I started to write a reply to this, and then I got 3 paragraphs into the "note that you're entirely out of luck if this condition applies....or this one....or this one...." section. Basically: This _can_ be done, but it's going to be painful. The amount of time, energy, and expense that will go into getting this set up properly is a little absurd, given the payoff. So I would second what the prior poster said: find a web hosting company that will offer: domain registration, web hosting, and unlimited accounts. Then just create an account for anyone who wants one, and go from there. You can work that for $5/month (plus domain fee of $30 or so), instead of DSL craziness. But if you still want to torture yourself, I could be talked into putting the (many, many, many) steps and permutations into an e-mail on this list. ;-) - Ian -----Original Message----- From: JB [mailto:yonaton@localnet.com] Sent: Tue 8/2/2005 6:04 PM To: suse-linux-e@suse.com Subject: [SLE] Some questions about administration of a mail server and... Hi gang, First, let it be known that I'm familiar with using SuSE linux as a normal, everyday *user*, and can *usually* fix any small problems that pop up on my system. I've *never* administrated any kind of 'server', ever. So, what I'm looking to do is this... How hard is it to run a simple e-mail server on a system at a friends house (he has DSL which I can't get way out here in the woods) for maybe a few hundred people to use? They're all in different states from me, so it's not a networking thing...I hope (networking confuses me to no end). How would these folks send an e-mail to/through it and it get to where they want it to be? I mean, say I send an e-mail with Kmail. I have to use my ISP's smtp host/server thing, so how would the people who want to use this server do this? (I hope that makes sense) What would be a good, secure e-mail server to setup? Would it be much different setting up this server than say setting up my Kmail that I use every day? What would be the things that I should be most concerned about when setting it up and using it? Next, I've also been asked if I'd be willing to manage a web server. This scares me even more than trying an e-mail server thing, but I said I'd look into it. Say I use Apache to serve a website (is that correct?), would I just be able to take the current website's html stuff and just drop it to wherever in Apache and it would run? How would I know what the URL would be for people to see it? As you can see, it's a lot to ask, and I could do a mess of reading, but I'm hoping for some sorta quick and easy/simple answers to just get me started so I'll have an idea if it'll be too difficult for me to do or not. Also, I understand that a simple, not-too-expensive system would work fine, but would the graphics card make a difference in how anyone coming to the site on my server make any difference, or is that just for the monitor that's hooked up to the system? Thanks folks, John B -- "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." -Edmund Burke (1729-1797) -- Check the headers for your unsubscription address For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@suse.com