[techtalk] Mail server

David C. Merrill, Ph.D. dcmerrill at mindspring.com
Thu Oct 12 18:02:45 EST 2000


----- Original Message -----
From: "Kath" <ranger at optonline.net>
To: "alissa bader" <mol666 at yahoo.com>; <techtalk at linuxchix.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2000 4:53 PM
Subject: Re: [techtalk] Mail server


> Well what we want is to be able to have people in one of our labs email
each
> other.  Its a school, so say 120 accounts.
>
> I'm a idiot, what exactly is a MTA?
>
> I'm really new at this and if someone could explain all this in simple
words
> like "vroom vroom", "go fast" and "nice", it would be much appreciated :)
>
> - Kathleen

Even in the best of cases, mail server administration is no piece of cake. I
managed to muddle my way through it earlier this year for the first time. I
managed it and I'm sure you can too.

I'd start with the HOWTO I just sent in another message. That will give you
a general idea of what's involved, and introduce the terminology you'll need
to know to even discuss the subject with others.

Your biggest decision is the MTA you decide to use. MTA means Mail Transfer
Agent, and it is the software that transports mail from one machine to
another. Some examples are qmail and sendmail.

A MUA, or Mail User Agent, is the software you use to actually read your
mail, such as mutt or pine.

HTH,

--
David C. Merrill, Ph.D.
LDP Collection Editor & Coordinator
www.LinuxDoc.org







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