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<H1>Bookreview: The qmail Handbook</H1>
<H4>ArticleCategory: [Choose a category for your article]</H4>
Applications
<H4>AuthorImage:[Here we need a little image form you]</H4>
<img src="../../common/images/BrunoSousa.jpg" width="100" height="142"
alt="[Bruno]">
<H4>TranslationInfo:[Author and translation history]</H4>
<P>original in en <A href="mailto:bruno@linuxfocus.org">Bruno Sousa</A></P>
<H4>AboutTheAuthor:[A small biography about the author]</H4>
<P>Bruno is a student of computer engineering in Leiria at night,
Portugal. By the day he works as a programmer of the La Redoute S.A. IT
Department. He found Linux a few years ago and he sees Linux as the
fulfillment of a dream! The possibility of participating in the
development of an operating System. His free time is dedicated to
Linux, LinuxFocus (since he is an editor/translator), to his girlfriend
and to his studies... </P>
<H4>Abstract:[Here you write a little summary]</H4>
<P>"qmail Handbook" is a book written by Dave Sill, the author is
well known for the "Life With Qmail". The book was published by Apress.
The price is something about 45 Euro, not too expensive and I think
it is worthwhile the money.</P>
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article]</H4>
<img src="../../common/images/illustration232.jpg" width="152" height="191"
alt="[book cover]" hspace="30">
<H4>ArticleBody:[The article body]</H4>
<H2>Introduction</H2>
<P> What's qmail ? <br>
What's a MTA ? <br>
What's a MUA ? <br>
qmail was written by Whom ? <br>
<P>
Can you answer all the questions above? If you can I believe you are an
experienced user (probably an sysadmin or a consultant). If not don't
get worry, because this book will explain these things and a lot more.<br>
The book is suitable for both kind of users, the experienced qmail user and the
newbie (like me). The book focuses on readers who want to learn how
to administrate a qmail system. The author mentions this in the
introduction chapter (XXI)
<br>
The language used in the book is very accessible, and in my opinion
does not confuse the reader with "difficult technical terms", they are
well explained and the images support that explanation.<br>
Another good thing, before I forget it: The author does
not assume that you have a specific distribution like Slackware or
SuSE, but e.g. in the installation he details the differences between
different versions of Unix (Linux, FreeBSD).
<H2>The book's organization</H2>
Here I could detail all the chapters of the book and tell my opinion
about them, but I won't do it for two reasons:
<ul>
<li>My experience can't be compared against the Dave's experience
(something like 2 years compared to 15 years).</li>
<li>At the time of writing I could not talk about all the
chapters since I haven't read them all. Forgive me for this!</li>
</ul><br>
I write about the chapters that I have read and describe them in my own
words.<br>
<P>Chapter 1, "Introducing qmail"<br>
This chapter will help you to find answer for the question above.
If you know what qmail is and you are not sure
if it is suitable for your needs, then the answer is in this chapter,
since it presents the features of qmail.
<P>Chapter 2, "Installing qmail"<br>
As the name says it is a step-by-step configuration guide for the
installation, the creation of users, directories, the assignment of
the required permissions...
<P>Chapter 3, "Configuring qmail: The Basics"<br>
Here you find the steps needed to put the system into operation
(communicating with other MTAs). It explains the qmail
control files, the aliases, and other things, like the mechanism of the qmail-users.
<P>Chapter 4, "Using qmail"<br>
Covers how the users can send and receive messages and some
utilities to control the mailboxes.
<P>Chapter 5, "Managing qmail"<br>
Gives an explanation about the management commands of qmail. How to
manage a queue.
<P>Chapter 6, "Troubleshooting qmail"<br>
Helps you to understand the log files, and to manage them correctly.
And talks about common problems.
<P>Chapter 7, "Configuring qmail: Advanced Options"<br>
This chapter might be interesting for those who have sendmail and
decided to migrate to qmail...
<P>Chapter 8, "Controlling Junk Mail"<br>
This chapter is something interesting nowadays, the days of spam.
This helps to deal with it.
<P>Chapter 9, "Managing Mailing Lists"<br>
As the name says it talks about the mailing lists and the more known
programs to manage that, like Majordomo, ezmlm.
<P>Chapter 10, "Serving Mailboxes"<br>
If you need to provide remote access to the mailboxes then the questions
can be answered here. It talks about POP3 and IMAP protocols.
<P>Chapter 11, "Hosting Virtual Domains and Users"<br>
If you need to implement virtual mail accounts then all the processes
needed for that are here described using Vpopmail and/or VmailMgr.
<P>Chapter 12, "Understanding Advanced Topics"<br>
Some advanced Topics like the combination of qmail and SQL or LDAP.
And if you have windows machines you can protect them with anti-virus
software in the mail system.
<P>Appendices<br>
Here you find more detailed explanations, if after reading the book you have
any doubts, or still open questions then read this chapter.
<H2>Conclusion</H2>
The book is what the title says, "qmail handbook". It really is the
handbook of qmail. So if you are an administrator of the mail system and
you use qmail then this is for you. No matter if you are an experienced
user or not. The book can be on your desk all the time, if any problem
occurs, search in the index. It's easy to use. Some blank pages are
included for (who knows) any annotation.<p>
Probably the reader, when sending an email to anyone, e.g. a person in
Dallas sends an email to his French friend in Paris, may wonder
what happens to the email? What route does it take? ... <br>
Well, the book can help you answering these questions, since it gives a
technical description of qmail but also, gives theoretical explanations about
the processes that qmail handles, and so on...<p>
You can find other peoples opinions if you search for the book at
amazon.<P>
The final decision is always up to you...
<H2>References</H2>
<UL>
<LI><A href="http://cr.yp.to/qmail.html">The Official qmail site</A> </LI>
<LI><A href="http://www.qmail.org">The Unofficial qmail site</A> </LI>
</UL>
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