On 2008-04-11 at 16:01 +0200, Hannibal Ndlovu wrote:
> I have a server that connects to my ISP via a dialup connection and i
> would like to know the est way to download mail from my ISP servers to
> my company server for delivery to my clients - i have been told that
> Exim has ways of doing this - as i have given up trying to configure
> fetchmail on my Debian System any assist in either of these packages
> would be greatly appreciated (even though this is not a fetchmail
> mailing list)
This entirely depends upon what services your ISP provides.
If the ISP provides SMTP mail delivery after some event, then Exim may
be able to help you here. Without knowing more about who the ISP is or
a list of the relevant features offered, we don't know if this is even
likely.
If the ISP only provides POP3 mail retrieval, then you will need to use
a POP3 retrieval tool to fetch the mail and re-inject it locally. I
advise against fetchmail as it is not robust and misconfiguration can
lead to loss of email. When I've had to use POP3 retrieval, I've had
more luck with Getmail:
http://pyropus.ca/software/getmail/
When using POP3 retrieval, no matter what client you use, you have to be
_really_ careful to not create mail-loops; if you pass the mail on to
the original recipient but your local mail-system isn't configured to
handle that recipient locally, then you can end up sending the mail back
out to the ISP, where you'll then pick it up again, ... this is bad.
Microsoft discovered this, but at least with their closed systems they
could fix it once and it became less of an issue (but getting people to
actually download the fixes _before_ they're burned is another matter).
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=835734
Does your ISP provide one email address, or a domain? Do you have
mail-forwardings? Do you want to deliver to one local email address or
try to preserve the left-hand-side from the original mail? Which ISP,
and where's their page describing the technical details of the offered
product? (English preferred!)
-Phil
