About the Book

qmail has quietly become one of the most widely used applications on the Internet today. It's powerful enough to handle mail for systems with millions of users--Like Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail, while remaining compact and manageable enough for the smallest Unix- and Linux-based PC systems. Its component design makes it easy to extend and customize while keeping its key functions secure, so it's no wonder that adoption of qmail continues at a rapid pace. The downside? Apparently none. Except that qmail's unique design can be disorienting to those familiar with other popular MTAs (Mail Transfer Agents). If you're coming from sendmail, for instance, you might have trouble recasting your problems and solutions in qmail terms. qmail first helps you establish a "qmail frame of mind," then explores the installation, configuration, administration, and extension of this powerful MTA. Whether you're installing from scratch or managing mailing lists with thousands of users, qmail provides detailed information about how to make qmail do precisely what you want qmail concentrates on common tasks like moving a sendmail setup to qmail, or setting up a ""POP toaster,"" a system that provides mail service to a large number of users on other computers sending and retrieving mail remotely. The book also fills crucial gaps in existing documentation, detailing exactly what the core qmail software does. Topics covered include: Installation and configuration, including patching qmail - Moving from sendmail to qmail - Handling locally and remotely originated messages - Managing virtual domains - Logging qmail activity - Tuning qmail performance - Running multiple copies of qmail on the same computer - Mailing list setup and management - Integrating the qmail MTA with POP and IMAP delivery - Filtering out spam and viruses If you need to manage mailing lists, large volumes of mail, or simply find sendmail and other MTAs too complicated, qmail may be exactly what's called for. Our new guide, qmail, will provide the guidance you need to build an email infrastructure that performs well, makes sense, and is easy to maintain.

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Table of Contents:
Preface Part I. Introduction to Qmail 1. Internet Email Mail Basics Mailstore The Structure of Internet Mail 2. How Qmail Works Small Programs Work Together What Does a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) Do? The Pieces of Qmail 3. Installing Qmail Where to Find Qmail Creating the Users and Groups Configuring and Making the Software Patching Qmail 4. Getting Comfortable with Qmail Mailboxes, Local Delivery, and Logging An Excursion into Daemon Management Setting Up the Qmail Configuration Files Starting and Stopping Qmail Incoming Mail Procmail and Qmail Creating Addresses and Mailboxes Reading Your Mail Configuring Qmail's Control Files Using ~alias fastforward and /etc/aliases 5. Moving from Sendmail to Qmail Running Sendmail and Qmail in Parallel User Issues System Issues Converting Your Aliases File Trusted Users 6. Handling Locally Generated Mail qmail-queue Cleaning Up Injected Mail Accepting Local Mail from Other Hosts Distinguishing Injected from Relayed Mail 7. Accepting Mail from Other Hosts Accepting Incoming SMTP Mail Accepting and Cleaning Up Local Mail Using the Regular SMTP Daemon Dealing with Roaming Users SMTP Authorization and TLS Security POP-before-SMTP 8. Delivering and Routing Local Mail Mail to Local Login Users Mail Sorting 9. Filtering and Rejecting Spam and Viruses Filtering Criteria Places to Filter Spam Filtering and Virus Filtering Connection-Time Filtering Tools SMTP-Time Filtering Tools Delivery Time Filtering Rules Combination Filtering Schemes Part II. Advanced Qmail 10. Local Mail Delivery How Qmail Delivers Local Mail Mailbox Deliveries Program Deliveries Subaddresses Special Forwarding Features for Mailing Lists The Users Database Bounce Handling 11. Remote Mail Delivery Telling Local from Remote Mail qmail-remote Locating the Remote Mail Host Remote Mail Failures Serialmail 12. Virtual Domains How Virtual Domains Work Some Common Virtual Domain Setups Some Virtual Domain Details 13. POP and IMAP Servers and POP Toasters Each Program Does One Thing Starting the Pop Server Testing Your POP Server Building POP Toasters Picking Up Mail with IMAP and Web Mail 14. Mailing Lists Sending Mail to Lists Using Ezmlm with qmail Using Other List Managers with Qmail Sending Bulk Mail That's Not All the Same 15. The Users Database If There's No Users Database Making the Users File How Qmail Uses the Users Database Typical Users Setup Adding Entries for Special Purposes 16. Logging, Analysis, and Tuning What Qmail Logs Collecting and Analyzing Qmail Logs with Qmailanalog Analyzing Other Logs Tuning Qmail Tuning to Deal with Spam Looking at the Mail Queue with qmail-qread 17. Many Qmails Make Light Work Tools for Multiple Computers and Qmail Setting Up mini-qmail 18. A Compendium of Tips and Tricks Qmail Won't Compile Why Qmail Is Delivering Mail Very Slowly Stuck Daemons and Deliveries Mail to Valid Users Is Bouncing or Disappearing Mail Routing Local Mail Delivery Tricks Delivering Mail on Intermittent Connections Limiting Users' Mail Access Adding a Tag to Each Outgoing Message Logging All Mail Setting Mail Quotas and Deleting Stale Mail Backing Up and Restoring Your Mail Queue A. A Sample Script B. Online Qmail Resources Index