History of Mac OS X Server Mail
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OverviewWith Mac OS X Server 10.4, Apple introduced new suite of mail server tools. Similar to Apple's use of Apache, these tools are all based on open-source tools that are workhorses for UNIX servers. Apple has also added a very nice GUI on top of these tools to make adminstering them very simple for the non-unix inclined. Even for shell geeks, the integration of the GUI to text config files is extremely useful for people with more important servers to run.The Apple mail server uses postfix as it's primary smtp gateway. For virus protection, it uses amavisd which launches spamassassin for spam cleanup. This all comes preconfigured and ready to go out of the box. Webmail supportWhile Apple does not include any webmail support, http://roundcube.net/ is a fabulous web 2.0 webmail application that works with IMAP and is comparable to yahoo/gmail. It can be setup up on an OS X Server machine in about 10 minutes.Installing PitfallsOut of the Box, the mail suite is ready to go. However, there are few dangers.CPAN upgrade trouble
Darwin Ports / Fink danger
Virus Filtering with Amavis-dAmavis-d is the virus scanning tool invoked by postfix.See detailed explanation of amavisd.conf. DNS Spam PreventionThere are two main options DomainKeys, and SenderID.DomainKeys were invented by Yahoo, SenderID was invented by Microsoft. These are arguably competing techniques, however, implementing both seems to have no ill-effect. Given SenderID was invented by Microsoft, you can be assured Outlook Server SMTP gateways employ SenderID, and are unlikely to support DomainKeys any time soon. In early 2005 when these proposals came out simultaneously, they were seen as competing techniques. As time has passed, they are now seen as more complementary, and typically both are implemented. DomainKeysTo use DomainKeys, typically a filter or "plugin" is needed for your SMTP gateway. There is a postfix filter that is fairly easy to install and configure. Several perl modules need to be installed:
SenderID (and SPF)SenderID merged with a smaller group called Sender Policy Framework (SPF). SPF is a very simple mechanism for specifying which servers are valid for sending your email and is much simpler to implement than DomainKeys. Microsoft holds several patents in relation to the SenderID framework, however it released those patents in the "public domain" this past october. Beyond the typical cynicism of Microsoft's ulterior motives, SPF has a significant amount of technical criticism. Regardless, many major ISP's are using SPF to filter mail, including AOL (and RoadRunner) which has in some reports exclusively implemented SPF to some degree. (Spamassassin reports SOFT_FAIL reports from bogus .rr.com emails.) Spamassassin easily supports SPF with a few simple cpan installs.The quickest way to get the DNS entries up and running is to follow the wizard. Spam Filtering with SpamAssassinSpamAssassin (SA) is launched with Amavis-d. There are several SA settings in /etc/amavisd.confMore Options
Resources
| OverviewWith Mac OS X Server 10.4, Apple introduced new suite of mail server tools. Similar to Apple's use of Apache, these tools are all based on open-source tools that are workhorses for UNIX servers. Apple has also added a very nice GUI on top of these tools to make adminstering them very simple for the non-unix inclined. This GUI can be found in the "Server Admin" application, and click on "Mail". Even for shell geeks, the integration of the GUI to text config files is extremely useful for people with more important servers to run.The Apple mail server uses postfix as it's primary smtp gateway. For virus protection, it uses amavisd which launches spamassassin for spam cleanup. This all comes preconfigured and ready to go out of the box. Remote AdministrationEverything can be done via the command line, however the OS X Server gui makes life painless. To run this remotely and free, do the following:
You should get a window to the server. If not, first make sure you have a connection to port 5901 open on your local port. For example, try "telnet localhost 5901". If that does not connect, try a direct ssh port forwarding with"ssh -C -L 5901:localhost:5901 johndoe@mail.foobar.com" Webmail supportWhile Apple does not include any webmail support, http://roundcube.net/ is a fabulous web 2.0 webmail application that works with IMAP and is comparable to yahoo/gmail. It can be setup up on an OS X Server machine in about 10 minutes.ConfigurationI recommend using dovecot for IMAP, however, I forget why. It can be installed using MacPorts, e.g. "sudo port install dovecot" (see below). Turn offSpam Settings
Installing PitfallsOut of the Box, the mail suite is ready to go. However, there are few dangers.CPAN upgrade trouble
Darwin Ports / Fink danger
Virus Filtering with Amavis-dAmavis-d is the virus scanning tool invoked by postfix.See detailed explanation of amavisd.conf. DNS Spam PreventionThere are two main options DomainKeys, and SenderID.DomainKeys were invented by Yahoo, SenderID was invented by Microsoft. These are arguably competing techniques, however, implementing both seems to have no ill-effect. Given SenderID was invented by Microsoft, you can be assured Outlook Server SMTP gateways employ SenderID, and are unlikely to support DomainKeys any time soon. In early 2005 when these proposals came out simultaneously, they were seen as competing techniques. As time has passed, they are now seen as more complementary, and typically both are implemented. DomainKeysTo use DomainKeys, typically a filter or "plugin" is needed for your SMTP gateway. There is a postfix filter that is fairly easy to install and configure. Several perl modules need to be installed:
SenderID (and SPF)SenderID merged with a smaller group called Sender Policy Framework (SPF). SPF is a very simple mechanism for specifying which servers are valid for sending your email and is much simpler to implement than DomainKeys. Microsoft holds several patents in relation to the SenderID framework, however it released those patents in the "public domain" this past october. Beyond the typical cynicism of Microsoft's ulterior motives, SPF has a significant amount of technical criticism. Regardless, many major ISP's are using SPF to filter mail, including AOL (and RoadRunner) which has in some reports exclusively implemented SPF to some degree. (Spamassassin reports SOFT_FAIL reports from bogus .rr.com emails.) Spamassassin easily supports SPF with a few simple cpan installs.The quickest way to get the DNS entries up and running is to follow the wizard. Spam Filtering with SpamAssassinSpamAssassin (SA) is launched with Amavis-d. There are several SA settings in /etc/amavisd.confMore Options
Resources
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