With just one click, sending mails from one place to another conveniently has become super easy. Different businesses are utilizing different ways to access their emails. Commonly, this way depends upon the type of Linux email servers they are using. Email servers work together to ensure you that emails can be:
- Sent to any platform
- Sent by any individual
- Sent from anywhere in the world
- And sent to any recipient
Therefore, it is always effective to know about the best open-source Linux mail server solutions. You must know the best Linux mail servers that can provide you all the facilities mentioned above in the best possible way.
Let’s get to know more about mail servers and which are the best email server for Linux below:
What is a mail server?
An email server is an application that can let you store and transfer an email to anyone. When you sent an email, it passes through a server before reaching its recipient. Even though emails are being sent quickly, the process behind sending and receiving an email is a bit complex. Various applications make the best mail server for Linux.
What are the different types of mail servers?
Mail servers are commonly broken down into 2 different categories. These include outgoing mail servers and incoming mail servers.
Incoming mail servers have two different categories.
- Post Office Protocol Version 3 or POP 3 are well-known for storing sent and received mails on local hard drives of systems. Most importantly, most POP3 servers can store mails on both local hardware and servers, making POP3 servers a more convenient option in this regard.
- However, Internet Message Access Protocol or IMAP servers are used to store mail copies on servers only.
On the other hand, ongoing mail servers, aka Simple Mail Transfer Protocol or SMTP servers, are meant for email deliveries. These servers work along with mail transfer agent for emails delivery across networks.
How does the mail server work?
Understanding the basics of email servers can make it easier to understand how the best email server for Linux works.
When you hit the send button, your email client connects to the SMTP server of your domain to deliver your mail’s content. After that, the server will check recipients and senders email addresses. If these are the same, the email will directly be sent to the POP3 or IMAP server of the recipient. Otherwise, the SMTP server will find a DNS query using an IP address to contact the SMTP server of the receiver. Here, the receiver’s SMTP will analyze the upcoming email to transfer that to incoming mail servers.
In the end, the receiver’s mail client will download the email to complete the mail delivery process.
Best Linux mail servers you must know:
Do you want to know some of the best mail servers for Linux os or linux virtual servers ? Here we have brought a brief overview of the top 4 options in this regard. Make sure to look at these options to get a better idea about the things in this regard.
So, here we go:
Quick Comparison Table:
| Mail server name | Spam protection | Log management | External Database support |
| Exim | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Postfix | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Citadel | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zimbra Mail Server | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Exim
Exim is a feature-rich and best mail server for Linux and BSD. Most importantly, it also offers cross-platform support, which makes it an amazing option for people who require mail servers to handle large and diverse requests.
It is completely written in C. Therefore. It performs exceptionally well in legacy systems as well. Even more, the team behind it takes care of bug fixing and rolling out frequent updates.
Most importantly, this simple Linux mail server is arguably amazing for configurations and customization abilities. Also, it comes up with log mechanisms to prevent email spamming.
- Postfix
Here is another immensely powerful yet simple Linux email server. This open-source email is effective to use for delivering and routing emails. It comes up with a robust feature list that includes:
- Convenient log managements
- Database support
- Junk mail control
- Configurable status notification
- Virtual domain support
- Top-notch defense mechanism for malware and spambots.
This best mail server for Linux comes up with an amazing content filter. Even more, the performance of this server is also quite impressive as it can check more than 300 emails deliveries per second. Most importantly, as per a recent report, about 30% of reachable mail servers publicly in the world are based on Postfix.
- Citadel
It is another one of the most amazing and best Linux mail servers. Surprisingly, Citadel is an age-old email server that has stood the test of time due to its superior performance and flexible features. Most amazingly, this is a groupware software in which collaborations can take place instantly. It is meant to run on BSD unix and Linux distributions. However, it can provide most of the systems with ease.
Citadel’s useful yet simple control panel also makes it an amazing option to consider in this regard.
Due to its own implementation of SMTP, you can also consider it one of the best smtp server Linux options as well. However, an additional feature list also makes it an interesting option to consider here.
- Zimbra Email Server
This powerful and best email server for Linux comes up with an exciting, innovative feature set that can make email management super easy and hassle-free. A massive collection of its pre-built features, including spam and malware protection, integrated mail list server, and other mobile features, make it an amazing option to consider for anyone.
It ships ready for public and private clouds and provides consumers innovative applications to make the service easier to use.
Final Remarks:
So, these are some of the best mail servers for Linux that you can consider to make your email deliveries super smooth and easier. Knowing about these can make it easier for you to decide the best option for your use with ease.
