E-mail server??

[AndrewSchofield]

We have a small network of computers and we have a website domain to which we get sent e-mails. Is there any way of setting one computer on the network to download all the e-mails to our web domain and then send the e-mails across our network to the correct person's computer? Eg e-mails sent to andrew@.... would be sent to my pc and those sent to joe@... would be sent to his pc?

We use outlook express as an e-mail client and run windows XP on all machines?

Is it possible to send e-mails across a network in the same manner from one pc to another without sending via the internet providers servers?

 

[colmcarlin]

Andrew,

Your ISP setup should determine how mail is redirected. From the sounds of it, it is set up so that any emails to your domain go to the one mail box? What you need to do is set up individual mailboxes for Andrew, Joe etc and use exchange to sign into these seperate accounts. Your ISP's website FAQ should give you clear instructions on how to do that.

As for sending "internal" email it would probably depend on the server you're using in your office - as long as all your computers are on the same (local) domain it should be simple. Are you running Windows Small Business?

 

[AndrewSchofield]

The guy who hosts our website currently forwards our e-mails to other individual e-mail addresses so my andrew@... e-mails actually get delivered to me via an e-mail account unrelated to our domain. As do two of the other guys and we also have a catch-all rule which forwards anything@ourdomain to my e-mail address.

We don't actually have a server as such, our computers are all connected to each other and our broadband router via a network hub. All the pcs are running Windows XP Pro.

 

[Igorian]

You can do it with XP, but it's easier with a Small Business Server O/S which has everything you need.

To do it in XP, if you must, you will need some mail server software (do a google) which will run in the O/S.

You will also need to fix the ip address of the machine you allocate as the server.

You (ideally) should also get a fixed ipaddress from your ISP, if you haven't got this already. It's possible to use a dynamic address but you would need to use more third party software to make it appear static.

You will also need to open a port on your router for the mailserver to operate.

You will need to ask your ISP or whoever hosts you to change your MX records so that your mail is exchanged with your server correctly.

After that you simply configure your server software as required.

 

[FozzieBear]

Igorian is correct as regarding MS Small Business Server being the rolls royce option which comes with a cut down version of Exchange. However as he says you can do it with other versions of mail software for example Burrotech Office Mail Server 2.0 http://www.burrotech.com/officemail.php which is free or £39 if you register it. With this version I dont think you need a fixed IP address, just point the mail server to your hosted domain.
There are also lots of other opensource and paid versions out there which are much cheaper than Exchange.

regards
Fozzie

 

[AndrewSchofield]

Fozzie - sounds and looks good. Have you used this - just wondered how much Office Mail will affect the system performance of the pc it is installed and running on? It would be best for this to be on my machine as i'll be doing the set up and maintenence but if its gonna slow my system down i don't want it running on here - i'll put it on a pc which isn't used as much!

 

[mattylad]

Why not ask the same questions of the guy that hosts your website & forwards the emails to you.

 

[AndrewSchofield]

mattylad - thats a tricky one. The guy who hosts our website is my bosses ex-brother in law. Things were fine but he divorced my boss' sister this summer (might even be still going on) and since things went wrong there he's been difficult to get hold of - hence why i want to take control of the e-mails myself and ultimately move who we host our site with. Other problem is we currently don't pay anything for the website maintenance, hosting or support (as he was family) so my boss is not in too much of a hurry to move it elsewhere!

 

[FozzieBear]

Fozzie - sounds and looks good. Have you used this - just wondered how much Office Mail will affect the system performance of the pc it is installed and running on? It would be best for this to be on my machine as i'll be doing the set up and maintenence but if its gonna slow my system down i don't want it running on here - i'll put it on a pc which isn't used as much!

Andrew,
I haven't used it personally but first came across Burrotech in a Review in PC Pro Magazine a few years ago. The writer was raving about it and he was known to be very picky about software so he must have been impressed.
As far as resources go you really need a machine with plenty of disk space as this will soon fill up if your users send and receive attachments. There appers to be an active User Forum on the Burrotech website. I suggest you post your questions there for a response from other users or the company techs. If possible I would suggest a stand alone PC. I dont expect it would need to be a very powerful bit of kit but lots of disk space and installed with a good antivirus software which will scan e-mails. It could even be a headless machine (no monitor and keyboard)under the desk which you access via remote desktop.
Good Luck
Fozzie

 

[AndrewSchofield]

Fozzie - off the original topic but.... tell me more about remote desktop. We currently have a pc which runs headless which we store all shared files on but i have been connecting it up to a monitor when i've needed to do anything on it. Do i need to buy some software to use remote desktop? How does it work??

 

[AndrewSchofield]

Fozzie - forget that - stopped being lazy and did a t'internet search for 'remote desktop' and found out for myself!

 

[FozzieBear]

Fozzie - off the original topic but.... tell me more about remote desktop. We currently have a pc which runs headless which we store all shared files on but i have been connecting it up to a monitor when i've needed to do anything on it. Do i need to buy some software to use remote desktop? How does it work??

I am sure you are now an expert in Remote Desktop but there are a few things you should know/may help.
Windows XP Pro will only accept one instance of remote desktop at any one time. There are hacks on the internet to increase this but I suspect only yourself would need access to this headless machine.
If you are running a process e.g. copying files etc always disconnect don't log off as the process/program will stop running unless it runs as a service with a machine account.
I tend to put the switch in the RDP shortcut" /console" without quotes i.e. %SystemRoot%\system32\mstsc.exe /console . This ensures you always log back on to the same session as this is basically a terminal server connection.
Regards
Fozzie[/list]

 

[diy_darren]

My 2 pence worth, is that unless you have a desire to run your own mail server or there is a specific reason you have to, then you shouldn't bother. If for any reason your server breaks you won't be able to send or receive email for however long it takes you to rectify the situation.

Website and email is a very common thing to host externally and it can cost as little as £5 a month for what you need and more.

If you want to do this yourself, I don't mean to discourage you, but I got the feeling you're after the easiest solution rather than a DIY one.