Looking for a guide to collect all e-mail from the ISP mail server

Robert Schetterer rs at sys4.de
Mon Oct 26 22:55:43 EET 2020


Am 25.10.20 um 21:01 schrieb Marc Roos:
>   
> Maybe get something like Zimbra, such solutions also have support that
> you can buy when you need it or don't have time (I guess).
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: R. Diez [mailto:rdiezmail-2006 at yahoo.de]
> Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2020 6:57 PM
> To: dovecot at dovecot.org
> Subject: Looking for a guide to collect all e-mail from the ISP mail
> server
> 
> Hi all:
> 
> I am evaluating mail server solutions for a small business. The trouble
> is, I am only a part-time admin and a newbie to mail servers.
> 
> Most guides I have seen are rather unrealistic: they encourage you to
> expose your e-mail server to the Internet, and hope that you have the
> resources
> to keep it patched up.
> 
> I would rather have an internal mail server that collects e-mails from a
> standard ISP mail server.  It is like the old "POP3 Connector" that came
> with
> Microsoft Exchange.  Sometimes, there is a mailbox per user on the ISP,
> and a corresponding one on the local server.  Other times, there is a
> single
> "catch all" or "multidrop" mailbox on the ISP.
> 
> Users can still access their internal mailboxes from outside through an
> OpenVPN connection.  The goal is that only VPN, and perhaps SSH, are
> accessible from the outside.  We do not need to arrange any special SMTP
> configuration with the ISP either.
> 
> This kind of mail server setup is rather different to the standard
> configuration. You do not normally need you own antivirus and spam
> filter, and you
> do not need to configure SSL certificates, MX or SPF DNS records. Most
> ISP handle that correctly and economically.  Internal e-mail does not
> leave
> your LAN, and your internal SMTP server is just a relay for the external
> ISP SMTP server.
> 
> Furthermore, most guides do not explain how to setup an autoresponder
> ("I am on holiday until xxx") so that users can enable theirs with the
> mouse.
> Editing configuration files over SSH is not really an option for normal
> users. This detail is important because it could be the only thing I
> need
> above standard e-mail. Further groupware features can be seen as nice
> but ultimately unnecessary luxury, and a basic shared calendar can be
> accomplished with a separate server like https://radicale.org/ and a
> calendar client like one built into Thunderbird. Hopefully, that is all
> I would
> need for a small business.
> 
> Can anyone point me to the kind of guide I need? Failing that, I would
> need information or examples about using fetchmail, getmail or similar
> software
> with Dovecot.  Good or bad experiences from you guys would also help.
> 
> Each of those tools has a detailed man page, but there are many options
> and ways with different advantages and disadvantages.  I would need a
> simpler
> guide to get started.
> 
> I am aware that there are pre-packaged mail server solutions that would
> perhaps bring an easy-to-use autoresponder, but I haven't seen one yet
> that
> where you could tick a box like "this server is only internal and
> collects mail from the ISP server" during installation. Nor have I seen
> instructions
> about reconfiguring the mail server for my ISP mail scenario.
> 
> I am prepared to learn more and write my own Perl scripts and/or
> installation guide, but it would be stupid to waste time if something
> easy already
> exists.  After all, the setup I am describing (external ISP mail server
> + internal mail server) is not so weird.
> 
> Thanks in advance,
>     rdiez
> 
> 

see
https://blog.sys4.de/abholdienst-fur-mail-de.html

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