INTRODUCTION
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” - Arthur C. Clarke
This article describes my installation of an email/web server onto a Raspberry PI. The actual installation, proving the idea and fixing issues took place over about forty days. This was not forty full days and some days I did not even look at it. Before I started I did some homework on what I would need to do but this is not included in the forty days. There were also several issues that made themselves known much later which I have also documented and resolved. I did make mistakes along the way which made the installation harder than it needed to be. I did also find some tools and web sites which helped to validate the installation which I have documented as I used them. Many times I was stopped with an issue, but diligent searching on the web usually gave me enough information to resolve them.
I did not have to change my concept from what I originally envisaged but it took some time to implement it I hope this article gives some of you the inspiration to set up your own email servers and become independent of the major providers of this world. It will certainly improve your knowledge about how web sites and email works. You will learn a lot more than just hosting your site with a commercial host. To be able to install this you need to have some understanding of how the internet works with IP addresses etc or be willing to learn. You do not need a PhD in computer science. During my installation I probably learnt more about email than I ever wanted to know. Do not lose heart if you think that it is taking too long. It may take six months and the time is not important, it is the journey that counts.
Do not get discouraged if you hit a brick wall, there is help there on the internet if you search for it. You will make mistakes but that is what the error logs, debugging tools, internet resources are there for. When I was implementing I kept a log. This was simply a text file with date headings and everything I did and tried each date detailed. I found it helped me solve issues quicker as I had a record of what did and did not work. I may have made errors in this document, and possibly missed some of the steps as my understanding of some areas is sketchy at best. If you notice errors or have problems then please contact me so missing parts can be added and errors put right.
Anyone wishing to comment can do so via the Contact page and I will add to the website all those that are printable.
