How to install hMailServer

AbyssUnderground

Hello all,
I have finally got round to making the hMailServer tutorial everyone has been asking for, for so long.
http://www.abyssunderground.co.uk/installing-hmailserver.php
I hope it is accurate and that it helps you set up your own mail server.

pkSML

Very nice! I'm messing around with the server a little myself right now.
One bit of advice: Maybe you could explain the tweaking of the setup. (ex: Why the changes are helpful/necessary)

AbyssUnderground

pkSML wrote
Very nice! I'm messing around with the server a little myself right now.
One bit of advice: Maybe you could explain the tweaking of the setup. (ex: Why the changes are helpful/necessary)

Great :-) I hope you like the server, its very nice.
The tweaks are something everyone will have to do in the end anyway after finding something won't work. Its taken me over a year to find these settings that work properly, but yes, I think it would be a good idea to explain it.
EDIT: I've now added the explanations for the tweaks.

bprsk8r4272

i used tour tutorial to install hmailserver but for some reason i can send email but not receive i know i must be missing something i had it setup correctly be4 i reformatted. i did setup a mx record @ no-ip i set it as
gotskillslounge.no-ip.org and priority 5 is this setting correct?
any ideas?

AbyssUnderground

bprsk8r4272 wrote
i used tour tutorial to install hmailserver but for some reason i can send email but not receive i know i must be missing something i had it setup correctly be4 i reformatted. i did setup a mx record @ no-ip i set it as
gotskillslounge.no-ip.org and priority 5 is this setting correct?
any ideas?

Its probably like everybody who tries to set one up, its because you're using it on broadband. Read the orange box on the tutorials page. It explains why you won't get all of your mail.

bprsk8r4272

nope i port forwarded port 25 in the router but i forgot to allow port 25 in windows firewall its working now

AbyssUnderground wrote

bprsk8r4272 wrote
i used tour tutorial to install hmailserver but for some reason i can send email but not receive i know i must be missing something i had it setup correctly be4 i reformatted. i did setup a mx record @ no-ip i set it as
gotskillslounge.no-ip.org and priority 5 is this setting correct?
any ideas?

Its probably like everybody who tries to set one up, its because you're using it on broadband. Read the orange box on the tutorials page. It explains why you won't get all of your mail.

pkSML

Does that Windows firewall actually have any effect when you're utilizing a router? Does this software firewall do anything the hardware firewall doesn't?
I mention that because I checked my server (WinXP Home) a few days ago and it said the database of exceptions for the firewall was corrupted.

chewzzqq

i add here,thanks AbyssUnderground,
now i can sent message with fast to other mail server(set relayer)(broadband)(dynamic ip address)
and i also can receive all 100% email from other with (set relayer)(broadband)(dynamic ip address)
i use no-ip host for free,and i set mx record(at www.no-ip.com) to my address
example:
-----------
myname.no-ip.org 5(MX Priority)
myname.no-ip.org 10(MX Priority)
myname.no-ip.org 15(MX Priority)
myname.no-ip.org 20(MX Priority)
myname.no-ip.org 25(MX Priority)
after this i can receive all mail from other server (100%)
hope this can help other member to solve the mail receiving problem.
thanks AbyssUnderground!!

x33ty

Very good, needed this.

Axis

I recently had hmail quit receiving mail after a long period of it working fine. I was getting bounce backs from my ISP. I can't remember the exact error ( 550...551?) but it also contained a "something" message about OBDR (or ORDB?)....I deleted the mail so I can't remember the exact message. I did a google on it and found right away that the ORDB (or whatever) had quit...or had quit with hmail. The solution was to delete the anti-spam look-ups from hmail.
Suddenly, all works well again. I just thought I would throw this into the conversation because it may well affect others as well.
Regards,
Axis

AbyssUnderground

Can't say I've had or heard of that issue. One issue I did have though was caused by grey-listing. I had to turn it off because it was either delaying mail by 4 hours or more, or not getting it at all.

ChrisM2

I'll try to put as much info as I can...
Well, I have set it (hMailServer) up twice. Once here at work (dynamic ip), and once at home (static ip) I followed your instructions to a T. (unless the "no-ip" thing is something you have to do regardless if you have a domain name or not.) Both are business-end cable connections with all ports open. I went to the applications/gaming section of my Linksys router and opened (both) all ports necessary. I went to my domain name provider www.domainrightnow.com and messed with the MX records. I changed every record I saw that said "www.secureserver.net" to my "www.domainname.com" and set my IP addresses.
At home with static, I can send mail to certain email accounts, (yahoo won't accept for some reason), however, I can’t receive email from any account. I have win-XP pro on that machine
At work with dynamic, I can not send or receive. I have Win-Server2003 on that server machine.
Both have the latest Abyss-X2 running and both are set up to handle multiple domain names.
www.trcok.com at work and www.zanesign.com at home both have FileZilla Server running (which by the way, the one at work works perfectly, the one at home doesn't :< )
Am I missing something here? Maybe just need to allow time for MX records to change? I did this almost 48 hours ago. I can post a screenshot of my MX-Records if necessary. Also, I set Outlook Express up with "pop.mydomainnames.com" and "smtp.mydomainnames.com". Is this correct?

ChrisM2

Ok, I contacted my domain-name provider, and they confirmed my MX records are all set and good. However, they did say that on MY end, I need to enter mx0.secureserver.net and mx10mailstore1.secureserver.net into my mail server? ehhh, "what'chu talkin bout Willis?" :) I'm lost here, where on the mail server do I put this?

AbyssUnderground

ChrisM2 wrote
Ok, I contacted my domain-name provider, and they confirmed my MX records are all set and good. However, they did say that on MY end, I need to enter mx0.secureserver.net and mx10mailstore1.secureserver.net into my mail server? ehhh, "what'chu talkin bout Willis?" :) I'm lost here, where on the mail server do I put this?

They're talking rubbish. They are external mail servers, not your mail servers so ignore them. The reason you can't send to some hosts eg yahoo is because you're on broadband and not a proper connection like in a data center. They often block certain IP blocks to avoid spam.

ChrisM2

AbyssUnderground wrote

ChrisM2 wrote
Ok, I contacted my domain-name provider, and they confirmed my MX records are all set and good. However, they did say that on MY end, I need to enter mx0.secureserver.net and mx10mailstore1.secureserver.net into my mail server? ehhh, "what'chu talkin bout Willis?" :) I'm lost here, where on the mail server do I put this?

They're talking rubbish. They are external mail servers, not your mail servers so ignore them. The reason you can't send to some hosts eg yahoo is because you're on broadband and not a proper connection like in a data center. They often block certain IP blocks to avoid spam.

OK, so what else could be my problem? and when you say braodband, i take it your talking not just residential cable but buisness as well?

jkluio

hmm, does not work for me.
Is it possible that the two (hMailServer and Abyss) can not be on the same computer?

Axis

Hello jkluio--
At least on my box, Abyss and HmaiServerl work fine together. Windows 7.
The trick for many is to have the sendmail option to use your local ISP, assuming your ISP allows it. Under SMTP I have SMTP Mail Relayer set to my ISP sendmail. My computer has a unique "name" so I put that name in the Hostname.
All depends on your ISP. I have a static IP and my ISP is well aware of my server and allows it (though they wanted me to pay them $5.00 more a month for the static IP.)
edit: I would make one comment in response to the AbyssUnderground otherwise excellent tutorial. I would *not* select the option to for External to external in the IP ranges setting. I believe this might be a security issue. Correct me if I'm wrong, Andy.
Hope that helps some.
Regards,
Axis