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If the IP address does not fall in a range that has already been identified as dynamic or a source of spam and your ISP does not block it, yes you can set up your own SMTP server. However, that is not likely to work well in this day and age. Most mail servers will not accept email from dynamic IP's, as that was one of the main sources of spam once the open relays were mostly shut out. There are other issues involved in properly setting up a SMTP server to avoid letting it get misused as well. Unless you are able to learn all of it, I would not recommend it as a solution.
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> My main question is, when doing so, does my computer become the mail server for
> everyone on the domain, or just for my own personal e-mail addresses?
What domain are you referring to?
Unless you've got a domain name attached to that IP address, your mail server's domain is "local host."
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you don't want to host your own SMTP server. any spam filtering software that can detect that you're doing this will block any email that you're sending.
just figure out how to properly authenticate with the SMTP server that dreamhost is providing and you'll never need to change your settings when traveling.
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Please see my post in that previous thread.
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Yes Chas, your post in that other thread is what got me thinking. But, I'm still confused.
What I want to accomplish is the ability to send e-mail from Entourage (not a web-based mail program) using my PowerBook from anywhere I happen to have an internet connection. Like the previous poster, I've had spotty results sending e-mail. I've fiddled around with the SMTP settings, but sometimes it just doesn't work.
So, if I use Postfix Enabler, does that set up my desktop machine to route sent mail from my PowerBook through my own ISP? I use about 5 different e-mail addresses for various purposes. For 4 of those e-mail addresses, I also own and administrate the domain names. If I set up my desktop machine with Postfix Enabler, does that mean that ALL e-mail addresses at each of those domains are affected, or only my personal e-mail addresses?
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> if I use Postfix Enabler, does that set up my desktop machine to route sent mail from my
> PowerBook through my own ISP?
No. It makes your computer into a mail server that talks directly to the recipients' mail servers.
It's not particularly useful unless you do your own hosting for your domains, which can get very complex.
Your problem is that you can receive email, but can't always send it when you're on the road, right? Do you send mail from each of those different email accounts or is there one single account that you usually use for outgoing email?
If the latter then consider simply getting a Gmail account, which you can set up to send secure mail from Entourage using your outgoing email address as the sender/reply-to address. That's what I do and since I set it up I have had no problem sending mail from any ISP in my extensive travels.
