Diffrence between IMAP and POP3

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: What is the diffrence between POP3 and IMAP mail server ?

	IMAP (Internet Nessaging Access Protocol)	POP3 (Post Office Protocol)
1	Emails are stored in Mail Server.	Emails are stored in your local computer. Can enable to store a copy of all mails in server.
2	Easy to reconfigure the mail account to another computer.	Difficult to backup and restore the complete mail from one computer to another.
3	Emails can be checked easily from diffrent devices same time	Difficult to check from different devices
4	Does not provide offline reading of old emails	Provides Offline access to old emails
5	Fast reading of downloaded mails	Speed depends on connection bandwidth
6	Cannot backup mails to storage devices	Can backup mails to storage devices
7	Server will have high load due to mail access requests from users	Server will have less load due to all mails are forwarded to local client computers

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Configure E-Mail Server in Linux

This is how to install and configure an E-Mail Server in Linux. First configure SMTP and POP/IMAP server using Dovecot and Postfix. As email client use Outlook express, Mozilla Thunderbird,etc. This configurations should work in all RPM based linux distributions (Redhat, CentOS, Fedora, etc.)

Step1: Install and configure SMTP Server using postfix (Click here )


Step2: Install and configure POP/IMAP server using Dovecot (Click Here)


Step3:Create a mail accounts in mail server for mail access and set password (creating user in nologin shell is recommented) 
[root@server ~#]useradd -s /sbin/nologin james
[root@server ~#]passwd james


now the mail account "james@servercomputing.tech" is successfully created. Create more than one mail accounts in the same way and test the server by sending mail each other..


After configuring SMTP and POP/IMAP server, and mail accounts, configure your outlook(or any other) as email client


Step4: Start Outlook Express and follow the below screenshots

Select "Tools" and then "Accounts"

Select "Add" and then Select "Mail"

Type a Display name (Just a name)

type full email address

Change to "IMAP" and type server ipaddress or hostname

Click next

Finish setup

Right click on your email domain name and select "IMAP Folders"

Type username and password

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Configure Dovecot POP/IMAP Mail Server in Linux

This is "How to" install and configure POP/IMAP server using Dovecot . This configurations should work in all RPM based linux distributions (Redhat, CentOS, Fedora, etc.)


Step1: Install Dovecot package
[root@server ~#]yum install dovecot


Step2: Edit the dovecot configuration file /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
[root@server ~#]vi /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf


#In the 31st line, enable line and edit 
listen = *

#(Save the dovecot.conf file)

Step3: Edit configuration file /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-auth.conf

#In the 9th line, enable the line, and edit as below

disable_plaintext_auth = no

#In the 97th line, Edit like below

auth_mechanisms = plain login

(Now save the 10-auth.conf file)

Step4: Edit configuration file /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf

[root@server ~#]vi /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf

#in the 30th line, enable it, and edit like below

mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir

(Save the 10-mail.conf file)

Step5:Edit the configuration file /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-master.conf

[root@server ~#]vi /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-master.conf

#Edit the lines from 84 to 88 as below (also enable these lines by removing the "#" infront of all lines ) 
#(the lines from 84 to 88 should be in the below order, you may need to add only 2 new lines)
unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth {
    mode = 0666
    user = postfix
    group = postfix
  }

(Now save the 10-master.conf file)

Step6: Start the Dovecot daemon

[root@server ~#]service dovecot start

[Important: By default Dovecot server will listen on port  143/TCP, so you should open this port in firewall or Click here to Disable firewall]

Continue building your Mail server

Related Topics: How to configure SMTP server using Postfix in Linux  (Click Here)

Related Topics: Final Configurations after configuring Postfix and Dovecot (Click Here)

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