Using Mac OS X Lion Server

Chapter 6. Building a Mail Server

Mail is one of the easiest aspects of Mac OS X Server to manage. Managing all of the things that go into protecting a mail server, on the other hand, can be one of the more challenging aspects of managing a mail server on Mac OS X. Lion Server has many features that help to protect your mail server; however, spammers and virus writers make their living off of the distribution of their nasty little wares. Therefore, managing a mail server is a constant battle to keep up-to-date on the latest trends of mail serving, to keep your server able to communicate with other mail servers on the Internet.

Before You Install

Before you sit down to install your own Lion Server as a mail server, think carefully about what you are about to do. If you only have a few accounts, then a solution like Hosted Exchange or Google Apps might be a better fit for you. This isn’t because managing the Lion Server is difficult; it’s not. But the ecosystem that goes into mail can be frustrating.

If you do decide to continue, there are a few tasks to perform before you get started. These include getting a domain name (e.g., krypted.com), configuring the DNS for that domain name (e.g., mail.krypted.com), configuring the IP address you use through your Internet service provider (ISP), and making sure that the IP address the ISP gives you isn’t blacklisted.

Registering a Domain Name

Most organizations already own a domain name. Most also already have a website for the domain name and ...