Newby question: Server side email sorting

From: Eamonn Sullivan (eamonn_sullivan_at_blueyonder.co.uk)
Date: 06/17/04

  • Next message: herc: "fsck and format the filesystem at startup in case of error" 
    Date: 17 Jun 2004 03:55:50 -0700

    I'm sure there's a Linux solution to this, but since there seems to be
    so many possibilities, I thought I'd seek some collective wisdom.

    I have a large family (spouse, five children) that all use email. My
    (cable modem) ISP provides five address, with three aliases each. The
    family accesses the email on either Windows XP or Linux (currently
    Fedora Core 2) PCs using IMAP4. Everything was fine when only the
    oldest five could read and write well enough to use email, but now my
    youngest two daughters want their own accounts. As a short term
    solution, I added two aliases to my wife's account, for the two
    youngsters and switched her to POP3. The To: line on new email is then
    examined by a filter and the email sorted into separate folders.
    That's not very satisfactory because she can only access her email in
    one place (on Windows XP Outlook) and the children have to be logged
    in as her to read their mail. Getting the From: line correct when
    sending is dicey too.

    I'm trying to wean the family off of XP, so this is screwing up my
    political agenda. One idea I had is to have the Linux box access my
    wife's email, sort it into separate mailboxes and then serve it to all
    three (or even all of us) using a local IMAP server. I'm thinking that
    may be a good solution for a number of reasons: I could install a
    central spam filter, for example, and mail would be stored in one
    place with fewer storage limitations. (The Linux PC is a crap 1999 PC,
    but with plenty of juice for this. I'll have to backup the mailstore
    for the inevitable day the hard drive gives up the ghost. So the
    storage savings would be mitigated.)

    I'm more technical than average, but brand-spanking new at setting up
    an email server. What's the best way to do this?

  • Next message: herc: "fsck and format the filesystem at startup in case of error"