Friend and fellow MVP Pete Stagman has posted a great article on how you can run an e-mail server on your Windows Home Server.
Here is how Pete starts off his article:
I hear the question all the time. “Why doesn’t Windows Home Server have an e-Mail Server included?”
The answer is simple: Because it ain’t easy to do.
Well, let me clarify that. It’s EASY to install and run e-Mail Server software on Windows Home Server. It’s not so easy to get it to work with your ISP, connection, firewall and clients.
Problem 1:
Most ISPs use Dynamic IP addresses for customer internet access. This means your address could keep changing. That makes running a mail server tricky, imagine if your street address kept changing and your friends were constantly trying to find you. You can use the FREE DynDNS service to update your address any time it may change.
If you have a business account with the static IP option, this won’t be a problem for you.
Problem 2:
You need a domain name to send mail to (That’s the part after the @ in an e-Mail address. @mydomain.com). There’s a way around this by registering your own domain or using a DynDNS domain name. We’ll go into that later.
Problem 3:
Most ISPs block port 25 & port 80 (e-Mail Server to Server port, Web Server port). You can get around this by using port relaying, or DynDNS MailHop Relay service (Pay Service).
Problem 4:
Your ISP may or may not allow you to send mail from your personal domain name through their server. Yep, another job for the DynDNS Outgoing Mail Relay. (Pay Service)
Problem 5:
Your router/modem/firewall. You need to get into your device and figure out how to allow mail to get in and out of your internet connection and get to your Windows Home Server.
Problem 6:
Software. How do I get e-Mail Server software onto my Windows Home Server? You might think that the software would be the first problem to solve, but it’s really the easy part. You need to solve all the others first.
You can read the full article here: http://www.nedmug.com/Blogs/tabid/226/PostID/35/Installing-an-e-Mail-Server-on-Windows-Home-Server.aspx
And it is worth a read – good work Pete, and thanks for the tweet and the link!
