How to start mail service?

Question

firstly, i want to start a mailing service, like gmail or similar. secondly, i need to know, which mail hosting is the best on the net for its price. moreover, i need to learn how should i handle everything with php.

Answer 1

http://flurdy.com/docs/postfix is an amazing tutorial for setting up webmail.  And the best part is everything is free.  The tutorial includes everything you need, even span scanning and antivirus.  It's for a linux system, I think he used debian? so you could get ubuntu which is pretty user friendly for first time linux users, and it should go with the tutorial nicely.

Answer 2

Firstly- You will need a server. Depending on your OS, the mail set up will be different. With linux Exim is a popular mail server. Hmail (maybe?) is popular on a windows server, but who would use windows as a mail server? Once you set that up, you will need to learn about SPF records and RBLs so that your users do not get spoofed and spammed horribly. If your looking to host your mail server, you can try Hostgator.com, they offer managed dedicated servers and their mail gateways already have RBLs set up. Just install a program like nutsmail or squirrelmail on the server for the end user, and brand it with your graphics to cover the interface.