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I had originally written this tutorial for xmodulo.com Webmail interface is one of must-have services for any mail server. Most of us are used to native email client software, but what if your favorite client software is not available for any reason? For example, you have left your laptop at home, or your phone's data plan just went dry, or maybe you are just travelling. An alternative way to access a mail service in such cases would be to use the webmail interface of your mail server. As long as there is web browser with Internet connectivity, you should be able to use the webmail interface. Open WebMail  is a lightweight, open-source webmail for  Linux . The interface may be a bit old school, but Open WebMail provides the following features. Custom folders Mail filters Changing passwords Automatic mail reply (vacation/out of office responders) Contacts Support for large mailboxes Open WebMail has its own repository for CentOS/RHEL/Fedora. Package for Debian is...

I had originally written this tutorial for xmodulo.com Webmail is undoubtedly an essential part of any mail server. While native email client software has typically more features compared to webmail services, accessing IMAP or SMTP server ports via an email client from outside of the trusted network can sometimes be tricky. Moreover, while you need a designated workstation, laptop, or mobile device to use an email client, you can use webmail services from anywhere as long as you have an Internet connection. This tutorial will focus on setting up  RainLoop  webmail on an Ubuntu server running Apache. RainLoop is PHP-based webmail, and has the following features. Supports apache, nginx and other web servers. Standard interface supplemented with a gallery of themes to select from. Free to use for personal and non-profit projects. As of this writing, there is no support for email filtering and out-of office auto replies yet. Install RainLoop on  Ubuntu  Ser...

I had originally written this tutorial for xmodulo.com This tutorial will discuss how to set up a working mail server in Ubuntu or Debian. As we know, the two major protocols used in a mail server are SMTP and POP/IMAP. In this tutorial,  postfix  will be used for SMTP, while dovecot  will be used for POP/IMAP. Both are open source, stable and highly customizable. Please note that securing a mail server is beyond the scope of this tutorial, and will be covered in future tutorials. Prerequisites Each domain should have a DNS server. It is recommended NOT to use a live domain for testing purposes. In this tutorial, a test domain  example.tst  will be used in a lab environment. A DNS server for this hypothetical domain should have the following records at the least. Forward zone for example.tst: IN MX 10 mail.example.tst. mail.example.tst. IN A 192.168.10.1 Reverse zone for example.tst: 192.168.10.1 IN PTR mail.example.tst. While configuring a li...

I had originally written this tutorial for xmodulo.com Email service is one of the most often used services globally. Today almost everyone has at least one email account. Although clicking on the email send button and delivery of an email message appear seamless, a lot of events take place behind the scenes to make sure that the email reaches its final destination. The functionality of a mail server can be divided broadly into two processes: sending and receiving emails. The following two protocols oversee these processes. Sending email:  Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Receiving email:  Post Office Protocol (POP) / Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) Terminology The following terminology is important in understanding the operation of a mail server. Mail User Agent (MUA):  The MUA is a component which interacts with end users directly. Examples of MUA are Thunderbird, MS Outlook, Zimbra Desktop. Web mail interfaces like Gmail and Yahoo! are also M...