Hi,

I would like to setup an IMAP facility on my Ubuntu 6.06 VPS. The idea is that I will download e-mails from several different external POP3 accounts to the VPS, and then access them from anywhere in the world using an IMAP-capable e-mail client. I assume this is feasible, but I'm not sure how to configure the system to do it. I have more than one user, with more than one e-mail account each.

I have installed and partly configured Dovecot, but don't really know what to do next. It looks like I will need some type of POP3 server to get the e-mails from the internet accounts into one or more local mailboxes, then point Dovecot at the mailbox(es)?

I do not want/need to configure the server to handle local domain traffic as I already use Postfix for outgoing mail from my domain, and incoming mail goes to the various internet accounts.

Perhaps someone could recommend a relatively easy & secure (or maybe better?) way of doing this - maybe point to a guide or tutorial detailing this type of setup. I know there are many Dovecot tutorials out there, but nothing integrated enough for me to follow to get the setup I have described. Thanks.

Use getmail to load the remote mail into local mail accounts. Configure Dovecot and you're done.

_________________
/ Peter

Heres an excellent guide for setting up a mail server with ubuntu:

http://www.howtoforge.com/virtual-users ... buntu-6.06

You could then add getmail or something similar to bring in mail from other accounts.

my bad

I've had quick look at getmail, and it seems a little complicated to configure, and is one more package to install & configure. Is there any advantage using getmail over configuring Dovecot to do the POP3 functions instead? Thanks.

Dovecot is a mail server. It is not a mail client.

Getmail is a mail client. It is not a mail server.

And you need one of each (i.e. a client and a server) for what you want to do.

_________________
/ Peter

OK, thanks. Before getting my hands dirty, just to confirm the configuration I am looking for is along the following lines:

Getmail needs to do the job currently performed by my users e-mail clients, except that instead of downloading messages from the internet POP3 accounts to their PC-based email client, it downloads messages into the various mailboxes on my server. Then the e-mail clients poll the IMAP (Dovecot) server instead of their POP3 accounts, and Dovecot goes to the respective local mailboxes to retrieve the messages. Is that about right? It sounds complicated to setup, but presumably it's possible to acheive with help from the various tutorials around?

One problem might be that most users don't actually have accounts on the server that will host Dovecot & getmail, and so will not have local mailboxes.

On my old ISP (HughesNet: High Lag, Low Bandwidth, Customer Support that makes dealing with Walmart look fun) I used that set up to pull my mail local for myself and my wife, but I had local accounts. I'm sure with a little work it could deliver to virtual accounts.