Questions about mail servers

[Shag]

I currently have a domain name that I have parked with bn3 (free hosting, free email server). Unfortunately, bn3 is closing down its free domain hosting and I'm out one free host. Considering the lack of free, no-banner hosting services out there, I'm pondering signing up for a free DNS server and just hosting my page from my home. I'm also looking into possibly setting up a mail server at home as well (so I can continue to use my domain email address, which I use quite frequently). I have a few questions, though...

1) What are my options for mail servers to run on Win2k?
2) Is it possible to setup a unix-like mail reader (ala Elm) using a Win2k mail server?
3) If my computer is powered off and email is sent to me, what happens to the email?
4) If #3 isn't possible, is it relatively simple to set a mail server up to forward mail to a different server?

I may eventually look into setting up a linux box to do this, but don't have the time right now. My free hosting ends Jan 4, so I'm in a bit of a time crunch...

 

[Superunknown]

Shag, as far as mail servers go out there, you have quite a few choices. I personally have used MDAEMON and Exchange 2000 on W2K Server and both work great. Exchange is generally a bit much for a few users, but MDAEMON was very easy to setup. Basically you need to have your DNS provider point your domain to your W2K box..and have them setup an mx record to point to your mail box. I'm not sure about the unix like mail reader...someone else probably does. IF your server is turned off your mail will be undeliverable..period THerefore you want to pretty much keep that box up 24/7. If this is impossible, your best bet is to pay for mail hosting via another provider otherwise you will lose important email. You can do forwarding, but the machine doing the forwarding needs to be on...so if your machine is down it wont go anywhere. However,
if you have another mail host, you can add that server as an additional host in the MX record, so if your server goes down the mail host picks up the mail for you. Hope that helps.

 

[BoberFett]

1) Software.com has a free 10 user version of their mail software for NT. Also, you might try Mercury mail server. It's a freeware mail server that I ran on a server at home for quite a while. A friend of mine is even running the company he does IT for as their main mail server. It runs on 9x/NT.

2) I don't know

3) Like Superunknown said, it will be returned to the sender. That was my problem with running a server at home. As unreliable as cable modems are, I had people complaining to me that their mail was being bounced fairly frequently. Recently I gave up and decided to just pay the $9/mo. to host my domain on a real web server.

4) Mail forwarding is simple. Any server should do it without difficulty.