Setting up a mail server with Courier, Sendmail/Postfix and Fetchmail

Q I want to set up an IMAP mail server so that the wife, children and me can log on to any of our three PCs and have the same email format, whether it be Linux or Windows. I have a SUSE Server set up for File > Printing that the three PCs connect to. I run a hosted website, which does my main mail, and I also get mail through my ISP. What I want is for all mail to be dumped on to my server so that it can be read via IMAP, and to remain there unless deleted. The problem I have is understanding how I link Sendmail/Postfix, Courier IMAP and Fetchmail together. I understand what each bit does, just not the type of mail service I need to run - SMTP, POP or IMAP?

A I would recommend Postfix. Each user can collect their mail from their home directory with their mail client. IMAP will be a good choice of mail server if your family will be moving from PC to PC, as everything is always stored on the server, and because the server is local to the clients it will be just as quick as POP. You can also easily tie a web-mail tool into IMAP, using OpenWebMail or IMP, which will give you mail access through a browser if necessary. Fetchmail can be configured to inject mail through your local mail transfer agent, which I'd suggest should be Postfix, and deliver it to each user. If there are separate mail accounts, each can be sent to a different user, or specific users can have mail sent to their mailbox if there is a combined account, such as is available from ISPs.

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