IMAP server itself? That way it will learn from when I tag ham/spam on
> > both machines.
>
> Yup, this is why you'll probably want to run a full blown mail
> server. :) Setting up the extra goodies will be a lot less cumbersome
> once you understand how it all works. Bogofilter/Spamassassin and
> things like ClamAV can be configured to observe ALL your incoming and
> outgoing mail centrally. One setup to configure and maintain, rather
> than trying to "sync" spam databases and what not between your laptop
> and any permanent home workstations you might have.

Outgoing mail I have no reason to process, but this might be great for
incomming mail.

Dotan Cohen

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