Introduction

In this chapter I describe the many different systems and standards that you will encounter when you configure your server to support electronic mail. Since one of the main secondary uses for your Web server will be to manage electronic mail transfer to and from users at your domain name, it is worth ensuring that all the possible options are covered.

I have started this chapter with a description of the way in which you should configure your server to handle electronic mail routing, I then move on to the way in which your Web server might have to interact with other mail systems in your company. Finally, I cover a little on the user's view of electronic mail.

The main Web server application deals with HTTP requests, and does not need to manage e-mail to support a full and exciting Web site! Having said that, you would be missing out on one of the most useful functions of the Internet if you do not configure an e-mail server if only to handle mail from visitors to your site.

As with just about every other part of a Web server, there are many different ways of creating and maintaining an e-mail server. Most of the Web server software applications covered in Chapter 5 include an e-mail server application, but each tackles the problems in a slightly different way.

Figure 7.1: Setting up an e-mail server's basic options under Windows

For example, under Unix there are several different mail programs: a...