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Setup Local Email Server Using SME Server

By sk
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There are plenty of Linux Distributions available to setup and configure mail server. But they might be a bit difficult to beginners. This step by step tutorial shows you how to install and configure local mail server for your organization with SME Server.

Scenario

In this tutorial, the IP address of the mail server is 192.168.10.100 and the host-name is intranet.sktechnix.com. I already have dhcp server and router, so I not going to install this server as gateway.

Installation of SME Server

Download the latest copy the SME Server 8 from here. Burn the ISO to a Cd and boot the system using the Cd. At the boot prompt, hit enter:

Media test will take a while, so here i skip this:

Select your language:


Select your keyboard Layout:
A Warning Message will appear to erase all data's in your hard drive, hit yes:
Set your Time Zone:
Hit yes to format the hard drive:
Now the Installation begins, this will take few moments:
At the end of Installation, click Reboot:
After Reboot, the configuration page will open. If you have any previous backup of SME Server configuration, you can choose it by pressing "yes" button or click "No" to proceed further:
Enter the default administrator password(the default administrator name is "admin"):
Retype the password to verify:
Enter the primary domain name:
Enter the system name i.e hostname of this server:
Select your default local interface if you have more than one network adapters:
Enter ip address and subnet mask to your local network interface:
Now select the operation mode of this server. As i previously told that i have already router in my network, so here i have selected the "server-only" mode:
Enter the ip address of your gateway if you have any, Otherwise leave it as blank:
Here i have disabled the DHCP Service for this server, because i already have the one in my network:
Now save your changes by pressing "Yes" button:
Now the changes will be applied to our server. The server will be automatically rebooted and you can get your login screen look like below:

Configure the Mail Server

Now you can configure this server as your mail server from one of your client systems by entering https://192.168.10.100/server-manager/ in the browser and hit enter. The administration section of the SME Server will open. Enter the username "admin" and password for the admin you have given earlier:
The welcome section of the SME Server configuration page should appear:

Create Users and Groups

Now let us create some users and groups for them. Click the "Collaboration" tab in the upper left corner, Select the "Users" tab to create new user. In this tutorial i use two users called "client1" and "client2". "client1" is belongs to "Sales" group and "client2" is belongs to "service" group. You will use your own.
Click "Add user account", fill up details of your new user and hit "Add" button.
Set the password for your new user by clicking the "Reset Password" button:
Enter the Password and Click "Save":
Now the user password is given:
Now let us create a group for the new user "client1". Click the "Groups" icon in the "Collaboration" tab in the upper left corner and Click "Add Group":
Fill up the group details and assign the users to the group. In our example the group name is "sales" and the user belongs to this group is "client1":
Add the other users and groups respectively as stated above. Now the Mail Server is ready. You can access this mail server using any mail clients such as Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird etc.

Enable Webmail Service

Do you want to access your mail server from any browser? Yes you can. Click the "Configuration" tab, Select "e-mail". The following screen should appear:
Click the "Change e-mail access settings" button and select "Allow HTTPS" in the Webmail access drop-down box and Save your changes:
Fire up the browser from any one of your client and type https://192.168.10.100/webmail in the address bar and hit enter:
Now let us send and receive some mails to our local users. Enter the user name and password of your new user which you have created earlier:
Now the Inbox of the user will appear:
Now send a test mail to another user. In our example, i send a test mail from "client1@sktechnix.com" to "client2@sktechnix.com". Click "New Message" and enter recipient details and hit "send Message":
Now log out from client1 and log in to client2:
Now the test mail will be received in the client2 user inbox.
Thats it. If you want to access your mail server using domain name instead of your ip address, you must configure this server as DNS Server or you add the MX records to your existing DNS Server.

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1 comment

Anonymous December 24, 2012 - 10:04 am

Very easiest tutorial with screenshots. Thanks

Reply

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