Heh-heh- Well, I don't know about your wife, but mine would call if me if the ISP went down, if hotmail (remember them?) went down, etc., etc. THEN the rest of the family did the same, still do drat it. So, I have the extended family on the mail server. So, that's the reason that I went with my own server. To paraphrase Mell Brooks "It's good to be the root". Seriously, if I happen to be near the internet, I can SSH into the box and take a peek at what's going on. Several good comments have been made about IMAP, and I agree. I too use IMAP. But, I don't let it out of my system. I picked up from sourceforge a web based mail program (aeromail) that I could modify to my heart's content. And I have done so. Now I have my server the way that the "group" wants it and pretty darn secure (no, I don't allow relays, thank you very much). Another good candidate what/is horde. I can set my spam filters the way that I want. I have a static IP address and it took a bit of digging to find the ISP that would support it in my area rather than Ma Bell. When the first ISP went belly up, I did manage to find another one. Cost is comparable to a dynamic IP account. All my traffic goes through the server, Natting and firewalled with the older ipchains, but still. Web server for the family, and a couple of friends who have start ups. The trick is to be smart on the images that you pass along as I have asymetrical DSL so I watch my uplink requirements. All the good stuff about secondary DNS for friends, etc. also comes into play. This is on an old Pentium plain (586) machine that a friend of mine discarded (the standby server which sits unplugged is also of similar class). With memory added as other friends threw away their old Windoze boxes for newer ones. I don't run a print server on it. My wife doesn't want to go out to the garage to pick up her printout.... Go figure. Anyway, if you do have some 'nix admin experience, then it's a very small learning curve. If you don't, then you have a wonderfull oppertunity to increase the range of your knowledge if you want. Oh, and my uptime on the server is far higher than the DSL/ISP connection to the outside world and *FAR* higher than the support servers of the ISP. Don't know if this will change any minds or not, but at least for my experience, it was worth making the move. Cheers, Rich S. > > yeah exactly....its time vs money. I can make more $$ working on a project than figuring out the server....and as you are a unix wizard/admin...makes perfect sense for you to do your own. We all have our talents, and I am not afraid to say mine is NOT doing linux admin stuff. Besides....if the box goes down during the day and the wife calls.....yeah...much easier not having that issue :-) > > Nate Duehr wrote: alan smith wrote: > > and..this is EE for what reason? > > > > but... I've done it both ways....having a linux machine sitting there doing email and web serving, and when it crashes...because eventually everything does (hardware failures, etc) you have to go and to it again. And even tho running a firewall, the hackers still got in...found they were using it to just crunch some password hacking program. > > > > So....I gave up on it. For $6/year, I can have my stuff hosted on a '5-nines' machine, never worry about crashing, etc. Single (or 2?) email addresses, but since they are forwards, not a big deal. My 'personal' Email costs me .99/mo....to me it just isnt worth the hassle of keeping something running. 5 or 6 years ago...when it wasnt so dirt cheap....then it made sense. > > Sounds like you made the right choice, if you can't keep the bad guys > off your box, you shoudn't be running a server. > > Nate > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > > > --------------------------------- > Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. > Yahoo! Answers - Check it out. > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist