qmail (Paperback)

by John R. Levine (Author)
Key Phrases: accepting mail, local mail delivery, filtering tools, Getting Comfortable, Dan Bernstein, Some Common Virtual Domain Setups (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This complete guide to installing, configuring and using qmail to manage Unix-based mail systems explores how this alternative to sendmail can solve specific mail-handling problems. qmail concentrates on common tasks like moving a sendmail setup to qmail, or setting up a "POP toaster", a system that provides mail service to a large number of users on other computers sending and retrieving mail remotely. The book also fills some crucial gaps in existing documentation, detailing exactly what the core qmail software does, how it routes and queues incoming mail, how it routes mail for local or remote delivery, precisely how it interprets a .qmail file for local delivery, and how it schedules remote deliveries and decides if and when to retry failures. This book is the definitive source readers need for using up-and-coming mail server.

About the Author
John Levine is a well-known and well-respected author of over 15 technical books on the Internet, as well as the Unix and Windows operating systems. He is the co-author of O'Reilly's lex & yacc, 2nd Edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 1st edition (February 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565926285
• ISBN-13: 978-1565926288
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #719,378 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authoritative and complete - everything you need for qmail, June 16, 2004

By	Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Although sendmail is installed in more Internet mail servers than any other Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) it has come under scrutiny for being a large awkward program by today's standards. More and more new MTA servers are moving to a modular program like qmail that has a multitude of smaller programs for each function instead of one huge program that does everything. This allows for greater speed and flexibility. John R. Levine's new book "qmail: Managing Unix-Based Mail Systems" examines the qmail program in depth from installation to configuration to troubleshooting. While qmail is fairly straightforward and you can achieve great results on both small and very large systems, it is a very different way of thinking if you are moving from sendmail and are already familiar with it. The author recognizes this difficulty of changing the way you think and spends a good portion of the beginning of the book detailing qmail and how it works so you understand the "qmail frame of mind". I've never setup a sendmail server and so I did not have the obstacle to overcome but I have setup and configured the postfix MTA which is also a modular type program. With that background the book was a breeze to follow along and I was even able to download a copy and configure it correctly for my system. The coverage was excellent and the installation and configuration information provided all the information I needed to get it up and running. If you are thinking of building a qmail MTA you will find "qmail: Managing Unix-Based Mail Systems" absolutely indispensable and the only reference you need to get it done right the first time.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The handbook that is long, long overdue..., April 11, 2004

By	Robert L. Stinnett (Boonville, MO) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

For years, any system administrator running Linux who was worth his paycheck knew that Qmail was the defacto standard for running a mail server (heck, even Yahoo uses it!). Sendmail has always been ripe with security holes and headaches -- something Qmail has went to great lengths to correct. However, the problem has always been there was no easy reference guide to Qmail. You had to be either a Linux-geek, or know someone who was, to get it installed and working correctly!

Now, thanks to O'Reilly, even us non-geeks can get our Qmail systems up and running in no time. This book covers everything you need to know in an easy-to-follow format. From installation, to making the switch from sendmail, even how to tune and setup third-party components with Qmail to help control spam, scan for viruses and run your own mailing list server.

One of the great things about this book is it, for the most part, is not dependent on any particular flavor of Linux. The author does a good job of making it generic enough that you can follow along no matter what distribution you use.

Granted, you will need to know a bit about Linux to use read and fully understand this book. It is geared towards system admistrators and not the end-user of a Qmail system. However, you don't need to be a Linux Guru to understand it -- it has just enough detail to satisfy without overwhelming.

Overall, this is the handbook for Qmail that has been long overdue -- a one-stop technical manual that puts the final touch on Qmail.