Setting up a mail server using qmail

You can configure Corel LINUX to be a mail server using qmail. qmail is a mail transfer agent (MTA) for the Linux operating system. An MTA is responsible for transferring electronic mail (email) to and from specific destinations on a network. For information about networks, see "What is a network?" A mail server allows mail client applications, such as Netscape Messenger, to send and receive email over a network.

Each mail server on a network must have a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address. An IP address can be replaced by a domain name. For information about domain names, see "Domain names." An email address is made up of a user name, which is a valid user on the mail server, and the domain name of the mail server, for example: username@domainName.

A mail server uses Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) to send email to a destination. Post Office Protocol (POP) or Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is used to retrieve email from a mail server. You can choose either protocol when you configure Corel LINUX as a mail server.

You can use the Mail Server Setup wizard to configure Corel LINUX as a mail server. The Mail Server Setup wizard lets you input values needed to configure the mail server. The Mail Server Setup wizard sets the necessary configuration files to allow the mail server to run. The location of the configuration files is /var/qmail/control. You can edit the configuration files in a text editor.

By default, the mail server accepts email only for local domains. However, you can amend the mail server to accept email for a specific domain by adding a domain name to the rcphosts configuration file. If a domain is not local to the mail server and does not appear in the rcphosts configuration file, the mail server does not accept email for it.

All email messages sent to the mail server are stored in a special directory. To access the mail directory, a mail client application must connect to the mail server using the correct user name and password. This ensures that unauthorized users cannot access a user's mail directory. However, you must set up the mail directory structure for new users. If the directory structure is not set up correctly, the mail server cannot store messages that are addressed to the user.

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