XP hosting, Mailserver dilemma.

[Devileyezz]

So, some questions regarding hosting.
I'm hosting my domain on my XP pro box, with a http server called Abyss.
Now, I just installed a mail server called hMailServer, it also has a
module for squirrelmail in case I need webmail. This same mail server
also installed MySQL which I can use.. for other applications as well.

Now, I'm behind a firewall. NAT, so I need to forward the ports. (my 80 is forwarded already, and is accessible by world.)
The question is how do I actually put the mailserver to use?

Everything in regard to the MX, and stuff. AND, my IP changes
everytime I restart, so I use this dns-updating software called DynSite... so keeping
that in mind, can you please help me out?

 

[Ares]

I'd be interested in this as well. I just got two webservers running, one with IIS and another with apache.

Don't you also have to forward some ports for mail access? I think i read that somewhere yesterday.

How is DynSite working out? I was thinking about using that, since i'm currently looking for a worthwhile dns host.

 

[Devileyezz]

From the knowledge I have, Ares, I think once you run a 'server' on your PC and if you're behind a router.. whatever port that application uses needs to be forwarded.

I've been using DynSite for almost 4 years, and I've never had problems. Sometimes when my system restarts, it doesn't try to connect.. but I usually manually restart, and if I see it didn't update, I do it manually. It's awesome.

And yes, someone please.. with the mail thing?

 

[Kubel]

You will need to open port 25 and 110.

As far as setting it up- I have no clue. I've only worked with MercuryMail for Win32. Excellent freeware that works "out-of-box" with very little setup required.

If you have a ddns updater, you should be able to use your DynSite address in the settings of your email app. I've never used hMailServer so I don't know where you put this stuff in at.

Since you have a dynamic IP, I can almost guarantee you will run into one problem, and that is blacklisting. Most email providers blacklist any emails that come in from a dynamic range of IP's (in order to prevent spam). If this is the case, you should be able to receive email for your clients, but you will not be able to send (smtp) without being blocked by nearly every email service out there.

The only solution is to either get a static IP address, or use a forwarding feature on your mail program. I know mercury has this feature, but I'm not sure if yours does. It allows you to piggy back your outgoing SMTP through an SMTP server of your choice (usually your ISP). This way clients can still use smtp.yourserver.com without having to use smtp.yourisp.com and your login name and password.

Good luck.

 

[Devileyezz]

No problem in forwarding those ports. (I'm behind a router.)

I can certainly allow my domain's SMTP server to relay from my ISP's SMTP. No objections to that. That way, I might escape the blacklisting.

Everything is great. Now how do I go about all this.
I do know that I can probably use mail.mydomain.com, but mydomain.com AND mail.mydomain.com would be pointing to my dynamic IP. All I wanna find out is, wil DynSite update that IP on both these aforementioned hostnames.

 

[Kubel]

I'm not sure how DynSite will handle it. You will probably have to add whatever names you want (smtp, mail, pop whatever is your choice) to your DynSite control panel if you want to use them. But I think your plain domain will work fine (since they are all directing to the same IP anyway).

When I hosted my own site, I used zoneedit for my DNS and directupdate for my DDNS updater. I simply used kubels.net for my SMTP and POP3 email settings, and it worked perfectly fine (I didn't have to bother editing any mx or name settings).

 

[Devileyezz]

Hmmm, I'll need your excellent relationwise definitions now.
As to why/where Zoneedit comes in the picture.

Because, I see my control panel at eNom as similar to the ZoneEdit.

So, if you can.

 

[Kubel]

I was just using zoneedit as an example. I didn't have to mess with any settings in zoneedit, so I'm guessing you might not have to in whatever you use.

 

[Devileyezz]

Oh, you make me jealous lol!
So, if I use ZoneEdit.. will I lose the DNS servers that my registrar has me on?

 

[Devileyezz]

Ok, some other forum got me into this idea. Since i have one IP only, whether I have a mail.website.com or website.com, both of them point to one IP only, right? So, I can just have website.com as an MX record.

So, all I need to do is, update the MX/A records with the IP through DynSite. All I need to know is if DynSite updates MX records on eNom (my registrar who also has a control panel for my account)