[NBLUG/talk] Remote mail access

Aaron Grattafiori nite at sonic.net
Wed Feb 1 01:43:21 PST 2006


Lincoln Peters wrote

>My idea for remotely accessing my e-mail consists of:
>1. Set up fetchmail so that my SBC mail is "fetched" to a local mailbox.
>2. Set up a secure IMAP server to provide access to fetched mail.
>3. Enable port forwarding on the router, so I can access the IMAPS server over 
>the Internet.  Maybe also enable port forwarding for SSH while I'm at it.
>4. Set up DynDNS, so I don't have to keep track of my IP address manually.
>5. (Optional) Configure eGroupware to access that same IMAPS service.
>
>If this all works, I could then use the Mail application on my laptop to 
>access my e-mail no matter where I am.  And in case I find myself stranded 
>without my laptop but with access to a public terminal (e.g. a library 
>computer), I could use eGroupware (currently installed but not configured) on 
>the primary computer to access my e-mail via a web browser.  Furthermore, I 
>could SSH from my laptop into the desktop computer at any time and from 
>anywhere.
>
>
>What would be the EASIEST* way to do all of this that doesn't compromise on 
>security?
>  
>
I think if your going to setup fetchmail, you might as well setup mutt
on your box. You could just ssh into it and check/send mail from there...
That solves almost all your security issues right there. (except for
when it leaves your desktop ;-P )
You could take additional steps to secure ssh such as restricting only
your user name(esp root), using keys not passwords and/or running it on
a non standard >1024 port.

Setting up mutt is easy, as well as using it. Its very fast and very
flexible. It has coloring support, threading, gnupg support, folders, etc...

If you go with a web server or email server solution, thats going to be
a lot of configuration and a lot of security issues. (esp running a
email server). DynDNS is cheap, or.. SBC is pretty good about keeping
your 'dynamic' IP quite static... at least thats what i hear.

I vote SSH and mutt. Or.. you could look into using ssh tunnels to
remotely access your desktop.

VNC/NX soulution is kinda... overkill... if all your looking for is just
email. This you can use on 56k and it'll still be quite fast.

good luck (with those 19 units too...yikes!).... maybe post your end
result setup here?

 -Aaron Grattafiori



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