[techtalk] Hi.I'm new.Postfix/mail server questions...

[Elizabeth]

Hello.  I've been lurking for a bit.  I don't remember if I actually
mailed anything to this group yet.  I realy wanted to when that one
chick was going on about the security breach.  oooh boy.  I got ignored
out one of the perl groups, because I came off too arrogant or
something.  Which is funny, because one of the three virtues of a
programmer is hubris.  So the creator of Perl says.  :-)  I kind of
agree....to a degree.  In any case.  I didn't want to make the same
mistake, so I tried to hold back.  er...What was my point?  Oh yes. 
Mail.

I'm administering a server and creating the back-end to a website. 
Let's see...how to explain my set-up...hehe.   The actual server is...I
think...still at the store.  There's a test server that's in the project
leader's apartment that I configured for ssh access, but the ip isn't
resolving right.  Something to do with the pl's isp.  It works I leave
it over there...alone...and it doesn't work anymore.  It's going to be
brought over here.  hm...  Let's just ignore that one.
The one I've been doing most of my testing on is here in my apartment. 
It has the latest and greatest Debian release (I know, I know, not good,
but it's only a test server.  The real server will have the latest
*stable*). I'm running Postfix as the mailer.  If I have this right,
it's simply an MTA.  If I were to have more users I would need an IMAP
or POP server.  I've heard of Cyrus as an IMAP.  It seems pretty
straight forward, I guess, but I would like a little advice.
The web site will offer email.  I'm not quite sure yet if it'll be
available for anyone or if the addresses will be set up by admin.  In
either case I am extremely reluctant to have any kind of web user have
shell access.  I don't even want them to have an /etc/passwd entry.  I
plan on having to only set up this server once and do fine-tuning for a
little bit, but after that leaving it completely alone.  I reeealy don't
want anyone (even their "admin") to have too much access to the server. 
So far, I know the most Linux out of the bunch and that's almost scary
considering I'm just about intermediate...give or take.  (I've installed
dozens of times, I've done some management, no kernel rebuilds...yet.) 
I'm looking at security breaches from both ends.  It seems a pretty
straitforward thing to ask...no shell access, but I'm finding it
extrememly difficult to find good documentation on it.  I've looked at
www.linuxdoc.org, and perused the news groups via my own access and
dejanews, not to mention O'Reilly books and other random searches on the
net.  I've found bits and pieces here and there, but nothing that realy
seems concrete.  Postfix most definately does not allow it easily with
out having to dump all the web-user's email in one account and sorting
through it will cgi or other scripts.  Can someone please point me in
the direction of some documentation?  Or a server recommendation.  It
seems that IMAP would be better to use in this case, but there doesn't
seem to be a lot of choices.  A lot of people seem to be using pop. 
Which one?  I've read a little about it, but again...there's nothing
realy concrete.  I don't want anything fancy.

er...did I mention I talk a lot?
Sorry.  My brain is mush.  I've been doing various things on this server
and the web site for the past 2 months...ish?  As well as school and
work and um...oh yes...that whole cleaning the apartment
thing....er...hm...I vacummed the other day.  ;-)  It's been a lot of
fun, but jeesh I didn't study this hard in school.  hehe.  Point
is...I've totally lost focus on this thing and need a little guidance. 
Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Elizabeth

Ps...um...did I mention I drink too much coffee?