Chapter 24. Handling Electronic Mail

IN THIS CHAPTER

• How Email Is Sent and Received

• Basic Postfix Configuration and Operation

• Using Fetchmail to Retrieve Mail

• Choosing a Mail Delivery Agent

• Mail Daemons

• Alternatives to Microsoft Exchange Server

• Reference

Email is still the dominant form of communication over the Internet. It is fast, free, and easy to use. However, much of what goes on behind the scenes is extremely complicated and would appear scary to anyone who does not know much about how email is handled. Ubuntu comes equipped with a number of powerful applications that will help you build anything from a small email server, right through to large servers able to handle thousands of messages.

This chapter shows you how to configure Ubuntu to act as an email server. We look at the options available in Ubuntu and examine the pros and cons of each one. You will also learn how mail is handled in Linux, and to a lesser extent, UNIX.