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Looking for a decent guide to walk me through configuring the mail server, testing the configuration, etc. plus the obvious DNS and other configuration necessary to make it work and access it from the outside world.
Any suggestions?
OS X Server, 10.8 Mail Server
That's quite a tamale. There are several areas of exploration there. I don't know of any all-in-one guides. It might be helpful if you break things down into component topics, and read up on each. The first would be DNS. What is your experience level with DNS?
I've installed and run apache web servers for years along with the getting my router to forward the necessary ports, etc. The domains have always been registered with 123-reg.co.uk so need to configure their system to point to my mail server.
I guess I understand the basics but a little unclear about which DNS records have priority, especially if I am running my own DNS, etc.
Other than that my only real understanding has come from the help system at:
Very good info here:
http://krypted.com/mac-os-x-server/logs-scripts-and-os-x-mountain-lion-server/
I started with the krypted.com link. It's by far the best I've seen so far but makes a few assumptions with the user's knowledge, e.g. when setting up the local DNS, etc. are you using the local IP address or the IP address for the local network, or how the server naming relates to the chosen domain names, etc.
Another example is what needs changing locally for other machines on the same LAN to recognise the name of the mail server hosted on another machine on the same network?
Perhaps a slightly more of an idiots guide would be helpful for this idiot :-)
Nobody is an idiot, period. You can ask all you want here 🙂
Internet Mail
In order to run your own domestic mail server with an address of you@domain.com you first need to register domain.com at a registrar. I use GoDaddy and Name.com, but please look around to find a registrar to fit your needs and budget - it usually is about $10,- a year.
Second you need to set up the DNS at your registrar in the sense that you tell their system to make an A-record for the name server.example.com pointing to the public IP of your modem.
Third you need to set up an MX record with a preference of - say - 10 and the host would be the A-record you've just created. Please follow the instructions of the registrar you choose, the'll have a manual or you can contact their customer support.
Fouth you need the set up port forwarding within your the device that gets the public ip (usually your modem) for ports 25 (TCP), 587 (TCP) to forward the ports to the internal ip address of your server.
You can usually consult the manual of your modem's manufacteren online.
Background information
DNS
Domain Naming System is a way of exchanging a name like apple.com for an ip address like
17.149.160.49. It's like one big conversion table, which you need because computers don't know what to do with domain names except forward the request you put in to a DNS Server that you have to specify somewhere, a popular one is Google's (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) which you are free to use. You don't really *need* a local DNS server.
Private IPs
The ip's of 192.168.*.*, 172.16.*.* and 10.0.*.* are typical Local Area Network addresses.
This is all within your house or building.
Public IPs
Your modem is assigned the public IP address normally, unless you set up your modem in bridge mode, in which case the router would need to handle authentication (PPPoE).
Thanks. I've got the real basic stuff as I've been running my own webserver for a few years.
My registrar charges extra for adding subdomains, e.g. mail.xyz.com, which complicates matters., probably to prevent this very situation without them getting their slice of the cash.
I can configure my own DNS without too many complications, it's just knowing what to set up in it.
If I change my own computers/servers to use my local DNS will that automatically resolve the external/internal IP addresses so my laptop can find the mail server internally?
Thanks.
None of my registrars asks money for adding subdomains and that would be a real rip off.
I don't even host my DNS at a registrar, I have a separate DNS provider.
Hope this helps.
I use ipage and the want money to provide the Dns tools to you but if you chat or call them they will do it for free!!
Thanks, that made a lot of sense.
So do I now have to configure the account at the registrar to use my DNS or should I just delete the MX records configured through their system?
You have 2 'worlds' to keep into account which both have to know at what ip your services can be reached::
- Internet based
Without the DNS at your registrar people can't reach you from the web, you need to have both an A (Host name) and an MX record at your registrar.
- Your home network.
Without a private DNS server your local clients can't find your server, so, in contradiction to what I said about not needing a local dns, you do need it...
I only mentioned that it's not needed as my servers do not have a DNS on their LAN because the are not on a LAN. They're put to work in a data center with direct Gigabyte uplinks to the internet, no router or modem, only a switch.
If I only have one mail server should I just have one MX record? With a priority of 10 or 0?
Assuming OS X Server Mail uses an existing login record will it be the same name and password to connect to the POP server from my client mail program, e.g. mike@xyz.com?
Postfix (for sending mail) will happily send over a million emails a day, no need for multiple mail servers other than for server outages. You should indeed have one MX record per mail server in the DNS. If you have only one mail server the priority is irrelevant. The mail services are configured for your user, just enable the mail service for the user by right clicking their account in the user section of the server app and choose what services the user should have access to.
To allow my laptop to find the mail server should I rely on the DNS? I've currently got a few internal websites listed in /etc/hosts.
When I try to access the mail server from my client Mail software it simply tells me the POP server is not responding.
Why don't you just list your websites in server.app's websites section?
Internally on your lan, yes, you should make your server's internal IP the primary DNS server on the clients.
You can also create a new network location where you overcome the problem that outside your home the DNS server of your internal network is no longer reachable.
I did list the websites in server.app's website section. The old /etc/hosts config on my laptop is a legacy from some years ago.
So to send mail I have to do something completely outside Server.app?
Step by step guide to configure 10.8 mail server
