wolf7250 Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Hi all, I am wanting to setup a mail server on my Helios4. I went through the armbian-config approach and saw that there is an item under softy called ISPConfig which relates to mail servers etc. Are there any instructions/documentation around setting up a mail server in this manner? Or is there a better option? Thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRS-80 Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 @wolf7250, I split your topic off into it's own post, as setting up an email server is more of a general software question than one pertaining to Helios4, specifically. I personally do not use the armbian-config tool, but I rather doubt it installs a full mail server (I could be wrong)? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolf7250 Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 Thanks @TRS-80, I was attempting to use the armbian-config as it was generally recommended in the Wiki section of the Helios4 docs on https://wiki.kobol.io/ Be happy to take any suggestions to get a simple mail server up and going Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werner Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Mail servers...I hate them. Anyways. It depends on what exactly you want. If you want to have much stuff automatically configured, get a nice webinterface for adding/removing mail boxes, store them in a database, go for ISPconfig or Froxlor (nice automatic configuration script they have btw.) or similar. If you want to send/receive email more on a kind of basic level and do things by hand (you'll learn a lot more this way as an advantage) search for general how-tos for postfix or exim or (for the try-hards) sendmail. And Dovecot for example as IMAP4/POP3 service. Any tutorial that matches the OS which Armbian is built for (either Debian Buster or Ubuntu Bionic) will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRS-80 Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 (edited) I had to run earlier, and didn't have time to really type out a proper reply... I don't want to assume your level of sysadmin experience, but the advice usually given (even to those who are somewhat tech-savvy) is "don't." It is something I read about for literally years (off and on) before deciding to take the plunge, myself. And even then, I am not actually running a full on mail server (most especially, outbound SMTP) but rather simply downloading the emails from several different places using Getmail, and then serving them up with Dovecot IMAP server, which I then point my various devices at. It is that outbound part that seems where most of the headaches revolve around (keeping yourself off blacklists, etc.), so I am happy to pay someone for that (various hosting providers) etc. and this way I still have much more control over my email, and it's all sitting on a server I physically control. This is a solution that works well enough for me, personally. When considering the above, it may be helpful to ask yourself "why" do you want to run your own mail server? There are myriad reasons, but answering this question first will also help you choose which way to move forward. If you do decide to go down this route anyway, prepare to do a lot of reading. I agree with Werner in that I do not like "out of the box" or "wizard" type "easy" solutions. Remember that when you start to DIY that you are responsible for everything, most importantly, your own support... So the way I see it, I need to be able to know enough that if/when something goes wrong, I will be able to fix it, or at minimum, have an idea where to begin looking... So therefore I installed each component separately, made sure it was working, and then moved on to the next bit, one by one, until I assembled a complete working solution. And I learned a lot in doing so. Good luck! I hate to say but you may need it! And let us know how it goes! EDIT: Fun Fact: The Armbian project began because Igor was trying to set up an email server on one of these SBC (a Cubietruck). Or so he said in this BalCCon2K17 conference presentation I found at the bottom of this page. Edited January 21, 2020 by TRS-80 add fun fact at bottom :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werner Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Haha. I gave up on running my own mailserver as well and now paying someone a few bucks a month to deal with it . Seriosly these people have to be masochistic or something to keep such services run smoothly.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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