Tutorial: Set up Sendmail, dovecot, SpamAssassin, ClamAV as a email server

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: December 7, 2006]

This article will guide you about setting up your own home email server without being spammed to death.

There are many reasons to host your own email. Perhaps you don't like the limits placed on you by your current ISP. Maybe they aren't willing to host the domain you want, or give you the access you want. And if they do fit your needs, they want to charge a small fortune. Maybe you want complete privacy. Or perhaps you just want to access your email from anywhere using a web-based frontend. The list goes on and on...

There are several many ways to accomplish this task. Everyone has their preferred MTA program, but for the purposes of this article, we'll use sendmail. The same can also be done using postfix, or exim. Each approach has its own merits.

This how to covers installation and configuration of following services/servers:

dovecot IMAP/POP3 server
sendmail MTA
sendmail-cf (M4 configuration)
squirrelmail (web based email client)
perl / gcc for Anti spam
Anti spam and Anti virus configuration - MailScanner, SpamAssassin, and ClamAV

How to set up a home email server (without being spammed to death) [redhat.com]

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Discussion on This Article:

sarab Says: December 17th, 2006 at 8:00 pm
excellent website for systm administration thank u vivek for the wonderful information related to operating system
shasyng Says: January 26th, 2007 at 5:53 am
i want to know step by step on how to build an windods and sendmail email server
Syed Mohamed Says: July 7th, 2007 at 11:38 am
i want to know step by step method how to install a sendmail and postfix email server in redhat Linux EL 4
Syed Mohamed Says: July 7th, 2007 at 11:39 am
i want to know step by step method to installation and configuration sendmail email server
Govindaraj P Says: August 17th, 2007 at 3:04 am
I am want to setup a mail servers with sendmail,fetchmail,squirellmail,dovecot,spamassasin,clamav.

Please advice.
KNight Says: September 15th, 2007 at 2:54 am
i’m newbie in linux
thiru Says: March 30th, 2008 at 10:25 am
how to configure this steps plz give details
dovecot IMAP/POP3 server
sendmail MTA
sendmail-cf (M4 configuration)
squirrelmail (web based email client)
perl / gcc for Anti spam
Anti spam and Anti virus configuration - MailScanner, SpamAssassin, and ClamAV